Any gearhead who has had access to both a front wheel drive and plastic lunch trays has combined the two for magical parking lot hilarity. Skidding a car around like this is really fun and so long as the cops do not show up, there’s not harm in it. Now imagine taking that parking lot horseplay and turning it into an actual race on an actual race track. That’s exactly what they are doing at historic Bowman Gray Stadium and it seems like the the packed house of fans was into it, too! This type of wacky stuff happens at short tracks all over the country and it makes for great watching.
The premise is simple and it is basically a beefed up version of our lunch tray story above. Rather than use lunch trays, steel skid plates are welded to the back ends of the cars and the front wheel drivers drag themselves around the track, or at least try to. The “skid” hits the fan exactly 17 seconds after this race starts. It looks fun as hell and we want to try it!
Thanks to Mark Walter for the tip!
Wonder if it damages the surface of the track…
That was my question to my buddy, David Anderson, who sent it. He said it doesn’t seem to be a big deal to the surface. Thanks for the props Bangshift!
A couple of things looks like for thid type of racing.
1. Strap a 4×4 inside the right rear quarter panel like the NASCAR guys used to do at Darlington and rim ride it all the way around.
2. A couple of pulls off a jug of Crown Royal or moonshine will help even out the throttle to stering to brake ratio.
I’m sure they use at least 1/4″ steel plate which is really smooth and shouldn’t hurt the track. I’m sure they wouldn’t do this if it hurt the surface.
Great fun!
For a few more bucks, make the skid plates with some titainium (like the F-1 cars used to do) and REALLY put on a spark show!