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NASCAR Car of Tomorrow Presser

by Charlie Turner

I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

March 30, 2007 1:07 pm CDT 1 Comment

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Today’s press conference with NASCAR’s Robin Pemberton and John Darby was full of answers to many of the questions that we have been asking since the Bristol race. In general the NASCAR powers seem pleased, so far.

THE MODERATOR: John, what were your thoughts about last week’s race?

JOHN DARBY: We’re probably focusing on a whole different side of it, but being in the very fundamental stages of the new car, what myself and a lot of our inspectors are charged with or what our biggest concerns are is making sure that everything that surrounds the new car is raceable. Can we run 500 miles without overheating all the cars? Can we still have brakes left on the cars at the end? Are there failures of shocks or gears or springs? All the components that have now found their way into the new car.

And we came out of Bristol with a list of things to look at. Obviously there was some exhaust system failures. We’ve talked to the teams that experienced those failures and have addressed them, or the teams have addressed them and are working on the problems, working on the fixes.

As far as the overall performance of the car, from a competition standpoint, my side of it is I don’t know if we’ll see that until we get to some of the bigger tracks, maybe Darlington specifically, in regards to all of the cars.

What we did get a good opportunity to see was not only the reliability of the car but the durability of the car and the fact that it is very mechanically sound in regards to reacting to spring changes, shock changes, stop changes and all of the things that ultimately determine the lineup.

If you are interested in the official position on Biffle’s car, splitters cutting down tires, failed exhaust systems and the possibility of a full season of the Car of Eventually in 2008, then check out the whole thing.Download news_release_nascar_media_cot.htm

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Nextel Cup Series

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Five things to love about NASCAR

by Charlie Turner

March 30, 2007 12:36 am CDT No Comments

I know, break out the cornbread! The fact is, my attention span has never been long enough, ain’t that right Mrs. McGilvery, to stick with anything as long as I have NASCAR if I didn’t have a list like this. So here goes.

So far, every driver, crew chief or team member, media personality or team owner that I have met or spoken with personally has been nothing short of terrific. I have been lucky. Through On PIT ROW I have met many NASCAR personalities. Every single one has been down to earth, patient approachable and helpful. Let me tell you, it’s pretty cool to have one of your heroes like Bobby Allison intro you on a radio show. In fact I have it recorded on a loop, so I can play it over and over, as often as I need to. That is often.

Color. The cars, pit crew uniforms, helmets, the haulers, track logos, spectators, green, white, checker. All of it.

Junior. He really isn’t my favorite driver. He might be one of my favorite people, though, and I don’t even know him. Just like him, that’s all.

There are no Yankees in NASCAR.

Robby Gordon. Most under appreciated driver in the sport. What can I say? I love a good argument.

There it is, out there for all to see. Do you have a list? I showed you mine.

Filed under: Busch Series, Car of Tomorrow, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Nextel Cup Series, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio

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Martinsville could be NASCAR’s perfect storm

by Charlie Turner

March 29, 2007 11:04 pm CDT 3 Comments

The Food City 500 at Bristol was kind of like a tropical storm. The build up, with anticipation of big destruction on the horizon. It just kind of spun along, there was plenty of wind and noise. But no hurricane.

If the experts are right, this week at Martinsville, Virginia could be a whole different deal. Jeff Hammond of Fox Sports and the Speed Channel says…

We could see a lot more cars with damage and a lot more guys being turned around. Drivers will think about what they should have done at Bristol, and some will think that they shouldn’t have given a little bit for fear of knocking the radiator out of the car. But they should have a lot more confidence this week. more…

Owner’s points from last year are out the window now. To stay in the top thirty five in owner points, you have to earn it, this year. That pressure has changed and some of the teams that had a pass for the first five races are facing a different reality. If the perfect storm hits, there are hungry sharks waiting to feed on the castaways. There could be some this week. Steve Waid, Scenedaily blog

At Bristol, there were some incidents in which a left-rear tire was cut when it was hit by another car’s front air splitter.

Cars race in close quarters at Bristol and even more so at Martinsville. If it evolves that there are more cut tires than usual, no one should be surprised.

Reckon we’ll see, right? more…

The collision of three fronts, team owner and sponsor desperation to make races consistently, with renewed confidence of drivers in the stoutness of their rides and finally, the naturally squally nature of a half mile bullring of a race track, well, the ingredients of the brew are available.

This could be the first named storm of the season. I vote for Robby.

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Nextel Cup Series

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The blog must ….go on

by Charlie Turner

March 29, 2007 1:10 am CDT No Comments

Man, as easy as it is to do a two hour live NASCAR radio show, this posting business can sure stump me. It doesn’t matter how seemingly little the world of the family von France provides us some weeks, we always have more than enough stuff to run out of time to present ON PIT ROW.

The blog is a bit tougher for me. Although it may not seem so, I try to be original and thoughtful and at least kind of knowledgeable in here. There is plenty to write about this week. I mean I have read many great posts about the Car of Whatever and Bristol and Kyle Busch. Jeff Burton’s non-pass and Greg Biffle’s non-cheat. Toyota, Michael Waltrip. Next.

Bob’s comment on the previous post mentions a great Kyle rant on the NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

First of all Kyle, with the way you were driving your car, it seemed to handle alright for you - you won after all.

Secondly, if your car was crap then imagine how bad the cars were in the back of the pack.

