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NASCAR seeks level playing field, Chevy and Ford teams scurrying, and the Winston Cup Scene's readers poll.





Level Playing Field........ Chief Operating Officer Mike Helton

During his address to this year's NASCAR Banquet, Mike Helton referred to the probability of making spoiler and valance changes for the 2000 season. There was a lot of talk in the garage during the wind down of the '99 season about the domination of the Pontiac on the flat tracks, over the Chevies and Fords. Some of the Chevy and Ford teams wanted NASCAR to take some height off of the Pontiac spoiler, while others wanted height added to theirs to become even with the Pontiac.

Helton stated that because of the new 2000 Tauruses and Monte Carlos coming out, the performance of the Chevies and Fords during the '99 season would not be a factor in any rules change decisions. Tests of the new 2000 models against the Pontiac will determine the outcome of any changes. He also referred to the fact that any changes eluding to downforce would be made to the Pontiac, and not to the new Chevy and Ford models. That doesn't sound fair to the Pontiac people, but that's the way they say it will be.





Chevy and Ford Teams........ Busy Off-Season

I imagine the Pontiac Teams are getting quite a rest from the hustle and bustle and constant traveling associated with the racing season. Not so with the Chevy and Ford Teams. These teams are working overtime, rushing to prepare their new 2000 model race cars for the upcoming season. The quicker they can get them built, the more testing time they will have before the pre- Daytona practice sessions.

Of the two new models, Ford is said to have the edge. There aren't any noticeable structural changes to the shape of the car, just some minor cosmetic changes, like a new hood, nose, and tail, and square rear window, replacing the current round one. Wind tunnel tests have the car very similar to the '99 model, and both Ford and the teams are confident of success during testing at Talledega in January 2000.

On the other hand, Jeff Gordon says the new Monte Carlo doesn't seem to have the balance that the present '99 model has. He claims that the new one has a front downforce problem that throws the car out of balance. The shape of the nose is laid back at the top front, resulting in a minimum of air getting into the top air ducts. This causes a heating up problem with the engine. You have to tape off the bottom air ducts to get aerodynamic downforce resulting in speed, but the car doesn't get enough air to keep the engine cool enough on long runs so that the car can be properly tested. When the tape is removed, there is too much drag present for the car to be competitive. Lets face it, it looks like the front of the thing needs a lot of work.
The copyright of the article News and Polls in NASCAR is owned by Thomas M. Sampson. Permission to republish News and Polls in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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