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Can Carl Edwards, Darrell Waltrip,
and an Off Beat Writer Save the Car of Today? August 20, 2008 Jay Staton - SCR The
second and final race of the year has been run at Michigan, and Carl Edwards is the deserving winner. Questions regarding his earlier win at Las Vegas have become a distant memory. He has long since vindicated himself
and his team from speculation that the Vegas win was due to a loose oil tank reservoir lid inside the car that provided him
with an unfair downforce advantage. However, that win could be one of the biggest of the year if it indirectly provides a
clue to making the 2008 car more competitive. There just may be an answer there, but first, let’s revisit the problems
of the 2008 car. The car was designed with a blunt front end, much like a Craftsman
truck, which knocks a much larger hole in the air and theoretically will reduce the advantage of the car in front being in
“clean air.” Additionally, it features a rear wing which, again theoretically, will disrupt the air flowing off
the back of the car far less than the spoiler that was previously used. Finally, the car itself is larger, creating a larger
hole in the air for a car following to “suck up” behind. All of which should make for closer racing.
But as we now know, NASCAR perhaps the most painfully, this simply has not happened, and the cars by and large more aero dependent
than ever, creating races that are won with pit stop and gas mileage strategy instead of, well, racing. Carl Edward’s
win on Sunday was well earned, but it was won in the pits when his crew put him back on the track in front of Kyle Busch—and
not on the track. Ironically,
after NASCAR heavily fined the Hendrick teams for doing aero modifications in between the many points that the “claw”
grid of templates define on the racecar, NASCAR has now let the teams run the cars with the rear of the car skewed to the
right. Why? So that more air gets to the rear wing to provide more downforce to the rear of the car.
Additionally, to get the front
of the car down for the same reason—downforce-- the teams are running a weak right front spring, enough to hold the
car up going down the straights, but not enough to hold it up when the weight rolls over to the right front in a corner. Instead,
a rubber bump stop is being used, and IS the spring in a corner. That is the car bottoms out and goes into a hard push in
the middle of the corner. To attempt to compensate, the crews are “loosening up” or creating oversteer, both going
into and coming out of the corners. The situation borders on the ridiculous. The cars are
traveling down the straights sideways (and heaven help you if someone hits you in either rear quarter panel, the car is now
unstable all by itself), and get even more sideways and unpredictable as they enter the corner, then immediately and violently
go into a push in the middle of the corner and head nose first up the track just before snapping loose again and sending the
rear of the car towards the wall that the front was previously headed for. Are there
any questions why they are not racing closer together? The drivers are about to lose it all by themselves. And all of this is occurring during an economic downturn in which both sponsorship money (not only for the Teams
but also for the various series of NASCAR) and the attendance dollars are becoming harder to come by. So what is a sanctioning body to do…? Earlier in the year after Carl Edwards
oil tank lid was found to be loose and perhaps created an unfair advantage and he was appropriately fined, Darrell Waltrip,
who is basically a proponent of the 2008 Car but also has pointed out it’s shortcomings, commented that we should let
the teams try to sort out the car and if they find something—let them all go with it. Interestingly,
that is precisely what is happening with the crabbing and the bump stops, but an opening within the car allowing fumes and
potentially fire into the cockpit? That would be ridiculous—or would it? NASCAR
has more rules than anyone but Chad Knaus can keep up with, and yet, in spite of all of the rules and the shoot from the hip
calls, the sanctioning body has not been able to create good competition. But Carl’s
loose oil tank lid and Darrell’s remarks did slowly spark an idea for this writer, with more than a little help from
Above, as always. The problem is a lack of downforce, and if the shape of the nose is dropped or the rear is raised to create
more of it, the car will become even more aero dependent, similar to the “old” car. However…if
the underside of the car is raised in tunnels—“ground effects” as it is known, all of the above problems
take care of themselves. The cars would suck down to the track on their own, inherently requiring a heavier right front spring
(and requiring that the nose be marginally above the track), and a crabbing car would suddenly be simply a car creating additional
drag due to increased total effective frontal area. NASCAR has traditionally not been favorable
to ground effects, and not only are the Cup cars not allowed such aero improvements, but the cars in the NASCAR-related sports
car Grand Am series are also flat bottom cars, as mandated by the rules. On the other hand, even road going Ferrari’s
have employed ground effects, as of course have other racing sports car and open wheel series for many years. In NASCAR’s
world of serial numbered chassis and wings, designing and monitoring identical under car aerodynamics would not be an insurmountable
task—if it radically improved the show. It certainly warrants testing to see if the results are positive.
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Sometimes, in fact, most of the
time, trying to do the “right” thing strictly by following a set of arbitrary rules leads to unfavorable results,
and of course, blatantly breaking the rules regarding doing what is right invariably does not work out. But by letting go of the man-made rules and instead waiting quietly for what is right to be Provided—and then
having the courage to act upon it—the 2008 car can perhaps be improved, as can the safety on the track, the revenue,
and of course, what we are all in the sport for--the competition. Perhaps NASCAR will act upon this suggestion,
more likely they will remain mired within a cumbersome rulebook which evolves at a painfully slow pace. But when the similar answers are provided to us, we can act upon them. Today
a somewhat off beat writer described in detail a solution to a problem that does not affect his life, but may have a large
positive impact on the lives of others. When your answers come, consider doing the “right” thing—with a
racers heart, for others in your life. Now for a shameless plug… For those that have may have noticed, this was my first article in a while. I have been detailing a home to perfection
in Sanford, Florida, that is 45 minutes or less away from 3 short tracks and, of course, Daytona Int. Speedway. It is
now available, affordable, and waiting for a new owner to call it home. If you have been thinking about moving to central
Florida and are interested, send me a note.
Questions, Comments: Email Jay The views and opinions in this article are that of the writer(s) and not necessarily that of SCR
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2006 StockCar Review.