Thirdly, what are you a sissy? Imagine actually having to really drive a car and not let the areo or shock package do it for you. I would imagine that if your steering pump broke you would park the car because it would be too much effort for you to drive the car. Hey if it is that bad then quit, there are about 10,000 (and counting) other drivers out there who would drive a Rick Hendrick car. Give your ride to someone who actually deserves it, like Kenny Wallace.

Sorry about the formatting. I don’t have this totally mastered. For sure. Anyway read the rest of 4ever3’s rant if you haven’t already.

Here’s what I think happened to me this week. The past ten or so days of Nextel Cup talk, debate, what have you, has focused on the Car of THIS SPACE FOR SALE. It was fun and certainly important to the sport and the fans of the sport. Technical racing stuff is a gas to argue because, frankly, I don’t know what I’m talking about most of the time but neither does anybody else. Percentage wise, it’s a level playing field. The problem with all that wrench/tech discussion is we got away from the real passion generator in this sport. The passion does not come from car silhouettes and spoiler/splitters. Personalities, or in the case(s) of the Busch Bros, the lack thereof, drive the popularity and speed up the pulse of the kingdom of France.

The picture is from the film "Shakespeare in Love". Great. Very funny.

Anyway, the blog must….thanks again Kyle, you weasel…go on.

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Nextel Cup Series, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, Shut Up and Drive

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NASCAR CoT–BFD

by Charlie Turner

March 26, 2007 6:57 pm CDT 3 Comments

Man am I glad that’s over. The debut of the Car of Tomorrow is history and luckily the 2nd race of the Car of Tomorrow is next week, before we take some time off before the 3rd race of the car of tomorrow. Or will that race be the first race of the Car of Tomorrow on a X track or in Y city or with Z modification. As Jeff Hammond said on our show three weeks ago; lets just start calling it the racecar and get on with it.

The COT was the car of the day last week and will be again next week. It is just the "hand that is dealt". So guys–play your hand the best you can. Then to hear Kyle Busch trash the stead that took him to victory was appalling. Candor and a straight forward approach is one thing but; mom taught me that if you keep poking the bear in the eye long enough, the bear will solve the problem–once and for good.

Heaven knows I love radio and the guys at MRN and PRN do a great job of trying to paint a picture of what is happening on the track, but there is nothing like seeing what is happening. I could only hear the radio broadcast of the end of the race; and only bits and pieces at that because of a lot of noise where I was. I heard "Denny Hamlin leads." then the next thing I heard was "that was the worst case scenario for Kyle Busch." Needless to say, I totally missed that Kyle had taken the lead and had put a huge distance between him and 2nd place. Thus "the worst case scenario" wasn’t Kyle blowing up or some pit disaster–it was a caution that brought the field back to him. There is nothing like being able to see what is happening.

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow

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Todd Bodine CoT fan

by Charlie Turner

March 25, 2007 12:16 am CDT 1 Comment

I promised last week to post a transcript of Todd Bodine’s comments from our March 13, 2007 ON PIT ROW episode. I thought that Todd’s descriptions of the handling aspects of the Craftsman trucks and
their relationship to the (then) Car of Tomorrow design were the best I had heard. I hope it comes through in print. It got started when I said to Todd that I think it looks like the truck is more fun to race that the current car.

Yeah, it really is. And there’s two major factors for that. The aerodynamics are the absolute biggest factor. We have a thing that’s called side force, it’s the amount of pressure that the air pushes on the side of the car or the truck. And obviously with the big flat sides that the truck has, it has more side force. And the more side force you have, the more sideways you can run it and still gather it back. The freer you can run it so you can go faster. So it makes it really exciting there. And at the same time, the wheelbase is longer than a cup car so that makes it a little easier to drive and you put those two things together it makes for more exciting racing. And plus the truck punches such a big hole in the air it has a really good draft. And you put all that together it makes it a lot of fun to drive and really close racing. And thats why everywhere we go people tell us the truck race is the best show of the weekend, and it usually is.

And that’s what they’ve done with the car of tomorrow. They’ve tried to go more toward the aerodynamic principles of the truck. A bigger hole in the air, a splitter on the front end instead of a valence and a wing on the back which is the biggest difference and was probably the best thing they did because the back of the car doesn’t rely on down pressure on the trunk. When a car gets up beside you or behind you, it will take that down pressure off. The wing relies on horizontal air movement so you get a much cleaner air flow and the car behind you doesn’t effect you as much. So you’re going to see a lot closer racing, I think. You know there’s a lot of guys that don’t like the new car and a lot that do like it. I’m one of them that really likes it and I think it’s going to be a great future for NASCAR and the sport in general.

After some general conversation about splitters in truck racing (Todd like’s ‘em) We asked Todd specifically about the bumping and banging that we all expect at Bristol and is the splitter configuration more vulnerable than the traditional set up.

Yeah, that’s a very good question. It’s actually much less vulnerable. With a truck you don’t rely on the front fenders as much as the cars do. Don’t get me wrong, they still matter. The car of today probably relies 80 percent on the front fenders for downforce. And with the splitter, you can’t hardly knock it off. You can rub it off by dragging it on the racetrack but that just means you need to put more spring in it so you don’t drag it. It’s really up to the teams whether they want to drag the splitter or not. You just don’t see the trucks have much of a problem with the splitters.

We talked about other subjects including the usual questions about how his 2006 championship had impacted his life and life’s work and about driving for a Toyota team. He was terrific and both Steve and I are now solidly fans of the Onion.

But there is no earthly way you will get me to transcribe another sentence. What a pain.

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Craftsman Truck Series, Nextel Cup Series

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