Nascar: 2010

[Don]

" NASCAR will use the media's annual preseason visit to its R&D Center on Jan. 21 to announce several rule changes for the upcoming Sprint Cup season. Among them are the likely ditching of the Car of Tomorrow's controversial rear wing in favor of a more traditional rear spoiler, removing the yellow "no passing" zones at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, and allowing drivers to once again bump draft in corners. "

http://www.autoweek.com/article/2010...SCAR/100119988

[Ron61]

Don,

I was reading that and some drivers like the idea of going back to the spoiler. The bump drafting in the corner was somewhat of an issue for some of them it seems as they think it will lead to more wrecks. But it would take the decision out of NASCARs hands as to whether a driver bump drafter in the corner or hit another car accidentally.

Ron

[Wayne Maybury]

Some of the comments after the article were most interesting. It appears that many people are upset with the way NASCAR has been run the past few years. I especially like the comment that "NASCAR is pro wrestling at 180 mph".

Wayne

[Don]

By now, most have seen :

" NASCAR told the teams Friday that it will replace the rear wing with a spoiler at some point during the 2010 Sprint Cup season. More testing is needed in the wind tunnel, which will help determine a size, shape and angle for the spoiler. In addition, NASCAR has slated an open test March 23-24 at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the teams.

The goal is to have similar downforce and balance with the spoiler as NASCAR has had with the wing, according to the NASCAR bulletin. Teams won’t fabricate the spoilers, which will be purchased from an approved vendor. "


http://www.scenedaily.com/news/artic...mentation.html

Not an engineer and it's been many years + since Physics 101, NASCAR may have overlooked that once the car is in the air off the track and/or partially/fully turned the wing originally intended for down force became a wing for lift, with air striking the under portion of the wing, leading to the flight patterns such as Carl Edwards hitting the upper portion of the fence.

This is separate from the visibility issue where the driver behind a car was blocked by the height/position of the wing from seeing thru the back and front window to other cars and action on the track.

Seems the sustained high speeds in NASCAR created a situation that has not caused the same problem with other race series using a wing vs a rear spoiler.

Other opinions ?

[Ron61]

Some of the other racing series use a wing that is higher and doesn't block anyones view. Remember the old winged Dodges and Plymouths in 1969? That wing was well out of the way of anyone in the car or behind it. Other series that use a lower wing use more real like cars and they don't have the same issues as the NASCAR designed car does.

Ron

[tcrist]

My main issue with the wing is just what happened to Ryan Newman this year. The car turned around and it created lift. If it was not for the wing his car probably would have just spun around. Maybe not but probably.

[rustyBob]

good bye WING.....thank god...
I was watching the English super cars......
and they had a wrecker that had a boom on
it that when there was a wreck they put a strap
through the window openings and lifted the car
onto the flat bed truck and it made clean up from
the wreck go a lot faster...NASCAR should check into this........

[Ron61]

But then they couldn't run 1/4th of the race under caution flags while they run on and on about how great the racing is. Mostly behind the pace car.

Ron

[Wayne Maybury]

Bob

F1 does a similar thing except they just hook the boom to the roll bar that is part of the air intake. They can lift a car and move it to a safe area in just a few seconds.

Wayne

[Ron61]

Wayne,

That is true but two things come into play here. One, the NASCAR weight many times what a Formula 1 car does. Two, the NASCAR people want to patch the car together and get it back on the track where normally in Formula 1 and other types of racing, they don't do that. Lifting one of those heavy NASCAR bodies by any means would most likely damage the frame or other parts that would make it hard for them to repair and get it back on the track to shred pieces and cause more cautions.

Ron

[rustyBob]

Ron
they could put a trap door in the top of the car
with a ring built into the roll bar and pick the car up....
those british super cars dont look very light to me......
they would just need a stronger boom truck........

[Ron61]

Bob,

I believe they discussed putting a trap door in the top of the cars to make it easier to gt the drivers out if they had a bad wreck and the car was bent but for some reason I don't think they went very far with it. I remember Michel Waltrup who is pretty tall thinking it would make it easier just getting in and out. That seemed like a good idea to me but it just didn't go far. Not sure why.

