Three NASCAR Fun Facts
The NASCAR racing experience can be the thrill of a lifetime, for fans as well as the intrepid drivers in the NASCAR race cars themselves. With top speeds at over 200 miles per hour, the drivers can cover the length of a football field in one single second. NASCAR has become the American symbol of speed, technology, and courage. So here are a few facts you may not already know.
- Horsepower. Your standard gas powered push mower has a horsepower of about 6.5. A Ford Mustang tops out at just over 440. Standard NASCAR cars begin at around 750 horsepower, with Sprint Cup cars easily reaching between 800 and 850 horsepower. An actual horse, in case you were wondering, has just shy of 15 horsepower.
- G Force. One “G” is equal to the normal pull of gravity, or the downward force we constantly feel every day. When turning the corner in your car, you experience a little less than one G in a horizontal direction. In NASCAR racing, drivers experience three Gs on every turn. Three Gs is the same force you experience when sneezing. So twice on every single lap, NASCAR drivers experience G forces equivalent to a twenty second long sneeze.
- Instrument Panel. With so many different engine conditions to monitor amidst the excitement and danger of a race, drivers do not have the luxury of a leisurely inspection of their dashboard indicators and gauges. So NASCAR drivers arrange their instrument dials so that the optimum reading results in the needle pointing straight up, regardless of the number or the units involved. That way, a quick glance across the board can tell them if everything is running correctly.
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NASCAR racing is as popular as it is because of the incredible feats performed regularly and consistently by the drivers, mechanics, and engineers involved in every aspect. Watching it all come together is now, and will always be, a guaranteed crowd pleaser.