Daily NASCAR

I don’t understand JR Motorsports. They spend an awful lot of time complaining about their money situation. Dale Jr. advertised how much the wrecks cost him at Daytona; and they seem to constantly be advertising their struggle to find sponsorship (welcome to the club). And lest you think otherwise their team spokesman is more than willing to underscore how much Jr. is putting into the team out of his own pocket. So what do they do? They decide they’re going to run a car full time that they don’t appear to have fully funded. What!?

Apparently it was just too good of a team not to run full-time. And That’s fine. I’m happy for Scott Wimmer. Certainly Wimmer is a proven winner in the Nationwide Series and he’s a little easier sell to sponsors. When he’s in good equipment he’s shown he can be competitive. But why the sudden change in rhetoric?

Maybe they do have money lined up for this team. Maybe this weekend is a way for them to cement some deal. Or perhaps they lined something up for the #88 and had enough money from another deal to keep this thing going. I don’t know.

If they don’t though I hope for their sake they’re not going to try the ‘let’s run well and hope we impress a sponsor strategy.’ We saw how well that worked for Ganassi, not once but twice. Ask Aric Almirola and Dario Franchitti (and all the people who got laid off). Or how about RAB Racing, a team that really doesn’t have any money, trying to make a go at a full-time run this season with Scott Riggs (right now their asking fans to help sponsor their ride). This strategy generally has one certain result: lost money.

Unfortunately waiting and hoping you can quickly put a deal together just isn’t very realistic, especially in the Nationwide Series. You can get away with running a competitive truck team (and not lose your ass) by piecemealing different small deals; it’s substantially harder in the Nationwide Series (unless Junior is willing to lose some money).

It’s fine if they want to run a team full-time without full funding. I don’t care. But quit talking about your money issues and how much everything is going to cost you. We get it at this point.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Other Racing Series

David Brabham is one of the most accomplished racers of his generation, with a Formula One ride in the early 1990s followed by victories at LeMans and Sebring and an American Le Mans Series championship last year. Well traveled and worldly wise, Brabham was born in England, raised in Australia and has competed everywhere in between.

Brabham, 44, is a big picture kind-of-guy who is as passionate in raising money to fight malaria as he is dedicated to his successful racing career. He could be driving a Ferrari around town, but chooses the more efficient Volkswagen Golf.

On his driver’s suit, where most drivers wear a flag representing their home country, Brabham instead has a patch of the planet Earth.

“We are human beings, we don’t belong to a country, we all live on the planet Earth. … it just works for me to think that way,” he explained.

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They don’t get any TV time and you have probably never heard most of their names, but a position within the race teams that continues to gain in importance is the pit crew coach.  Many teams have full time coaches, while others have part time or contract coaches.  But no matter the level of employment, these guys can really help set a team apart from the competition.

Since they don’t get much coverage, I will throw a few names at you of coaches at the bigger teams: Richard Childress Racing has Matt Clark; Mike Lepp coaches at Joe Gibbs Racing; Greg Morin, Mark Mauldin, and Walt Smith lead the Hendrick crews; Eric Wilson and Andy Ward lead the Petty/Roush conglomerate; Greg Miller is at Michael Waltrip Racing; Lance Munksgard coaches Red Bull; and Trent Cherry coaches at Penske.

During the week, coaches spend their time breaking down the film of the pit stops from the previous weekend and running practices.  Some will also work with their pit crews in the gym, leading workouts and training sessions.  At the race track, (if they don’t go over the wall themselves) they will be looking over the tape of recent pit stops and helping with advice or small adjustments during the race.

Coming up in your career, you encounter all different types of coaches.  And just like any other sport, some coaches are really good, and some are not.  Many come from athletic training backgrounds, while others are ex-changers, carriers, and/or jackmen.

