Daytona 500: Bondo to the Rescue

Although the finish of Sunday’s NASCAR Daytona 500 was somewhat controversial because of the green-white-checkered flag situation (meant to provide the fans with a finish during which cars are actually racing, not running in order as in a parade), the good news—especially for winning driver Jamie McMurray—is that they were actually able to finish the race. The problem was a pothole that, like the potholes that will soon be popping up (or that should be “sinking down”) in Detroit and similar places, for somewhat similar reasons: There has been a lot of rain and comparatively cold temps in Daytona, which caused the concrete to give way.

The pothole was filled with the fundamental stuff of pothole fixing and it, like the fundamental stuff of pothole fixing, it gave way after about 30 laps.

So what did they do? Well, as you can’t fill a hole with duct tape (well, you could, but. . .) they busted out the Bondo. That’s right: the stuff that cars—or things that were once cars—have long been slathered with.

Within 45 minutes, the Bondo did the trick and they put the red flag way so the racing could resume.

Speaking of the venerable product that has been around for the past 60 years, Thom Weber, global business manager for 3M Automotive Aftermarket, the purveyor of Bondo, said, “While we would not recommend using Bondo body fillers on potholes in all cases, we’re just glad to have been able to get the track back to a safe condition so the drivers could have a great finish.”