Pocono is promising to make track safer

LONG POND, Pa. --- Pocono Raceway keeps taking hits.

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Matt Slocum/AP Photo

Tony Stewart will be on the pole for today's Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway. Pocono has come under fire for being unsafe, and officials have made plans to add more barriers to the track.

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Often criticized by drivers for unnecessary 500-mile races and for clogging two spots on the Sprint Cup schedule, the 21/2-mile triangle track is now deemed by some unsafe after an accident in the June race involving Kasey Kahne.

The rally cry of "shorten the races" has morphed into "make them safer."

Track president Brandon Igdalsky is listening -- and he's promising to do what it takes to improve the track.

"Do we need to make changes? Yes," he said.

Greg Biffle offered the harshest critique in a recent Sports Illustrated story, saying "they're going to kill somebody there." He added: "If they don't change that racetrack -- maybe not next year, maybe not three years from now -- they'll hurt somebody there."

Igdalsky wants the feedback -- even as he feels Biffle overstated the danger -- and has already started planning safety improvements. The track is adding more SAFER barriers in time for next year's race and would like to install a catch fence along the non-grandstand areas.

The barriers would be installed along the inside wall between turns 1 and 2 and down the "Long Pond" stretch. The barriers, a combination of steel and foam, will replace the current guard rail system.

Kahne was involved in a huge scare in the June race when he lost control of his car in the grass, went airborne and into the trees that line the track. Had the car sailed higher, Kahne would have flipped out of the track.

Jimmie Johnson, the four-time defending Cup champion, believes a catch fence is one of the necessary changes.

"And not just this track, but I don't think grass has any purpose inside the walls of a race track anymore," he said "There's no friction to slow down the vehicle, and then the cars just hammer the wall when that's the case."

Add it to the Pocono wish list.

One thing Igdalsky won't do is surrender a Sprint Cup series race. He and his grandfather and track owner Joseph Mattioli, are both adamant that they will never give up one of their two races.

"I know that for a fact," Igdalsky said. "We're not giving up any races."

Mattioli called the idea of offering up a race "stupid."

The family remains a staunch defender of the 500-mile races and has no plans to cut back.

Few understand why the track has two races each season separated by only eight weeks and neither one is a Chase for the Sprint Cup championship event.

"We're like the bad stepchild, aren't we?" Igdalsky said. "Everyone kind of looks at us like, 'These guys are still around?' But we're here."