Fastest race

What was the fastest circuit race ever held? I think it may have been one of the Busch Clash NASCAR sprint races at Daytona in the late 80s before the NASCAR cars were restricted.

It must be in America on one of the superspeedways. Which one it was or which series I don't know.

Fastest lap is held by de Ferran at Fontana in a Champ car. He averaged over 241 mph!!!!

Paul is right, but it is 242+mph. They have since slowed the cars. so we will probably not see it go any faster for a long time.

Funny thing was that last year at Rockingham in the UK the Champ car guys were running 215+mph laps. At Fontana the restrictions had reduced them to nearer 225mph. UK has one of the fastest races now!!!

I'm guessing it was at Talladega. There've been a lot of records set there.

Actually I think I've managed to find the answer to my own question. The fastest motor race ever held on this planet (I think!) was the 1987 Busch Clash pre-season NASCAR sprint race held at the Daytona International Speedway. It was won by Bill Elliot in a Ford Thunderbird at an average speed for the race of 197.02 MPH.

The IRL race at fontana last weekend was averaging 195mph before the last caution and with 220mph average laps, it would surely have broken that. If they have a slightly cleaner run at the similar Michigan speedway, the record could fall.

This topic brings up the long time issue of how oval racing has often been looked down upon by circuit racers in the past. You can't have nothing but respect for guys (and gals) who run races with these incredibly high speeds. I have never had the opportunity to see a CART, IRL, NASCAR etc oval race in real life, so it is still somewhat abstract to really get an idea of what it must be like.

Makes me think of some recent F1 guys going to an oval race and being blown away by the cars being driven by "loosely" at over 200. (Coulthard or Herbert or both) Touches on my view that drivers coming to F1 from any oval background have an edge of mental toughness at super high speeds, as well as a better feel for setup and a cars behaviour in a really fast corner.(Villeneuve's pass on Schuey in ?Estoril? in his first or second year)