By ZECH YODER
The NASCAR Street Race held in Chicago, Ill., last weekend was anything but ordinary. As I discussed last week, it was the first of its kind. NASCAR has a long history of racing on permanent road courses, but this was the first time it took to city streets for a proper street race.
Leading up to the race, there was a great deal of concern and speculation. Would the course be ready and in satisfactory condition? Would the racing be good? Would the city embrace the event? Would fans turn out.
As we now know, NASCAR created a world-class event, though race weekend nearly ended in utter disaster. Upon arriving and walking the track, the buzz in the garage among the drivers and crews was that NASCAR may have executed a master stroke. After getting on the track for practice and qualifying, drivers were visibly excited, expecting passing opportunities and competitive racing. Saturday started off picture perfect. Both the Cup and Xfinity cars practiced and qualified without any problems. The track, though challenging, held up well and was the catalyst for many exciting moments.
Late Saturday afternoon, the Xfinity race began without incident and while the first handful of laps were relatively tame as the drivers were feeling out their cars and the course, racing was abruptly halted when lightning was spotted in the city. Unfortunately, city policies forced the entire venue to be cleared, despite lightning being well outside the venue. Because the venue was cleared, fans could not be reassembled before dark, and the Xfinity race was postponed until Sunday morning. Sunday came with what can only be described as a monsoon. Heavy rains flooded the track, and the Xfinity race was eventually called, two laps short half-way.
With heavy rains through most of the afternoon, the Cup race was in serious jeopardy. Ordinarily, this would not have been a big deal and NASCAR would have simply pushed the race back a day. However, the street course component ever complicated the circumstances as NASCAR only had a limited period of time to complete the race. Waiting until Monday would have added millions of dollars to NASCAR’s already extortionary costs. Fortunately, the rain slowed enough to allow the race to begin, though nearly an hour behind schedule.
The race itself was just as unpredictable as the entire weekend. The drivers started on rain tires and grip through the multi-surface city streets was a commodity. Many of the top drivers, including Cup Series Champion Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr. found themselves wedged in the tire barriers, helplessly waiting for the AMR Safety Crew to pull them out. Further, a poorly timed call from NASCAR to shorten the race from 100 laps to 75 laps jumbled up the field and placed the deep in the field.
The biggest shock by far was the surprise win by New Zealander, Shane Van Gisbergen, making his very first NASCAR start. Van Gisbergen, a three-time Australian V8 Supers Cars Champion, rocketed to the lead after falling back in the field when NASCAR shortened the race. Though fast in both qualifying and practice, few thought the Van Gisbergen would actually be able to pull off the win. However, his driving style and extensive experience in V8 Super Cars (which are quite similar to the current generation of Cup cars) propelled him to the lead and eventual win. Van Gisbergen becomes the first driver in over 60 years to win in his NASCAR Cup Series debut – the last being Johnny Rutherford.
To takeaways from the weekend:
First, NASCAR did a spectacular job and should be credited with putting on an extraordinary show. The event, though complicated by Mother Nature, was top rate with thousands of spectators attending their first NASCAR race.
Second, the City of Chicago (not the residents) did not welcome the event and may have worked against NASCAR’s efforts to make the event successful. Although the parties entered a three-year contract to host the event, it would not be shocking if the new mayor and his administration buyout the agreement and leave NASCAR searching for a new city. What a shame that would be for all the wonderful residents of Chicago.
Zech Yoder is a local resident, an attorney at Adler Attorneys in Noblesville, and a lifelong race fan.