Inside Motorsports
Feature Story
This month: Changing the Way Tracks are Built
Multi-Purpose Tracks & Concrete = Recipe for Disaster Commentary by Bill McDonald
It's a little too late for Dale Earnhardt, Adam Petty, Tony Roper and Kenny Irwin, but it may just be time for NASCAR to take a look at the construction of its racetracks, especially the number of flat, multi-purpose race tracks that use concrete retaining walls. The combination has been shown to be a recipe for disaster. The flat tracks, which aren't particularly a great favorite of the drivers, came about in the 80's and 90's when promoters, looking to unload their loan debt as quickly as possible, decided they needed to build a facility that could handle more than just the NASCAR stockers. So, they built 1 mile and 1 1/2 mile facilities with almost no banking, so that other forms of racing, such as Indy Car, could compete on these speedways. This, in itself, is not a problem, it may even have made some sense on paper, more races mean more revenue. In reality, however, when that type layout is combined with concrete barriers you are just asking for trouble. Two things stand out as red flags about this combination. First, when a car looses control on a banked facility the driver has some assistance from the track both in turning the car slightly and in scrubbing off some speed, thus the impact into the concrete wall isn't as severe. The only problems on banked tracks appear to be the right fender impact and, of course, the driver side impact.This simply does not happen on a flat track. Most times the impact after a cut tire or stuck accelerator is immediate, direct and hard. Secondly is the fact that on flat tracks, most (read 98%) drivers run on the bottom of the track. Tracks, such as those at Louden, Homestead and Phoenix may be wide, but everyone uses the bottom 20 feet to race. So, compared to a fast track like Daytona, Charlotte or Darlington, where drivers RUN up next to the wall and only have a couple feet to go when they hit the concrete, and then usually at an angle, at the flat tracks the ride to the fence is fast and direct.
Then, there is the concrete itself. There is no "give" to concrete. It's made that way on purpose. It is great for bridges, but not race track retaining walls. NASCAR has to seriously consider lining the walls at these multi-purpose tracks with something along the lines of Styrofoam padding (used at some CART and Formula 1 tracks) or a rubberized material, less messy to clean up than the styro after a crash, to absorb some of the impact. (The IPS barrier system is a good possibility as it is a combination of rubber and PVC material. There is a more complete story at autoracing1.com) I have no doubt that NASCAR will study the crashes and do something. They are VERY safety conscious, especially when it comes to the cars, and four deaths in a year is far TOO many. They may well suggest some mechanical remedies, but it is time to look at the TRACKS as well. It is time to make some fundamental changes to the structure of these tracks and how they are built, before any more drivers with tons of potential, or tons of fans, aren't around to see the changes.
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Will Dodge's Return Jump Price of Racing?
Dodge's return to Winston Cup Racing in 2001 and, potentially, to Busch Grand National shortly thereafter (2002), has already started to change the racing landscape around NASCAR. Daimler/Chrysler's reported war chest of funds available to help in the development of a competitive Winston Cup race car has caused other manufacturers to also take a look at their budgets for the future. If Dodge does fully fund 4 to 5 (10) cars , will Ford and Chevrolet also have to follow suit and pick a selected 3-4 teams to give "factory" backing to the detriment of the other teams, who will get support, but nowhere close to that which will be available to the elite teams? That could eventually push the highly competitive circuit back to the days of the 1960's when only 7-8 teams actually had a chance to run on the lead lap all day. Also, teams are already beginning to look at the addition of more R&D teams. This has been done in the past, but only in a half-hearted manner. Currently, Cal Wells and Robert Yates are both talking with certain drivers about working as a part-time drivers and full time testers for their operations for 2001. At the same time, Winston Cup teams are looking harder at adding more driver development teams to the already crowded Busch Series fields. All of these are cost added expenditures at a time when sponsors able to foot the $8-10 million dollar price tag continue to evaporate. The 3-4 teams supported by the factories would be able to afford the price but most teams would begin to lose ground to the ones with the big war chests. This could widen the have-have not gap to where NASCAR racing could begin to lose some of that continuously growing fan appeal.
