Hey, there's live racing on Friday
It's really cold across most of the country (Newsflash, I know). So it's understandable if you're not ready for racing season to begin.
But if you're looking for a live racing fix and can't wait until the Rolex 24 at Daytona (which is just over two weeks away), there is racing on Friday.
It's the Red Bull Frozen Rush, which is a race between trucks down a snowy mountain that is laid out similar to a ski course. This year's event is set up similar to an NHRA event as drivers will compete head-to-head racing down a mountain at the Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry, Maine, bracket-style to crown a champion.
The defending champion is Ricky Johnson, who has driven motorcycles, supertrucks, and even in the Camping World Truck Series. The trucks are all-wheel-drive trucks fitted with special tires that have half-inch spikes all over the tread to combat the ice patches that are littered throughout the snow.
"What the ice spikes are for when we hit a hard patch of ice," Johnson told Yahoo Sports. "The traction ... it's like a radial tire on asphalt. It gets such good traction it's amazing. It sets you back in your seat way more than dirt, way more than – almost like sticky mud – what it's like when it gets that really tacky dirt."
"It's like when sprint cars want to wheelie off the corner, that's what hard ice feels like. And then when we get in the powder snow it's more like riding in the sand; when the ground is moving constantly when you're driving and it's being manipulated the whole time."
Because of the different characteristics of the surfaces, Johnson said drivers drive heavily with the throttle, instead of being able to mash the gas and slam the brakes in and out of the corners. Oh, and visibility is key too. Because of the snow, there's spray off the rear tires like a Formula 1 race in the rain. Except it's snow.
"Some of the guys have dual pedals," Johnson said. "I do. I have a pedal that's like an emergency brake, or a Jake brake, where it's just my rears. So I'll come in and I'll use that to set the car up and then drive it off with the steering. And with the all-wheel drive if you do get into a push scenario, you can turn it to help drive yourself out of it. But yes, you drive with the throttle quite a bit."
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