As is the case in most sports, you learn to absorb as much as you can from the really good coaches, and try really hard to not let a bad coach screw you up completely.  The good coaches are the guys that can watch just a few stops and be able to see the small things that either make you good or hold you back.  They know when to step in with some coaching, and when to say nothing.  The bad coaches are just the opposite.  They could watch pit stops for days and never be able to tell you definitively what you are doing right or wrong.  All these guys are good for, is holding the stop watch.

Coaches do have a tough job, because they are often the first person a crew chief or manager searches out when a stop goes wrong.  They have to be able to take the flak from an angry crew chief and translate that into advice or adjustments that will help the crew be better.  And like I said earlier, some are better with this stuff than others.

For me personally, it can be very difficult to listen to a coach who has never been over the wall (trust me, some haven’t).  Racing is such a different sport, that the coaching means a lot more coming from a guy who knows what it’s like to step off the wall during a green flag stop, while your driver is leading.  I’m not saying actual race experience is essential, because some coaches are good at what they do even without that knowledge, but it certainly helps.

As the Cup and Nationwide cars head to Bristol this weekend, I would encourage you to really watch the pit stops during the races.  Bristol’s pit road can get interesting, because of the setup and small pit stalls, and pit stops will be very important to success at Thunder Valley.  When your favorite driver’s team busts off a 12.60 stop and sends him out in the lead, don’t forget about the pit crew coach who helped them do it.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Other Racing Series

Every time 26-year-old Morgan Lucas climbs into his 8,000-horsepower, nitro-fueled, super-charged Geico/Toyota Top Fuel dragster to ready himself for a 325-mph run down the narrow 1,000-foot drag strip, his nerves are on end, his adrenaline is flowing and his heart is pounding.

But it’s nothing compared to what the National Hot Rod Association’s (NHRA) youngest Top Fuel driver experiences standing at the start line watching his nearly 60-year-old mother, Charlotte Lucas, race down the same track at 170 mph in the Super Comp class, driving a miniature version of Lucas’ dragster.

“She always gets so nervous watching me, and now I know how she feels,” Morgan Lucas said. “I get that same nervousness watching her race.

“She wanted to see the passion and learn why I was always so excited to get in the car. And now she gets it.”

Boy, does she.

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With the first off weekend of the season in the rear view, we head to Thunder Valley this week.  The Cup cars are getting some spoiler testing in before they leave for Bristol, and while they do we have more questions and answers for you.  If you don’t know what this post is, we answer any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here.  So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us.  On to the questions…

1. From Ric:

TC, when you are (un)tightening lugs, what is it you look for, feel for, listen for, etc. before you move on to the next?

It’s really all about feel.  When you go to your local tire shop, you can hear what an impact sounds like when the lugnuts are really tight.  That noise is the gun ratcheting over.  For the good changers, you will never hear the gun ratchet over like that.  We just want to stay on the nuts long enough that they are just tight.  Don’t stay on long enough, and they will be loose, stay on too long, and you won’t be able to get them off on the next stop.  After you’ve been doing pitstops for several years, your brain and your hands just know when to move to the next. – T.C.

2. From Lee:

I know that the drivers get to fly in private jets to and from races.  What about the crew?  Do they fly commercial or ride in the hauler?  Do they usually travel together, or are they on their own to make it to the racetrack?

It depends on the team. Some teams have their guys fly commercial, others have private jets they fly their teams on. TC has actually written a couple of posts on the subject here and here (this one includes links to pictures of team planes). Teams like Roush, Hendrick,  RCR, etc all have planes (Roush actually has a Boeing 727); teams like Front Row fly commercial. For smaller teams, when the track is within driving distance, they’ll often make their guys drive – this is especially the case in lower series. They don’t ride in the truck though, they take vans. – Journo

3. From djones:

My question is regarding templates. In LV Robby Gordon’s car didn’t fit the template. If he has same at shop, why didn’t it? Same thing happened to JJ Cobb in ATL. Template didn’t fit. BTW, I don’t know which ones they were. Can templates get warped somehow? Does hot/cold affect them? Are any tolerances allowed? Thanks TC & Journo.

