The guy is huge. He's 6-5, but in this sport of pocket-size stars, he might as well be Yao Ming. How does he pretzel himself into that machine, anyway? So Michael Waltrip is crawling out of" 3,400 pounds of Russian roulette after practice last week at Daytona International Speedway, and some know-nothing hack asks him about the human element in NASCAR. In this day and age, with technological advances and computer driven information and everybody looking for that one revolutionary edge that could nail it, the driver might as well be an afterthought. Just throw any slug in the seat and watch it roll.
"That's ridiculous," Waltrip snaps. "We're driving 190 miles per hour, and we're an inch away from hitting people. The human element? What's your point?"
The point: The machine wins races; the driver is secondary. So what if Waltrip won his second Daytona 500 three days later. The technology trend is no more evident than in NASCAR's marquee race at its premier track. Recent rules changes have left all four car makes nearly identical, and the influx of technology-based information has left the sport--and more specific, this race--cruising on remote control. Might as well put rails on the track and move the event an hour west to Orlando, where make-believe is a way of life.
Just don't expect most of these guys to agree.
"The driver," Rusty Wallace says, "is essential."
Yep, and any driver worth his weight in cheesy postrace sponsorship plugs will tell you the same thing. They have to. This sport was born and bred on guts and guile, dating to when they raced on the slippery Daytona beaches, and back when some of the sport's pioneers ran moonshine in the mountains of the Carolinas, when they raced for a shiny gold trophy, not for millions of dollars and potential fat sponsorship deals for deep pocket owners.
Today's drivers didn't cut their teeth racing at dirt tracks and in midget cars and stay up until 4 in the morning during high school nights, trying to get their late model ready for the local Friday night show for nothing.
So what does some nerd with a slide rule know about sitting in a car for three hours, where it's as hot as a microwave on steroids, and the fumes from the 770-horsepower engine dull the senses, and you're one infinitesimal slip from causing a 12-car pileup that might kill you or someone else in the process?
No, many of these drivers were pulling apart engines and meticulously meshing them together while those geeks were sitting in air-conditioned physics classes.
"You're not going to hear many guys admit it," says longtime driver Ricky Rudd. "But you better believe technology is a huge part of who we are now. It used to be 75 percent driver and 25 percent technology. Now, it's about 85 percent technology and 15 percent driver."
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Physics has replaced brass balls in NASCAR. Even if some drivers won't admit it. Then again, the ones unwilling to admit it are the ones who will fall behind. How else can you explain journeyman Robby Gordon winning one of two Twin 125 qualifying races last week? Or that there were five first-time winners last year, including three rookies? A rookie winning a Winston Cup race used to be as rare as a full beer can around here. Rookies have those bright yellow stripes on their bumper for a reason. Once a scarlet letter, now it's an invitation to follow the leader.
"If something is going to make you a better driver, why would you not do everything in your power to do it?" says Ryan Newman, one of three rookie winners last season and one of the sport's rising stars. He got caught up in a four-ear wreck early in the 500, but he had already had an impact on the circuit. Newman comes to the sport with an engineering degree from Purdue, part of a new breed of drivers who have embraced the delicate mix of technology and testosterone NASCAR slowly has moved toward.
Don't believe it? Check out the next three spots behind Waltrip on the final grid at Daytona: third-year driver Kurt Busch, second-year driver Jimmie Johnson and third-year driver Kevin Harvick.
"A new era in racing," Johnson says.
It was nearly three years ago when it all began to turn. That's when NASCAR, thinking owner Roger Penske's cars had an unfair advantage, disassembled a Penske engine at the Sears Point Raceway in California for all the teams to see. Laid it out on a blue tarp, in fact, and let everyone take notes from a team that was miles ahead of everyone else.
For years, NASCAR's goal has been to keep the different car makes aerodynamically similar. Teams would whine and complain that one make had a better aero setup, and NASCAR would take the car to a wind tunnel and eventually make the necessary changes.
