Questions Arise for Bristol Lap Record

Bristol Motor Speedway's public relations department got a nice kick this week thanks to a few NASCAR Whelen Modified Series drivers putting down some impressively fast laps at on the high banks of the half-mile east Tennessee track.

The laps, according to the track, were "record-breaking" because they eclipsed Ryan Newman's 2003 lap of 14.908 seconds (128.709 mph) during Sprint Cup qualifying at the track.

It turns out, thanks to the ever-mindful Jayski, that the laps might not have been so record-breaking after all.
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From the Jayski.com Sprint Cup site:

"in an old July 2003 post on the uscsracing.com site, it says: Kenny Adams was one of four drivers who tested winged sprint cars with the United Sprint Car Series on Wednesday [July 2003] at Bristol Motor Speedway [...]

Adams [...] recorded a 14.29 second lap as did Doug Berryman from Mansfield, Ohio. Two time USCS champion Terry Gray from Bartlett, Tennessee flew around the high 36 degree banks in 14.37 seconds and Jim Raptis from Marietta, Georgia, had a best for the day of 14.63 seconds. All four drivers unofficially broke the record of 14.908 seconds set by Ryan Newman during qualifying for the Winston Cup event at BMS last March [2003]"

Those lap times are important because the Modified driver Ted Christopher ran a lap of 14.479 seconds (133.269 mph) Tuesday after his team removed the carburetor restrictor plate in the waning hours of the test session. That lap was roughly two-tenths of a second slower than 14.29 that winged sprint car driver Dave Berryman was said to have run.

It should be noted, however, that these lap times are all completely unofficial and that "Rocket Man" Ryan Newman still holds the official track record because he made the lap during a sanctioned qualifying session. The general rule of thumb is that track single-lap speed records can only be challenged during a qualifying session -- often because the timing systems are set up to be highly accurate.

Regardless, if I was going to be in town for the fall Bristol night race in August, I'd certainly be buying a ticket for modified event because its quite obvious that those cars are going to fly around the half-mile. I'd imagine it'll be dangerous, but it would sure be a blast to watch