Did You Notice? …. There appeared to be a black cat busy cursing the final laps of Auto Club Speedway?
Frontstretch was first alerted to the cat by multiple fans inquiring about its existence; we’ve since confirmed through multiple sources a cat sauntered onto the racetrack midway through Sunday’s (Feb. 26) Pala Casino 400.
Where did it come from? No one has any earthly idea. Unfortunately, the cat was not spotted by NASCAR officials in time, who would have obviously thrown a caution to ensure it got off the track safely. No one we talked to knows for sure what happened to it — there’s no photographic evidence of its demise, anyway, people are willing to share — but the cat appeared to disappear after trying to cross a road cars were zipping past at almost 200 mph.
That usually doesn’t mean a good outcome. We also know, shortly after the cat was spotted, Bubba Wallace wound up suffering through an overheating problem, leading to engine failure. Team members attempted to look over the No. 23 Toyota for something it might have run over.
Could Wallace have hit it? At the speeds these cars run, um, even if the answer is yes, it might have been hard for them to know for sure (There’s no official comment from 23XI Racing on the matter).
As a cat owner and animal lover myself, I don’t want to know more … although the superstitious among us might say its death could leave a curse over the potential renovation of this two-mile oval as NASCAR prepares to reconfigure it into a short track.
How rare is an incident like this one? Well, let’s just say it’s not the first time an animal has jumped onto the track and had an effect on the outcome of a NASCAR race. Here’s a few other famous instances of fowl play. …
1991 Daytona 500. On lap 2 of the race, Dale Earnhardt was running full speed down the backstretch when a seagull wasn’t paying close attention. It didn’t end well. (Viewer discretion advised.)
Earnhardt trudged on at full speed, his car seemingly unaffected by the incident. But in the closing laps of the race, the handling mysteriously went sour on his No. 3 Chevrolet after dominating all of Daytona Speedweeks. He wound up wrecking with Davey Allison while battling for his first 500 win, allowing Ernie Irvan to pull off the upset. So perhaps the seagull got the last laugh?
It was arguably the second straight year a bird cost Earnhardt the Great American Race; a piece of chicken bone was…
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