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Virtual Race Day
NASCAR fans have long reveled in getting a taste of competition by racing each other on computer generated tracks on such games as NASCAR 2000. Now NASCAR drivers themselves are getting closer to using that technology to squeeze just a little more testing into an already extremely tight schedule.
In sort of a super hyped up computer game, drivers will be able to eventually test tires, chassis setups, spoiler angle or design and even get in a few extra laps of practice on their toughest track without ever actually travelling to the facility.
Instead of trips to the track or wind tunnel, teams will be able to get the same information by just changing the conditions in a very controlled atmosphere right on their computer. The new Ford Taurus was designed and on the race track in only nine months thanks in part to this type of virtual testing.
The most valuable commodity for race teams today is time. With the very demanding 34 race schedule and limited test dates, any available info is key to making a winner out of an also ran. In a situation where the team knows what the track characteristics are, a program to duplicate that on the computer is fairly easy and remarkably accurate. It would certainly allow teams to forgo much of the trial and error setup time that is common on test days for a certain track.
John Valentine, chief engineer for Ford Advanced Racing Technology stated "Millions of adjustments can be made to a race car. Computers just help you narrow the field of reference. If you have 15 carburetor setups and the computer can weed out the top three, it will save a lot of testing time."
It may still be in its infancy, but certainly this is one huge part to the puzzle when it comes to the ever growing demands on Winston Cup race teams.
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Inside Motorsports Top 12 Rated Teams
With the 2001 season just past the half way point, it's time to update our Top 12 teams based on performance potential as the points chase starts in earnest for the Winston Cup Championship.
- Jeff Gordon - Hendrick Chevrolet Meshing of Gordon & Loomis is hitting its stride, never bet against him...
- Ricky Rudd - Yates Ford Lots more power and a whole lot less distractions...
Dale Jarrett - Yates Ford Has top notch crew and now top notch teammate...
Bobby Labonte - Gibbs Pontiac Finally ready to battle for second championship...
- Tony Stewart - Gibbs Pontiac He just has to control those emotions...
- Kevin Harvick - Childress Chevrolet What a pleasant surprise!...
- Rusty Wallace - Penske Ford He still has desire and Penske hates to lose...
- Sterling Marlin - Ganassi Dodge Coming along very smoothly in Year 1.
- Jeff Burton - Roush Ford Could be the best all around driver with a little luck, certainly the best interview...
- Johnny Benson - MB3 Pontiac Improving team...lots of talent...
- Ward Burton - Davis Dodge Starting to figure the new Dodge out, vastly improved...
- Mark Martin - Roush Ford No longer in pain, is focused on getting back to victory lane...
Also featured:
A Look at the ASA plan for using production line engines in 2000
Interesting story out of the ASA (American Speed Association) Series. It appears that the Midwestern based racing series that has sent drivers like Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace and Ken Schrader to Winston Cup, might attempt to put some "stock" back into their stock cars next season. The sanctioning body may require production line engines equipped with production electronic fuel injection be used next season. The new LS1 engine supplied by General Motors is based on the engine currently used in the Chevrolet Corvette and Camaro. It has an aluminum block and aluminum heads and will use a roller cam shaft. ASA officials say it will put out 450 HP. (Now you know why Corvette owners pay such high insurance premiums!) Officials like the potential switch because the production engine should only cost $10,000 and the 450 HP it produces is only about 20 HP less than the $30,000 6 cylinder engines used currently in ASA. Not only will the "LASAR" project reduce engine costs, but reliability could go up as well. Dyno tests simulating a full season of racing produced NO failures. If this works successfully, it could be something that NASCAR might evaluate, a back to the future concept of running what the factories build.
That's our Feature Stories for this month. We'd love to hear your top stories or comments. Just use the e-mail button below and drop us a line.
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