I ventured out to Kern County Raceway Park on Saturday to watch bits of a tire test and to check out the new speedway about 15 miles west of Bakersfield at Interstate 5 and Enos Lane.
All I can say is "wow!" There's still a ton of work to be done before the official March opening but it was great to see and hear real race cars on track. You can see a lot more of the track in a related photo gallery.
And here are two raw and low-fi videos of different late models testing Hoosier tires. Love the bark as drivers fight centrifigul force.
Mike Griffith, my compadre at The Bakersfield Californian, posted a nice video story on Saturday's tire testing, including interviews with drivers and some telling close-ups of tires hot off the cars.