Greetings from Phoenix International Raceway –
We’re very excited to unveil PIR’s newly reconfigured and repaved 1-mile oval this weekend for the Kobalt Tools 500. With three NASCAR series competing at Phoenix this weekend, we’re making sure our new track is ready for a full weekend of racing in the Valley of the Sun.
Since the last NASCAR test at PIR on October 4-5, our team has implemented several exercises designed to help develop an upper groove:
· Advanced tire dragging machine focusing on enhancing the upper groove applied rubber into the surface; the machine went through more than 80 tires over 12 days for around 90 hours of actual dragging.
· Working with Richard Petty Driving Experience yesterday and today, six cars and drivers (NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Randy Lajoie, ARCA champion Frank Kimmel, Tim Fedewa, Steve Grissom, Brad Noffsinger and Andy Thurman) turned laps, focusing on widening the upper groove.
· The cars driven this week are 850-hp NASCAR-sanctioned race cars prepared for Sprint Cup competition.
· The cars collectively ran more than 3,000 miles on a soft Goodyear tire compound.
We appreciate the time and efforts of the Richard Petty Driving Experience and the drivers who assisted us in preparing the track for our three NASCAR events this weekend here in Phoenix. Here’s what they had to say:
Lajoie: “Whoever wins this race is going to have to work hard and will have a lot of fun. This track has a lot of grip and we definitely widened the grip out. We’ve been able to give the drivers some more options. What the track did – it’s definitely going to make everyone who tested here think it’s a whole lot nicer when they turn their first laps.”
Grissom: “From the work that has been done between the test and running yesterday, it’s pretty amazing. It has definitely picked up the pace here on the track. I think the drivers are going to be really surprised from the time they tested to when they put down the first laps Thursday, and it’s only going to get better.”
Lajoie: “Phoenix got RPDE to come out here with their cars and Goodyear with the tires, just to make the drivers happy. Some drivers voiced an opinion during the test that it was a one-lane race track and the only way they were going to make it a two-lane track is to age it and put rubber down. So you have to commend the track for bringing these guys out here. Where we started yesterday morning to right now – this track is totally different.”
Fedewa: “I think the track is coming along nicely. They drove the tires here [with the dragging machine] before we got here. It was in nice shape when we got here; certainly better than when we came here for the test.”
In addition to the aforementioned measures taken to develop our new track, the new PIR will be washed and swept before being turned over to NASCAR for the event weekend.
I look forward to seeing you here in Phoenix.
Bryan R. Sperber
President
Phoenix International Raceway
