It is always a delight to watch racing at the 2.5-mile triangle known as Pocono Raceway. Why? No one, and I do mean no one, has ever figured it out, from a driving perspective or a car-setup circumstance. The track has the longest main straightaway in all of auto racing, almost three quarters of a mile long! It calls for intensive braking. Each of its three turns is of different radii and the banking differs at all three. Drivers have long discussed shifting, do you or don’t you? After Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. drove his Con-Way Freight Ford to victory in Saturday’s 200-mile ARCA RE/MAX event, chased all the way by Scott Speed, both were asked if they changed gears during the race. Stenhouse said he never shifted during green-flag running while Speed said he changed gears seven times every green-flag lap! ARCA’s cars are much like the Cup cars of last season, so are well known to crew chiefs. Not so with the NASCAR mounts, known as the Car of Tomorrow. “Difficult” is the word most often heard in describing this taller and wider car than of 2007. The new “bump stop” is described as the key difficulty. Front-suspension travel is now down to four inches compared to the eight inches of last year’s vehicles. Crew chiefs say they can’t get the nose “down” far enough to make the car handle properly. The front-end “splitter” is the problem as it inhibits further lowering and NASCAR is always measuring and weighing.

Pocono has always been more than just cars and drivers. The owning Mattioli family is one of the most engaging track management groups extant. But changes have been effected as children and grandchildren have been granted new authority. New president, a new VP and new executive VPs were on duty over the weekend and their long training stood them in good stead as the weekend — with its variety of events — came off without a hitch. Worthy of note was Saturday night’s Bill France Award of Excellence Dinner honoring his son, James C. (Jim) France. A group of 112 guests were treated to a four-star banquet in the dining of the Mattioli-owned Blakeslee Inn, the leading hostelry in the raceway area. Dr. Joseph Mattioli, still in recovery from a lengthy bout of pneumonia, performed his duties well despite being wheelchair bound. Car owner Richard Childress, among the dinner guests, revealed the tasting room of his North Carolina winery in Lexington was voted one of the top-25 Winery Tasting Rooms in this country. Sunday’s headline race was a Kasey Kahne spectacular in his Ray Evernham Budweiser Dodge. One might say the track “got even” with Jeff Gordon for his widely quoted criticisms of the track by ranking him 38th among qualifiers and 14th at the race finish. Indy 500 winners Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish, Jr. did not have it easy either, qualifying 14th and 41st.

Last week’s doubleheader open-cockpit, open-wheel show featuring USAC sprint cars and ARDC midgets at Grandview Speedway — known as Thunder on the Hill — in Bechtelsville, Pa., which locals contend is on the eastern reach of Pennsylvania Dutch country, was a great show, unfortunately terminated by a severe rain shower just as the first of the night’s two feature events was lining up. The track, a steeply banked third-mile clay oval, was in tip-top shape with nary a wisp of dust evident. Asked who conditioned the racing surface, we were surprised to hear the promoter himself, Bruce Rogers, is the responsible individual. Take a bow, Bruce. Comparing the efforts of ARDC vs. USAC officials was interesting. The local midget group’s officials looked and acted sharp in bright yellow-topped uniforms, and had, on request, an entry list showing car number, driver, hometown and engine make. In recent visits to USAC events, getting such a list involves a wait and sense of annoyance for asking. Why such handouts cannot be readily available at USAC’s infield truck is a question. On-track the USACers were more orderly and prompt than their small-car ARDC neighbors, but the smaller cars delivered better racing than the bigger sprinters, no doubt due to the size of the track. Each group brought more than 30 cars for the track’s wonderfully populated off-track paddock area. The ARDC entry list showed as much as 90 percent owner-driver, whereas very few O-D entrants on the USAC roster. The appearance of more and more high-sided midgets is a disappointing trend to Ye Ed and a possible safety problem noted by Fred Rahmer, who said the new cockpit covers make it more difficult to exit one’s vehicle quickly in an emergency. It was disappointing to see Rahmer depart the track after sprint-car practice, not at all happy with his car’s performance. With high gas prices in mind, we asked around about costs of getting to events with a racing car in tow. Jay Drake, who oversaw the giant pair of Tony Stewart Racing haulers on the grounds (for drivers Levi Jones and Tracy Hines) noted the Grandview round-trip was a 1,490-miler for each of the Stewart-owned rigs, which need a gallon of gas for every five miles traveled. The sprint-car gentry advised their $200 right-rear Goodyears lasted only one night, while the midgeteers said they got far more usage out of their spec $140 right-rear Hoosiers. You do the math. Two offerings at the track were brand new to Ye Ed; a one-camera TV operation showing on-track action to assist track announcer Jeff Ahlum and viewed only by those in the pit office. This homespun video is not fed any outside entity. Another unique promotional facet at Grandview is the use of a rookie announcer at one of the night’s preliminary races, part of an aggressive publicity campaign. Asked what these first-timers got for their neophyte race announcing brought a “Their name in the paper” reply. A sincere thank you for the courtesies extended by the Grandview staff, and to friend Skip Matczak (Seals It) for letting me tag along as a passenger in his easy-riding all-wheel drive Chrysler sedan for the lengthy trip from New Jersey.

Growing up in the early 1930s around racing cars (today known as sprint cars) an early lesson was that an Essex frame was a necessary beginning for a winning car. I never understood why, though I was told the rear-frame kickups on the 1919-1923 Essex cars were ideal for a racing car. The Essex 4 engine of those days was looked upon favorably as a racing powerplant. But the Ford Model T-engine block, fitted with special racing cylinder heads like the Frontenac, became standard equipment until the Model B Ford appeared. The Model A Ford block differed little from the “T” but when the Model B came along, it marked a wholesale move to this unit, as it had — for the first time — pressure lubrication in place of the previous splash lubrication plus a fuel pump. Fronty, Miller-Schofield, Riley, Green Engineering, Cragar and Winfield were the better known of the many cylinder heads that appeared on cars using Ford B blocks for power. The Hudson engine had its followers too. All of those 1930s cars had steel bodies, as welding sheet aluminum was a tricky task few mechanics could perform. There were the two Schumacher specials from Yonkers, N.Y., towed track to track by a Rolls Royce, that had aluminum bodies, but they were riveted together! Famous for his speedy flathead Ford was N.J., car-owner Bill Drake, whose aging steel-bodied black No. 99 of 1936 was replaced with an aluminum-bodied all-white No. 99 for the 1937 season that challenged the DOs (double overhead camshaft-engined cars) due to its light weight. Who welded up that first aluminum bodied car for Bill Drake remains unknown. Fond memories to say the least.

We recently noted the $100K fine and suspension NASCAR handed Haas-CNC Motorsports crewman Bootie Barker. What was not known at that time was that in January the owner of that two-car team, Gene Haas, began serving a two-year prison sentence for tax evasion.

A pat on the back for Team Penske Sprint Cup driver Kurt Busch, who donated $1 million to the 28,000 square-foot sports facility, which recently opened in Randleman, N.C., which benefits the Victory Junction Gang Camp. It offers a climate-controlled environment for campers. Needless to say, the facility is now known as the Kurt Busch Superdome.