Hate Rain Delays? A Better Blower Might Help

A Canadian race fan who suffered through two days of rain at the Michigan race in August of 2007 has designed and built what he believes is a better track blower, USA Today reports.

NASCAR's current blowers are jet engines that simply blow hot air on the track. Rob Brush's device also uses a vacuum to suck up water.

Brush, a 20-year racing fan from Kingsville, Ontario, built a prototype and had a successful trial run with it when a shower followed qualifying at New Hampshire this season. He expects to meet with NASCAR officials in Daytona in two weeks, the newspaper reports. If there's rain at Homestead, he'll have another test there.

"With eight of these units at Daytona International Speedway, we could dry the track in under an hour," Brush told the paper, estimating he could cut the current drying time in half.

The dryer also would fit with NASCAR's green initiatives because it runs on propane, USA Today reports. Brush estimates it would burn less than 500 gallons to dry Daytona vs. 3,000 gallons of jet fuel.
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