| | | | | | | | |  | | | | The annual Independence Day celebration of our country’s birth brings with it a huge weekend at Daytona Beach for those of us in the stock car world. The much maligned NASCAR COT car comes out to play at the Daytona International Speedway, restrictor plate and all, an event that generally provides its own brand of fireworks.
As a kid, one of my favorite races was "the Paul Revere 250" which was run at night on the road course with the Grand American Camaros and Mustangs. Very cool stuff watching Smokey Yunicks black and gold Camaro go around with Paul Goldsmith at the wheel. Tiny Lund was always fun to watch!
Last week's blog prompted some letters from our RaceGear.com fans. Apparently we have struck a chord! We are listening loud and clear. The voices of the owners and drivers are not falling on deaf ears mind you. The powers that be understand this car has kinks to work out, plain and simple. The curve may be higher than expected. Change of anything in all walks of life is difficult. Making us racers change our thought process from what "was" the normal is no small task. Just a tick worse than throwing out that pair of jeans we have been wearing forever.
Much is being made of the testing rules being relaxed. It isn’t that big of a deal really. So we were not allowed to go test at a track we raced at like Darlington or Richmond unless it was authorized. No big deal. Get tires from Hoosier, go to Kentucky, Rockingham, Greenville Pickens, Caraway. Do you really think there are any rules written that we don’t try to figure out how to get around? It is the way of our world!
Complaining about the car isn’t going to make it any better, any more than whining about the cost of racing. Racing has always been an expensive sport, contrary to what anyone wants to tell you. In 1976 my take home pay was $110 a week. Our right rear tire for our Saturday night modified stock car, one of which we needed new every weekend, cost $130. So what has changed? We still needed gas money to get there and a few bucks for the diner on the way home. We learned the lesson of needing to look for sponsorship at an early age in racing… the soap box derby when I was 12. Controlling costs in racing is a very difficult item. You simply cannot please everyone.
My suggestion has always been for racers and team owners of all kinds to look in the mirror. A tough examination. Some of the expense wounds are self-inflicted, like temperature controlled buildings for the haulers to be kept in. I just always wonder about the necessity of some of this stuff.
Winning the race of the biggest baddest buildings, motor homes and airplanes have not helped the budgets. Dad always said, "The checkered flag has no eyes." We may not have the nicest tool box (and we are working on it) but we have the Roush Yates smoke under the hood!
This week's event should be fun to watch. The cars punch that big hole in the air and get a great push from behind. A couple years back with the "conventional" car, bump drafting became more and more prevalent. Al Unser Jr. and Earnhardt Sr. showed us how with the IROC cars.
The rear bumpers went from a single piece of tubing to support the front and rear fascia (bumper cover) that are made of a Kevlar composite. As we continued to pound on one another, the tubing went from a small round tube, maybe an inch and a quarter in diameter, with a wall thickness of one eighth or less, to having "rail road iron" under the head and tail light panels. Two to three rows across, with support pillars up and down from end to end. The harder the bump, the more material we would put back there under the rear bumper especially. Then the rule change…
A bulletin came out that we needed to go back to the flyweight materials. The thought was simple: with softer materials underneath the body panels, we wouldn’t hit each other so hard and risk damaging the aerodynamics on the body. Wrong! We left the soft bumper structure underneath then plated the tubing. "Nobody said we couldn’t plate the things," we reasoned.
So we will see lots of bump drafting this weekend. Probably going to see some torn-up sheet metal as well. But the brand of racing is good. It is a chess game at best. Some drivers really enjoy plate racing, the ones who are always successful. Others despise it, the mind games and the partner you need to find to help you along, who would hang you out to dry in a heart beat! We will see. | | | Permalink | Comments (0) | | | | | | | | | | |
