|
 Back to SOZ's Main Page &
VOTE for the best driver MUG SHOT!
Handling Woes Continue in Vegas for the COT
3/4/08: SOZ Studios, MI - By Gregg Shultz (RaceFanVote.com)
The overall racing was pretty good at Vegas, but a large number of questions are developing based on some of the events on the track. In Sunday's race there were 11 cautions, 9 of which were accidents or spins. There is nothing out of the ordinary based on those stats alone, but if you watched the race you would know that the numbers don't tell the whole story.
The drivers have been saying since day one that the new style car [COT] is a handful and extremely hard to drive. At first a lot of fans thought they were just being whiners, but after Sunday's race in Vegas there might be something more to it than just complaining.
Part of the problem might be that some of the drivers are still trying to drive these cars the way they did the old style cars. They are pointing the car forward and setting it on "kill". It seems like one of two things are going to happen when you do that, you'll either get loose and back it into the wall or burn the front tire off of it and go head on into the wall.
It's been no secret that the new style car has a higher center of gravity, which is exerting higher forces and body roll in the turns. Add in the limitations to the front suspension, rear shock rules and a surprise tire compound combination and you get a large number of crew chiefs standing there scratching their head trying to figure out what they can do.
At Vegas you had "riders" that were going around the track just trying to finish and "racers" who where going still trying to race going around at speed hoping that their right front tire stayed together or that the car didn't suddenly snap loose.
You can't attribute it all to the COT because we saw some similar things during Saturday's Nationwide Series race, similar, but not the same. Granted, the track surface is still in the process of "seasoning" and there are a couple of dips/bumps in the center of turn 4 that was giving the drivers fits, but that doesn't explain all of the issues.
We did see a few great saves that with the old style car wouldn't have happened, but then other times the cars got loose that would not have been the case with the previous car.
I understand the theory that in order to gain something you have to give something up so we gave up the old style car and what have we received so far? Better racing, more evenly matched cars or safer cars for the drivers? Something better that making a car that better protects you in a wreck, how about one that doesn't wreck (as often). Wouldn't that be a safer car, a car that handles better and can keep the tires on it?
I can't remember the last time that we had three separate wrecks in a race where the window nets didn't come down 3 seconds after the car came to a stop. Even though you could see Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon moving around in their cars after their wrecks, they must have believed they were hurt or at least weren't sure, thus the delay in the nets coming down. Stewart was visibly shaken and had to be assisted over to the track vehicle that took him down the banking to the ambulance. He commented later that for a period his legs were "tingly and sort of numb". That right there is some scary stuff.
For the first time in a long time I was nervous watching a race. I wasn't worried that one particular driver was going to have a problem and not have a good finish, I was worried about all of the drivers having a bigger issue, getting hurt. When Jarrett snapped loose and spun there were a dozen opportunities for him to get plastered as he slid down the track and I literally had to turn away.
This was the first real test of how the COT was going to do at the mile-and-a-half tracks. On a scale of 1-10, I'll give the racing a 7, Carl Edwards run a 9, the wrecks a negative 2 and the nervous factor an 11.
Next week is off to Atlanta where at the last race there were 14 cautions, 9 of which were accidents or spins. I surely hope that between now and then or at least as soon as possible, NASCAR can figure something out that the teams can do to improve handling. Whether it's a different tire compound or letting the teams have some more adjustability on the suspension, something needs to be done to allow these cars to drive better. If not the only people who will enjoy the races are the ones that watch for the wrecks.
|
  RaceTalkRadio.com's
Official Newsletter
  Want to listen to RTR
Shows? Click the listen live button!
  The New ARCA Thunder
presented by
Rockingham Speedway
Tuesday's at 8pm on RTR
   |
NASCAR® is a registered trademark owned by National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc.
The Spin Out Zone is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NASCAR® or ARCA®.
The Spin Out Zone is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by CBS Sports, ABC/ESPN, Fox Sports, SPEED, FX Networks, TNT,
MRN, PRN or Sirius.
The Spin Out Zone owned and operated by RaceTalkRadio.com in association with Spin Out Zone Enterprises.
Images on SpinOutZone.com are used for entertainment purposes only.
2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 © Spin Out Zone
All Rights Reserved