In 1982 they added a 3200 seat grandstand, and for 16 years straight they added more to get to the 140,000 plus they have today.

In 1995 Dover became the first all concrete track on the Winston Cup circuit. It quickly became notorious for eating up competitors, giving it the Monster Mile nickname. It’s considered a “self cleaning track”. With 24 degrees of banking in the corners, if you hit something or someone, you usually slide down the banking. If you hit the outside wall, you almost inevitably are going to hit the inside wall very shortly. Hitting outside, then inside, and then outside again is also an option.

Dover’s always had a pedestrian overpass to allow walking in and out of the infield, even during the race. It’s not a tunnel track, and it doesn’t appear that next years upgrades are going to change that. In 2005 they added a second overpass with seats for viewing called the Dupont Monster Bridge. It’s billed as “The most exiting seat in all of sports” and “The only seat in the world where you look the driver in the eye”. You’re only 29 feet off the track.

Out of 73 races here, 11 have been won from the pole. 59 (80%) have been won from the top 10. Only 7 have been won from outside the top 15, to include both of Tony Stewart’s in his sweep here in 2000.

Dover has a lot of sweeps. If you find the track, and keep from hitting anything, you can win again. Those names with sweeps: Petty (1969-71, the first 3), Pearson (73), Allison (82-3), Elliot (88), Earnhardt (89), Wallace (93-4), Gordon (95-6), Stewart (00), Johnson (02), and Newman (03-4). Greg Biffle won in 2005, but hit the wall during his burnout. I guess this was enouph to knock his car out of whack.

Tomorrow I’ll get together my stats. Right now I’ve got to get my camera, uniform and HMMWV (Hummvee) cleaned up for the race.

Labels: NASCAR

# posted by theStewartFan @ 6:45 PM