New track dryer could cut drying time in half...

Quote :

FORT WORTH — Rob Brush is hoping one of the most dismal weekends in NASCAR history might have spawned a bright idea.

At Michigan International Speedway in August 2007, Brush watched jet dryers circle the track for two days as the Sprint Cup race was delayed from Sunday until Tuesday.

"I was sitting there thinking, 'There's got to be a better way to dry this place,' " said the Kingsville, Ontario, native, who has attended races at MIS for nearly 20 years.

After six months of research and a year of development, Brush believes he has a better alternative. The project manager for a steel fabrication company in Canada has designed a track dryer that travels about twice the speed as the current jet dryers used at NASCAR tracks.

Rather than just blow hot air on the track as the jet driers do, Brush's vehicle also uses a vacuum to suck up water akin to a Shop-Vac.

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

Brush has built a prototype that was given a successful trial run by NASCAR when a shower followed Sprint Cup qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway two months ago. Brush is expecting to meet with NASCAR officials in Daytona Beach, Fla., in two weeks before bringing the prototype dryer to the season finale at Homestead, Fla. The invention could be a boon for NASCAR, which has been plagued by rain this year (three Cup races were delayed a day and three were shortened by bad weather).

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

Brush has attended several races over the past two seasons, taking nearly 4,000 photos in researching the dryer.

"I'm the only fan in the stands wishing for rain," Brush said with a laugh.

~USA Today~

I'm hoping the plan to bring out the new dryers comes thru! Good for Rob Brush for coming up with this idea and then going into all the research and development!

I love it!!!

This will be great! I hate rain delays.

awesome!