Salem Speedway Preview

I will be honest from the start, there were several tracks on the 2010 ARCA schedule that I circled. Tracks that I either dreamed about racing on or tracks that I thought the #1 ModSpace Ford would run well at. Unfortunately, Salem Speedway was not one of them!

I have watched and re-watched races from the past few years at Salem. I have even been playing some computer simulations, but with all that information it is still intimidating to have Salem on the radar for a rookie. I raced several years at South Boston Speedway in Virginia, so I am confident in my short track ability. But the 12 degree banking at South Boston seems vastly different to the steep high banks at this historic Indiana track.

Coming from a road racing background you have to learn tracks with 12-14 different turns in 1 day. So although Salem is different from anything I have raced on before, I am still looking forward to the challenge.

I spoke with several drivers that have had a lot of success in the past at Salem, even my car owner Andy Belmont. Every single one of them describes this track in 1 word, FUN! They say it is a track that is shaped like Bristol but you have to drive it like Darlington. Each talk about how unique the racing line is at each end of the track. Running the high line in 1 and 2 but sailing the car in low in 3 and waiting for the tires to bite somewhere near the wall in 4! Or do I have that backwards? I suppose I will find out for certain soon enough.

The goal for my first race at Salem is pretty simple, Finish! From looking at the statistics in the past several races, just finishing is a challenge in itself. If you manage to finish with 4 clean fenders on the car it should place you solidly in the top 10. And I have to say, I would be thrilled with that outcome. That is not saying I won’t go for it if the opportunity presents itself. After all, I am extremely competitive and I hate to lose. It simply means this is a track I have respect for and need to be extremely patient at. I not only want to run well, but it is almost as important to try and figure out this place as much as I can the first trip there. Then, maybe I can have some fun when we come back and do it all over again in September!

All in all, I can’t wait to start the upcoming 3 race stretch in April. It has been far too long since the last time we raced and I get extremely excited looking at the upcoming schedule. It has nearly everything drivers like us look forward to, short tracking at Salem, high speeds at Texas and then back to restrictor plate racing at Talladega! Come out and see a race live if you can. No worries if you can’t, just tune into the live Timing and Scoring on www.arcaracing.com or tune into Speed for the live broadcast of Texas and Talladega.

Nick