But this was different. Wallace, a Penske driver, was having a terrific year and eventually finished 2000 with four wins, 12 top fives and nine poles. There had to be a reason for all the success.
"You work your ass off for months, years," says one person close to the team, "and they strip you naked in front of everyone. It's just a slap in the face. Everything this sport stands for was blown up that day."
And all that Penske had started in the months before was formally introduced to the rest of the sport. Much of it was technology from Penske's open-wheel racing program, finding ways to marry both styles and flourish. It started in the fabrication shop, where engineers figured ways to get the most out of the body template NASCAR gave them by massaging the front and rear bumpers, the hood and the window trim lines for optimum downforce. The same thing happened in the engine shop, where subtle changes were made in engine parts to make them smooth and aerodynamically superior. Penske wasn't breaking rules; he was redefining them with a team that was well-paid and way ahead of its time.
That's why NASCAR stepped in, essentially beginning the arms race, with teams spending more money on more technology after the Penske engine was dissected. Penske wasn't the first to use computers to find the best aero setup, but he extended it further than anyone. Nearly 10 years earlier, former Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki worked the same way--albeit at a more rudimentary level--before he died in an airplane crash months after winning the Cup championship.
"Back then, we were doing things we thought were right," says Paul Andrews, Kulwicki's crew chief and current crew chief for Jeff Burton. "The difference is, now we're doing things we know are right because of the increase in technology. But there are still people who don't believe it."
Those who do, thrive. That's why Jamie McMurray, Johnson and Newman won as rookies, why their deep-pocket owners (Chip Ganassi, Rick Hendrick and Penske, respectively) funneled millions into technology to give their drivers the ability to compete with savvy veterans who dominated the circuit for years. Feel, intuition and a driver's track knowledge have been replaced by computer details for specific brake points and the optimum line to follow on 2.5 miles of white-knuckle fury.
"It's all money," says former Winston Cup star and current television commentator Benny Parsons. "If you have money, you can hire four or live or six engineers to work your program. If you don't, you'll fall behind. Winning a race, winning a championship, is as much about good engineering as it is a good race team. I don't particularly like where it's headed. I couldn't get out of a car and have (an engineer) tell me how to drive a car. That would be very difficult."
Parsons is part of the old guard in NASCAR, just like Wallace, who was hesitant to change when Penske made the move to use information from his open-wheel on his Cup teams. Wallace's teammate then was Jeremy Mayfield, whose 1998 success (one victory, seventh in points) was a point of contention much of the 2000 season. Instead of sharing information, the two teams butted heads.
"Very frustrating," Mayfield says. "Who knows why it happened that way? But I think he realized the value of sharing that information later on."
So did NASCAR. Now it has taken things a step further. To stem the flow of money in the technology race, NASCAR developed nearly identical templates for all four car makes. That wasn't lot cosmetics; NASCAR does everything for a reason, and this time it was to try to level the playing field. Don't think there wasn't grousing among the veteran drivers about the first-time winners and the advantages of deep-pocket teams. Who knows whether that had anything to do with the changes, but NASCAR has a history of jumping when manufacturers/drivers/ owners whine and complain.
Continued from page 1.
Now, for the first lime, there are very little aerodynamic differences among the Chevy's, Fords Pontiacs and Dodges. NASCAR uses 32 templates to measure cars for inspection, and 18 of those are used on all four makes. The main aero areas--the greenhouse (cockpit), door sides, deck lid, front bumper, height and spoiler--are standard. The body-style differences in the cars once were visible at 190 mph, but now you have to be a shop fabricator to notice. NASCAR threw a governor on the body but then gave teams the freedom to massage the curves through technology.
That's the way it works in this sport. Once you think you've got it dialed in, NASCAR hits the reset button. No one gets a pass, not even Penske, who sits on the board of directors for International Speedway Corp., which owns marquee tracks at Daytona and Talladega, Ala. Those who spend money and do the research reap the rewards.
