Pocono the Tricky Triangle

This week NASCAR heads to the Keystone State and Pocono Raceway and what drivers call the “Tricky Triangle” and I call the “Tricky Tri-Oval. They will be Qualifying and Racing the Good Sam’s Club RV Insurance 500 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania and here come more track facts to share with your buddies.
Pocono Raceway was originally built in 1968 as a 3/4 mile Oval but was later reconfigured and finished in 1974 as a 2.5 Mile Tri-Oval. With their first NASCAR Race being held in 1974 can you guess who won it. Yup, the King himself Richard Petty… go figure. Let me tell you why they call it the Tricky Triangle and the first reason is none of the Banking in any Turn is the same. So if you make your car fast in Turns 1 & 2 it may be bad in Turn 3. If you make it fast in the lesser degree Turns you may have problems in Turn 1.
It goes like this. Turn #1 has a good 14 degrees of Banking while Turn 2 has less at 8 degrees and Turn 3 at even less at 6 degrees. All 3 Straights are just 2 degrees so you can see the Crew Chiefs and Drivers have their hands full figuring where they can be fast and where they still need to add speed. The 3 Straightaways are not the same either with the Frontstretch of 3,740 feet and the Backstretch is less at 3,055 feet and the Shortstretch is just 1,780 feet.
Race Day the Track hold almost 77,000 of the best Fans NASCAR you could ever want to sit around and they have some great Specials and Ticket Prices. The Pit Road Speed for this race is 55 mph so watch for Speeding Penalties and the Pace Car will be rolling at 65 mph.
Greg Biffle won this Race last year and Jeff Gordon picked up his 1st Win of the 2011 Season this Spring there. You need to Qualify well here to have the best chance of winning the race because 2/3 rds of the Winners at Pocono started in the Top 10 starting spots. Here is another interesting fact in that there are just 2 Active Drivers that have averaged Top 10 Finishes at the Tricky Triangle and they are Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin.
To find out more about Pocono and what they have to offer you can visit their web site at www.PoconoRaceway.com. You can ger Race Tickets for as little as $45 up to about $85 for Grandstand Seats and get some awesome Victory Circle passes for $250 and if you need a Sky Box they are $500 per person.
Camping is perfect at Pocono and you know me I’m always looking out for us Tailgaters and Campers. The Tent Camping is a little pricey from $125 – $175 for 20′x40′ spots and there may be an additional $50 per person depending on where it is. There’s lots of room for RV and spots start at $150 and go up to $500 for a Trackside location and again $50 per extra people after the Driver.
“Pride Mobility Scooters” are something I salute Pocono for. They make FREE Scooters available for fans that have limited mobility but just going to their web site and filling in a form. That’s a huge track and doing this for their Race Fans gets a High 5 and a Knuckle Bump from me.
Cousin Carl is still in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series lead by just 11 points over Jimmie Jonson and Harvick just a point behind him. There is a big scramble for those last 2 Wild Card spots with Denny Hamlin and Paul Menard with 1 win each. The season is coming down to the wire so look for a great Race and the weather looks like it’s gonna be perfect so load up on some Regular or Turkey Perky Jerky and invites some friends over.
Have a great time watching the Race and like I always say… Kick it Pickle!
Pit Boss Mike Hedrick aka The Fan’s Reporter.