NASCAR opens wallet — track-drying system set for 2014
Brian France finally opened his wallet for something other than to put money in.
The CEO of the popular motor sport announced that the Air Titan track drying system, which made its debut this season, will be on hand and ready for action at every Sprint Cup Series race next season.
"“Having the Air Titan at each NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekend allows us to meet a very important goal set by our Chairman and CEO, Brian France,” said Steve O’Donnell, senior vice president of racing operations said in a release. “To drastically decrease track drying time to the best of our ability and ensure our fans in the stands and those watching on TV get to see each race run on its scheduled day.”"
The system, developed by officials at the NASCAR Research and Development Center, blows air to force water off the track and onto the apron where it is then vacuumed up.
NASCAR had restricted the use of the Air Titan this season because of the cost involved. The tightwads in Daytona had been trying to force each individual track to pony up the cost for the system. The track owners had balked at paying for the Air Titan but NASCAR finally relented.
Estimates have put the cost of using the Air Titan at about $50,000 per weekend.
According to NASCAR officials, the Air Titan reduces the time it takes to dry a track by as much as 80 percent. One added benefit of the Air Titan is that it cleans the track of debris as well.
"“It looks like it’s got some real value in actually cleaning the race tracks before we get to them,” Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition, said in a release. “There have been a couple times this year that we had taken Air Titan to a facility and it actually does a really nice job of cleaning the pores of the track – it gets the sand, the silt, the dirt and the grime that’s out of it, the oil that’s saturated and baked in there.”"
NASCAR’s goal is to have the Air Titan available at all tracks hosting Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series events.
If that’s the case, France better keep his wallet someplace where he can get at it quickly.