A perfect example is the DEI team, started four years ago by Dale Earnhardt Sr.
DEI has dominated the restrictor-plate races at Daytona and Talladega the last two years with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Waltrip, and much of that can be traced to Earnhardt Sr., who won the Daytona 500 once and was determined to have superior cars at the superspeedways. When he died at the end of the 2001 Daytona 500, his cars were nearly untouchable at Daytona because of the volume of engineering technology he invested in the restrictor-plate program. Yet, even after all that work, there was still a sense of uncertainty going into Speedweeks.
"I was nervous--somewhat skeptical--over the offseason over what the new body was going to give us when we came back here," Earnhardt Jr. says. "You just don't know."
For all the advances his father made, Dale Jr. seems to be following the same path his father laid out at Daytona. Dale Sr. annually dominated Speedweeks, winning six Bud Shootouts, 12 Twin 125s and seven Busch Series races. Last week, Dale Jr. won the Shootout, a Twin 125 and the Busch Series race. But just like his father, bad luck--a dying battery cost him two laps--prematurely ended his quest for the sport's Super Bowl.
It didn't, however, end DEI's dominance of the race. On Sunday, Waltrip led 68 laps, Dale Jr. 22, for a combined 90 of 109. And that, more than anything, is a perfect example of the power of technology. Waltrip never won before hooking up with DEI. Dale Sr. said Waltrip was a talented driver, and all he needed was a good team and a program. He has won three races; all three have been at Daytona.
Three days after his run-in with a hack asking about technology, Waltrip is running around in the rain, moments after NASCAR announced an anticlimactic finish to its biggest race of the season. A child at heart, playing in puddles, A big man at Daytona standing atop his car and holding another trophy.
"You just don't know what Daytona means to me," Waltrip says.
It means technology has come a long way.
Places for faces
How the '02 points
leaders fared at
Daytona Started Finished
1 Tony Stewart 8th 7th
2 Mark Martin 26th 5th
3 Kurt Busch 36th 2nd
4 Jeff Gordon 13th 12th
5 Jimmie Johnson 10th 3rd
6 Ryan Newman 37th 43rd
7 Rusty Wallace 38th 25th
8 Matt Kenseth 35th 20th
9 Dale Jarrett 11th 10th
10 Ricky Rudd 5th 15th
11 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2nd 36th
12 Jeff Burton 9th 11th
13 Bill Elliot 14th 32nd
14 Michael Waltrip 4th 1st
15 Ricky Craven 25th 26th
How the '02 points
leaders fared at
Daytona Lowdown Grades
1 Tony Stewart Ran near the front most B
of the day, but his Chevrolet never
was in the same class as DEI's.
2 Mark Martin Despite driving a backup A
car, he was able to come from the
back and race with the leaders.
3 Kurt Busch Crew's work to improve A
the body and change the cowl to
make the car more efficient paid off.
4 Jeff Gordon Ran near the front, but B
without a dancing partner he got
snuffled back on the final green run.
5 Jimmie Johnson He led led twice and A
could have fought for the win if the
race had finished under a green.
6 Ryan Newman Poor track position D
made him a target for the riffraff at
the back of the field.
7 Rusty Wallace His vision was impaired C-
by an oily windshield late; coming
in for cleaning cost him positions.
8 Matt Kenseth He had a top 10 car, but C
the way the team gambled on the
weather left it all wet.
9 Dale Jarrett Fell back early, but the B+
team corrected both loose and tight
conditions in salvaging a top 10.
10 Ricky Rudd Debris damaged front B
end on Lap 11; repairs came on Lap
42--not enought time to catch up.
11 Dale Earnhardt Jr. His car clearly was the class of the C
field but a bum battery led to a
less than electrifying finish.
12 Jeff Burton Despite a stop-and-go B
penalty for a forgotten catch can,
he salvaged a solid finish.
