# race cars swerving while following the pace car **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2000, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-cars-swerving-while-following-the-pace-car/20140 "2000-05-21T22:48:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2000, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-cars-swerving-while-following-the-pace-car/20140/1 "2000-05-21T22:48:36Z")
While watching racing (stock car, indy car, touring car, etc.), I notice that when the cars are following the pace car, they are constantly swerving left and right until the pace car leaves the track. Why do they do this? ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2000, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-cars-swerving-while-following-the-pace-car/20140/2 "2000-05-21T22:50:33Z")
If my race fan buddies are correct, they are “heating up the tires”, causing friction to get the tires to grip better in the race. © ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-cars-swerving-while-following-the-pace-car/20140/3 "2000-05-22T00:28:17Z")
It’s called “scuffing” the tires. Chandeleur is basically right. Swerving back and forth heats up the tires and also scrapes off the “mold wax” or oily coating that the tires come with from the factory, which improves traction. ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-cars-swerving-while-following-the-pace-car/20140/4 "2000-05-22T03:25:19Z")
Hot tires are sticky tires. Same reason that drag cars smoke their wheels before the race. ---
**Author:** ![starfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@starfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/starfish)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-cars-swerving-while-following-the-pace-car/20140/5 "2000-05-22T12:42:18Z")
I had heard that it lets them drive faster. By swerving, they increase the distance that they travel, compared to driving straight. This lets them drive at higher speed than the pace car. ---
**Author:** ![Milossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Milossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Milossarian)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-cars-swerving-while-following-the-pace-car/20140/6 "2000-05-22T13:00:59Z")
starfish - what?? Everybody else has got it. It has to do with **evenly** heating the tires, across their entire surface. Generally if you see a pace car out there, it means they’ve been at yellow, which probably means they all pitted and got new tires. When the difference between first place and 25th is about 1 mph, every little temperature degree and pound of air pressure matters. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-cars-swerving-while-following-the-pace-car/20140/7 "2000-05-22T13:50:26Z")
My father worked pit at Indy for nearly a decade, so there’s my credentials. 🙂 Basically: What Democrirus and Chandeleur said. They’re warming up, heating up, the tires to improve traction. Something else to consider–those tires are about $5,000 apiece. Multiply that times the multiple pit stops–where all four tires are replaced every time–and you’ve got a serious expense, just for the tires! ---
**Author:** ![BigJoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9bd4f/32.png) [@BigJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigJoe)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2000, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/race-cars-swerving-while-following-the-pace-car/20140/8 "2000-05-22T19:33:57Z")
There is also another reason to swerve back and forth. Say this is the second yellow flag in 15 laps and the leaders stay out to keep track position. When they slow down, the now hot, sticky tires will pick up small pieces of rubber from the track. If the don’t scrub these back off before a restart, the car is hard to control for the first few laps back at speed.