The Double (auto Racing) - Other Uses of The Term

Other Uses of The Term

There are other lesser, informal uses of the term "Double Duty" in context to motorsports. Namely instances where a driver competes in two major races on the same day or on successive days. This occurs in a fairly regular fashion in NASCAR, where a driver (oftentimes numerous drivers) compete in the Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series events, or even Truck races. However, in most cases, the multiple events take place at the same venue, diminishing the complexity of the feat. At times, some drivers even raced the entire Sprint Cup and entire Nationwide schedule, which included some travel between cities for a handful of weekends where the two series were at different venues.

On rare occasions, there have been situations in which a Nationwide Series race became rained out, and was re-scheduled for the day of the Sprint Cup race. This occurred the weekend of the 2007 Winn-Dixie 250 and Pepsi 400 at Daytona, and the 2010 spring weekend at Talladega, with the Aaron's 312 happening after the Aaron's 499. In the later case, the resulting distance was over 851 miles distance traveled, as both races were extended by green-white-checkered finishes.

Similarly, double duty has occurred in instances where a NASCAR driver also takes part in a support race (namely Grand Am), but seldom attempted when the races were at different tracks. This is more prevalent at road courses such as Watkins Glen or Sonoma. Another example of this is at Daytona, where the Paul Revere 250 was held the same day as the Firecracker 400 numerous times, and several drivers competed in both.

Another short-lived "double duty" occurred between the Indianapolis 500 and IMSA. A few drivers, Geoff Brabham, Kevin Cogan, and Rocky Moran, competed at Indy on Sunday, and at Lime Rock on Monday.