Ron

[Joe Wicked]

Micheal used it for a few races and made a point of using it to get out of the car once I remember. After that never heard anything else about it.

[Don]

Believe Michael Waltrip is one of the tallest drivers in NASCAR. The COT top structure is higher than the old car, allowing for an easier exit if the top had to be cut and/or there was any compression of the roll bar cage.

[Joe Wicked]

Don,
That does make a lot of sense as that was the old car he used the roof hatch in.

All in all I just hope this season starts to have some real racing again as I am about ready to just write off Nascar.

[Don]

" All in all I just hope this season starts to have some real racing again as I am about ready to just write off Nascar "

I think NASCAR realizes there now needs to be some compromises between leveling the playing field and cost reduction, in order to have fan friendly racing. No fans, then no sponsors, then no funding to the Teams

Fan attendance decline at the tracks can be partially explained by the economic conditions. But, the bigger concern is the drop off in TV viewing which relates to decreased sponsor/advertising dollars and the subsequent revenue for the tracks and Teams.

Having more consistent start times in 2010 might help, but shorter races might also attract and retain the viewers, except for historically significant races such as the Daytona 500. There are races where the middle portion becomes very uninteresting, waiting for the action to start at the end of the race.

[Don]

" Some NASCAR tracks cut seating capacity "

By Nate Ryan
USA TODAY Jan 19

As demand has shrunk for NASCAR tickets, so have the superspeedways that hold Sprint Cup races.

Several tracks have sliced their grandstand capacities by several thousand seats after a 2009 season in which attendance was flat or down at virtually every race. Among the biggest drops are Daytona International Speedway (168,000 to 146,000) and Phoenix International Raceway, which dropped by 20,000 seats. With a seating capacity of 56,000, Phoenix now has the coziest oval grandstands on the series behind Darlington Raceway and Martinsville Speedway (both 63,000) despite being one of NASCAR's largest markets.

Noting many other professional sports leagues have built venues with more intimate seating, International Speedway Corp. chief operating officer Roger VanDerSnick says bigger isn't necessarily better anymore.

"My philosophy is don't let PR drive a business decision," says VanDerSnick, whose company owns Phoenix, Darlington, Daytona and nine other Cup tracks. "Phoenix is a nice market, but it's been hit hard. This is an opportunity to take valuable real estate that wasn't going to be used and turn it into amenities."

The cost often is negligible because seats are widened rather than being removed. Phoenix and Richmond International Raceway (which reduced capacity by 12,000) expanded seat width from 18 to 22 inches to address a frequent complaint from fans, according to Phoenix track President Bryan Sperber.

"We think guests are going to appreciate the extra room," Sperber says.

ISC has slashed prices on 500,000 tickets, about a third of total capacity for its 19 Cup races. Though the Daytona 500 (which opens the season Feb. 14) has tickets available, VanDerSnick says ISC has seen a slight uptick in corporate sales, which plummeted last year.

[Joe Wicked]

Originally Posted by Don

" All in all I just hope this season starts to have some real racing again as I am about ready to just write off Nascar "

I think NASCAR realizes there now needs to be some compromises between leveling the playing field and cost reduction, in order to have fan friendly racing. No fans, then no sponsors, then no funding to the Teams

Fan attendance decline at the tracks can be partially explained by the economic conditions. But, the bigger concern is the drop off in TV viewing which relates to decreased sponsor/advertising dollars and the subsequent revenue for the tracks and Teams.

Having more consistent start times in 2010 might help, but shorter races might also attract and retain the viewers, except for historically significant races such as the Daytona 500. There are races where the middle portion becomes very uninteresting, waiting for the action to start at the end of the race.

I really hope so because I used to really enjoy watching and about 02 or so it started to decline and the new car just killed it.

[rustyBob]

They have already shortened the fall race at Fontana for 2010........
if they shorten any more i wount be able to take a nap during the race..........

[Ron61]

First testing of the new spoiler is done and the drivers that did the test seem to like it. From the picture, it doesn't look nearly as high as the old one used to be but that could be the angle of the camera.

http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/head...ers/index.html

Ron