Real race starts after checkered flag waves
Two races will take place on Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
One will obviously take place on the triangular-shaped track with its long front straightaway and treacherous tunnel turn. The other will occur after the checkered flag falls and all drivers, team owners, crewmen and associated team personnel bolt for the airport.
The second race is what I’d like to focus on because often times there are just as many daring moves and breathtaking passes as what you see during the actual race.
My main responsibility after the checkered flag waves is to try and get quotes from as many Ford drivers as possible. Unlike just about every other sport, however, there is no locker room where reporters can go to talk with all of the participants. In NASCAR, the top five finishers are all directed to stop on pit road for media obligations with the first-, second- and third-place finishers required to visit the media center for formal press conferences.
All of the others, however, drive back into the garage and park in front of their hauler, where the car is loaded up and locked down for the trip back to the race shop.
When I first started this job, it was commonplace for the drivers to change clothes after the race in their team hauler, which gave you a fighting chance to get more than one or two guys. Now, however, many of the guys will get out of the car and walk immediately to their motorcoach, where they will change and then hop on their golf cart or slide into their passenger car for the ride to the airport.
At Pocono, most of the drivers will have their car lined up in the motorcoach area waiting for the guards to open up a big metal gate that will enable them to exit the race track before most of the fans have even left their grandstand seat. Yes, while many of you are taking that photo of the winning driver in Victory Lane, all of the other guys are high-tailing it out of there to avoid the seemingly endless line of red tail lights that awaits.
Generally, most members of the media and people like myself have a minimum of two hours worth of work when the race ends, whether that be writing a story or two for the next edition or typing driver quotes and writing reports for company executives. Still, traffic is something that never seems to go away after a race, no matter how long you stay.
When I first started working in NASCAR, exit routes were part of the pre-race scouting trip and while I enjoy going to the Pocono area, it’s notorious for being one of the slowest when it comes to traffic. The state highway patrol does the best job they can, but the roads just aren’t wide enough to handle the 100,000 people who show up annually.
That makes knowing shortcuts all the more valuable and Pocono is no exception, although the one most people used is now blocked off by law enforcement. However, it still makes for a good story.
On my first trip to the area in 1997, my three co-workers and I arrived at the race track on Thursday and went through our customary checklist of details that needed to be addressed before the weekend got under way. When we were done, I was told our next stop would be to map our exit route for Sunday. I followed them down one of the roads near the track and became confused when they made this left-hand turn into what looked like just a regular field with nothing but some tall grass and big trees.
I had no idea what they were doing, but I dutifully followed along. There was no road, just some worn-in tire tracks that our cars dug even deeper into the ground. We drove about a quarter of a mile when I saw this tree that had fallen and was laying across our intended path. Like a dancer going underneath a limbo bar, both of our cars barely cleared the tree.
We drove about another quarter of a mile and came to a stop. To my left was a dirt hill about seven-feet high and directly in front of me was nothing but trees. My co-workers got out and surveyed the area. They informed me that the hill was too steep and too risky to try and drive up. They tried that a year ago and it didn’t work too well. That’s when they pulled out a couple of hacksaws and proceeded to start cutting away small limbs and branches from the trees that were in our way.
They manufactured a path that arced from right to left and was wide enough for our three cars to squeeze through without any damage. You’ve heard that song lyric, “Over the river and through the wood to grandmother’s house we go?” Well, that’s kind of what we were doing, except our final destination was the Wilkes Barre/Scranton International Airport.
So on Sunday when the race ended, we jumped in our cars and made a beeline for the secret escape route. We got to the path, went under the tree and approached the woods. To my left was one of the race teams that had tried to go up the hill and blew out a tire. Had they arrived a couple of minutes later, we could have showed them our handy work. They watched with jaws dropped as we drove our cars through the woods, up the embankment and onto the highway above.
Conservatively speaking, that move probably saved us 90 minutes sitting in traffic. As I mentioned earlier, the police now have a cruiser blocking that general area, so the great escape that once was is no longer possible. But never fear, where one field closes, another one opens.
To learn more about Ford Racing, please log on to www.fordracing.com. If you would like an opportunity to win a trip for two to Ford Championship Weekend and a 2010 Ford Fusion, please go to www.weraceyouwin.com and register today.
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Discuss: Real race starts after checkered flag waves
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I’ve been making that drive out of Pocono after the July/August race for about 15 years. It’s painfully slooooow! Much slower than Daytona in February. I drive right over two highways, but there’s no entrance or exit. Maybe going cross-country isn’t such a bad idea!