13 Bill Elliot A shortened race, plus C
damage suffered in a pit-road
run-in, made him no factor.
14 Michael Waltrip Once Junior's woes A
began, no other car was strong
enough to hang with him for long.
15 Ricky Craven With rain coming, team D
gambled on last pit stop and stayed
out, led a lap, then came in for gas.
DAYTONA DISH
BY LEE SPENCER and MATT HAYES
Continued from page 2.
Bobby Labonte experienced double trouble in the rain-shortened Daytona 500. First he spun out on the backstretch after Elliott Sadler tapped him from behind on Lap 41. Then, Labonte thought he had avoided a wreck triggered by Ward Burton by going onto pit road, but no such luck. Burton clipped Ken Schrader in Turn 4, and Schrader turned Ryan Newman into the wall. Newman's car flipped several times down the frontstretch after getting airborne on the grass. Seconds later, Schrader slid into Labonte on pit road, costing Labonte his transmission. Labonte finished 41st, running. Newman wasn't sure what happened on the wild ride. "Disney World doesn't have one of those (rides), I can tell you that," Newman said after being released from the infield care center.... Kurt Busch's team needed a lot of Bondo and paint to get his Ford--damaged during a pit-road tangle during the second Twin 125--ready for the 500, but the crew's overtime work paid off with a second-place finish. Crew chief Jimmy Fennig said he didn't mind "being the first loser" because the Ford package couldn't match that of DEI's Chevrolets.... NASCAR president Mike Helton warned during the drivers meeting that there would be penalties for going below the yellow line to improve position. Sterling Marlin was the first to violate the rule, and NASCAR black-flagged him on Lap 72. "NASCAR needs to put the rule in stone," Marlin says. "I asked Helton a question regarding the procedure, and he gave me one answer, and I asked (series director John) Darby the same question and got another answer." Marlin contends that if he had lifted off the gas, the car behind him would have wrecked both of them.... The Daytona 500, the Great American Race, is poised to go prime time. Forget tradition; this is about money. Fox and NBC have it, and NASCAR bows to it, even with something as sacred as the Daytona 500. NASCAR is looking for ways to help its networks and their cable partners make more money off racing. Helton says that could mean more night races, later starting times for Sunday afternoon races so they can reach into prime time and moving the Daytona 500 to Sunday night. Fox officials were excited about ratings for the first night running of the Bud Shootout, which got a 5.5 share and won the night for the network by a wide margin.... Dale Earnhardt Jr. had battery problems after the rain delay. After getting a push-start on the restart, his voltage dropped, and the team brought him in on Lap 89 to replace the battery. Earnhardt lost two laps but regained one when teammate Michael Waltrip held off the pack on Lap 107.... NASCAR inspectors heavily scrutinized the roof flaps and re-measured the spoilers of the cars on the starting grid so teams couldn't gain an aerodynamic advantage or run the risk of the flaps not activating if a car went airborne. Waltrip's car was one that didn't conform to specifications. The team had to adjust the flaps to make them lie flat before the race started.
TSN's POWER POLL
Rank Driver TSN points Winston Cup pts.
1. Michael Waltrip 190 185 (1)
2. Kurt Busch 125 170 (T2)
3. Jimmie Johnson 124 170 (T2)
4. Kevin Harvick 113 160 (4)
5. Mark Martin 107 155 (5)
6. Robby Gordon 101 150 (7)
7. Tony Stewart 100 151 (6)
8. Jeremy Mayfield 90 142 (8)
9. Mike Wallace 85 138 (9)
10. Dale Jarrett 80 134 (10)
Through race No. 1, at Daytona. For a complete TSN Power
Poll rundown and an explanation of the points breakdown, go to
www.sportingnews.com/nascar/poll
E-mail staff writer Matt Hayes at mhayes@sportingnews.com
COPYRIGHT 2003 Sporting News Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group
