May 28, 2007
By Allen Madding

Allen Madding

Speeds became too fast at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina so NASCAR requested Goodyear produce a harder tire to slow the cars down. What has actually has resulted since NASCAR made that call is cars suddenly getting loose, jumping sideways, and producing huge crashes. Crashes in this year’s All-Star Race, the Busch race, and the Coca-Cola 600 are all testaments to the fact the harder tires are not a safe answer to slowing down the cars at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Twenty years ago speeds became too high at Daytona and Talladega and NASCAR decided to implement restrictor plates. Since the implementation of restrictor plates at the two superspeedways, we have seen huge pileups due to the restrictor plates causing the cars to be bunched in one huge pack. One driver makes a small miscue in a tightly bunched pack of 43 cars and all hell breaks lose with drivers having little opportunity to do anything to avoid the calamity.

NASCAR constantly has campaigned about their great improvements in safety since the death of Dale Earnhardt – the addition of softwalls, requirement for drivers to wear the HANS head and neck restraint, requirement for 6-way seat belts instead of the old 5-way style belts, tethers on hoods, trunk decks, and hubs, requirement for crew members to wear helmets and fire suits, and the Car of Tomorrow. And we applaud NASCAR for making the hard calls to implement these safety requirements and solutions.

But has NASCAR properly addressed safety when it comes to slowing the cars down?

The need to slow the escalating speeds at Daytona and Talladega is not arguable, but the method NASCAR has chosen is. The need to slow the escalating speeds at Lowe’s Motor Speedway is not arguable, but again the method chosen is. Speeds at Atlanta Motor Speedway are also on the rise with cars pushing 200 mph, going into the turns.

How long before NASCAR elects to slow the Cup cars there as well?

A safer answer is smaller cubic inch engines, namely 280-300 cubic inches and the additional consideration of smaller carburetors. All of the manufacturers involved in NASCAR produce engines in this displacement range for their street automobiles, so the manufacturers have the basics in hand to produce the parts required. By dropping the engine displacement, cars could accelerate much better on the superspeedways while dropping the top end speed. Dropping engine displacement would also better control speeds at the intermediate tracks and would be less abusive on softer sidewall tires.

With the NASCAR’s full-time development work on the Car of Tomorrow completed, the NASCAR Research and Development Lab in Mooresville, North Carolina needs to be turning its attention to smaller displacement, lower horsepower engines to drop the speeds of the cars to provide a safer alternative to restrictor plates and hard tires. A means of slowing the cars while allowing the drivers to maintain control of the cars while cornering and allowing the cars to accelerate and not be bunched in a single 43-car pack needs to be the highest priority.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.