I Didn't Do It
The winds of change, I & II., with news items and the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 from the Richmond International Raceway.
Winds of Change.........
The winds of change have blown across the Winston Cup Series again. There was lots of talk last season about "common templates." NASCAR was trying to find a way to end the carping between teams concerning equality and unfair advantages. They had the idea that if all models had the same body style then they would all be at least aerodynamically equal. Their plan received a lot of criticism from both teams and manufacturers. I believe that the manufacturers won the battle by demanding that their branding be recognized, or else there was no reason for them to invest their advertising dollars in NASCAR racing.
Their latest brainstorm will get them closer to the area of equality, although it won't entirely address the aerodynamic differences between models. In the past, teams have been able to adjust the placement of the body on the chassis to balance the car to their liking depending on the type of track that they were competing on. If they were racing on a super-speedway where downforce is important for high speed cornering, they would mount the body in a more forward position on the chassis. If they were racing at a short track where downforce wasn't as important as central balance, then they would mount the body more to the center or rear of the chassis.
The newly mandated rule for 2003 states that all teams will mount their car bodies on the chassis in relatively the same place. The bodies must be placed 60 inches, give or take ¾ of an inch, from the center of the top windshield seam to the center of the rear axle housing (or pumpkin, as it is commonly called).
The new rule has already caused quite a stir in the garage and shop areas. Teams will have to spend untold millions of dollars to switch the majority of their bodies to meet the new requirements. Several teams have already began the long drawn out process. Several teams have cars that measure from 58 ½ to 59 inches, others have cars that measure from 61 to 63 inches from the windshield seam to the rear assembly. All of these cars will have to be re-bodied before they can be raced in 2003. Regardless of all of the grumbling, and denial of relevance from some of the top teams, the changes will have to be made at the teams and sponsors expense. Just as an example, team owner Ray Evernham stated that it would cost him at least 1 million dollars and 12,000 man hours to re-skin his 32 Dodge Intrepids. A lot of teams will have to re-address the shapes of their roofs and it is a given that the aerodynamics and balance of most of the cars will be affected adversely.
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