Templates are made of aluminum, and while I don’t know the chemical properties of aluminum, I don’t believe they really distort.  Whenever cars are run through templates though, they are always in the shade.  There are certain areas that NASCAR will let teams slide on if the template doesn’t quite fit.  They may pass you, but tell you to fix it for next week.  On top of that, NASCAR does allow for some tolerances on templates.  If you ever make it to a track like Daytona, where the inspection areas are visible, you will see the officials use a small gauge that measures the tolerance between the template and the body. – T.C.

4. From Rick:

I’m a huge fan of Bill Elliott. Is he very respected in the garage and If given a good car, do you think he could win again?

My answer is yes and probably not. It’s hard not to have a lot of respect for Bill Elliott. He’s a good guy and great race car driver. While he is still pretty good with Wood Brothers (which doesn’t have bad equipment), I have a hard time seeing him make a Mark Martin like return to full-time competition. Remember Mark, even during his part-time seasons, remained very competitive. Bill has been OK, but just hasn’t had that spark since he retired from full-time competition. – Journo

5. From yankeegranny:

I am surprised that crew chiefs don’t do more to see that their drivers lead a lap during the pit stop sequences. A case in point, if JR had lead laps in the second and third races, he would be in the top 12 instead of sitting in 13th, In the first 26 races leading a lap in every race(not likely, but possible,) a driver could accumulate an additional 130 points, Now that is not chump change in anyone’s book. I want to throw something at the tv, everytime JR gets up to 3rd or 4th during pit stops and Lance tells him pit this lap, instead of telling him to lead a lap and then pit.

All of this sounds good, but it doesn’t always work out that a team can lead a lap during pit stops.  It really depends on how far the car can go on fuel, and how much time a car is giving up on old tires to a car on new tires.  Lance McGrew isn’t going to leave Dale Jr. on track to lead a lap if there is a chance he may run out of fuel.  Five bonus points in that situation isn’t worth screwing up the whole race.  The reasoning is the same for tires.  If Dale Jr. is out front on old tires, and tires fall off a ton, somebody on new tires will be able to make up a ton of track position.  When this is the case, when Jr. does finally pit, he will be further behind then he was before the sequence of pit stops. – T.C.

6. From Richard:

Why doesn’t Nascar make the wing or spoiler hinge against a stop so when the car goes backwards it just flips over and has no lift when going backwards.

I’m no engineer, but this sounds like something that wouldn’t be too reliable. I question whether or not it would work every time, or whether it would work like it should. Likewise a fixed wing and spoiler allow NASCAR to ensure equality among the teams; a revolving spoiler or wing would probably leave some room for fudging. It seems to me, having a fixed wing or spoiler is just a whole lot easier. – Journo

7. From Joe:

Can you give us an idea of exactly where the restrictor plate is located, perhaps using a quick diagram of the car? Also, how has the restrictor plate changed this year? What are the restrictor plate tracks? Can you also give us a rough estimate of the speed difference of a car with the restrictor plate and without?

The restrictor plate is located on top of the engine, in between the carburetor and the intake manifold.  I found an image that illustrates the location here.  NASCAR made the holes in the restrictor plate a little bigger this season, so the engines will have more horsepower.  Restrictor plates are only used at Daytona and Talladega.  In May of 1987, Bill Elliott sat on the pole at Talladega with an average speed around the 2.66 mile track of 212.809 mph without any restrictions.  A year later at Talladega, with a restrictor plate with 1″ holes, Davey Allison sat on the pole with a speed of 198.696 mph.  This season at Daytona, Mark Martin sat on the pole with a speed of 191.188 mph.  So the restrictor plate does definitely slow the cars down quite a bit. – T.C.

And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close.  Thanks to everyone who sent in questions.  And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!

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