Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Daytona 500 picks

Interesting. I would have thought that stockers were generally safer than open wheel cars, and I know the Indycars get up to around 220 on some tracks.

I agree, they probably are be safer, but they are harder to contol at higher speeds. A stock car is more than 2 times as heavy as an open wheel car and the tire is less then twice as narrow. The handling is totally different. Open wheel cars like IRL, F1, and CART, can adjust the handling on their cars with buttons on the steering wheel. So as the car uses fuel, it gets lighter and the handling changes or if the track gets warmer or colder due to weather conditions the handling changes. Stock cars can't do this, they need to come into the pits to make adjustments.

Technology has overtaken safety in many respects regarding autosports in general. Race cars have continued to get faster despite various attempts to slow them down, and many of the traditional racetracks around the world were designed for considerably lower speeds than modern cars. Always shocking when you see footage from races like the Mille Miglia...people running across the streets, trees and buildings lining the roads, cliffs, potholes, donkey carts...while cars are whipping by at unGodly speeds.

Ah, good point. It's also probably a lot easier to get out of an open wheel car rapidly if you have to (well, other than stuck steering wheels.)

Here is why they run restrictor plates - Bill Elliot's "..... qualifying lap of 210.364 mph still stands as the single-lap speed record, as NASCAR mandated restrictor plates for the next year's race -- as a result of Bobby Allison's terrifying crash at Talladega in the 1987 Winston 500 -- and every one since."

I seem to remember some of the late 60's early 70's cars doing 220-230 mph during testing, pretty scary in those 4500lb cars with bias ply tires.

Jay, Elliot's speed that holds the record is 212.809 for the pole at Talladega in May of '87, the 210.364 is actually the pole speed he had for the Daytona 500 in Feb. of that year ... because of Allison's crash in May, NASCAR mandated the restrictor plates for the remaining races at Daytona and Talladega (both July races) of that year, I was there for both races.

I don't know that anybody ever went 220-230 on a closed course in a stock car in the 60's or early 70's, Buddy Baker broke the 200 mph mark in '70 driving a winged Dodge but due to rule changes I don't believe the 200 mph mark was set again until the early 80's by Cale Yarborough at Daytona ... if I remember correctly Lynn St. James set a couple of stock car records at Talladega, I believe Rusty Wallace uncorked the plate off of a stock car and ran 225ish. I believe that's about what St. James ran a few years earlier, Rusty said that speed he ran was most definitely too fast for the stock cars.

Google up a guy by the name of Russ Wicks, he holds the absolute record for a stock car of 244.9 at Bonneville ... that's scootin' for a 3400 pound car.

Rusty did 228 in testing in 2004 without a plate. And thinks they could hit 235 with some tweaking.

http://www.nascar.com/2004/news/headlines/cup/06/10/rwallace_talladega/index.html

One of the things that scared NASCAR after the Bobby Allison's crash in 87 was the fact that he tore down 100' of fence. This now not only causes danger to the drivers, but also to the fans. And an Injury or death to a fan at a NASCAR race in unaccepable.

I guess another quesiton is if they go rid of the plate, would they still run around in a big pack. I think the draft would eventually get them there.

pn

I don't believe they would run around in a big pack Paul, I think it would be just like the old days where there were several small packs of cars but who knows with today's technology ... can you imagine what Rusty's speed would have been in a draft? Close to 240 or above I suspect.

Not only were the cars slowed after Allsion's wreck but the tracks also added a lot of safety devices for the fans afterwards, one of the first items was the addition of several heavy cables that ran alongside the fencing that were anchored securely into the concrete to keep the cars on the track. The biggest changes in safety devices for the cars and drivers didn't take place until after Dale Earnhrdt's crash in '01. These new cars seem to be built so well safety wise that the driver's are really starting to get crazy with them on the superspeedways ... 'Superman and Bullet proof'?

I do know one thing, even with the plates the cars are still getting around that track in a hurry, the TV just doesn't do them any justice whatsoever as to how fast and close the cars really are, even on the smallest half mile tracks they run on.

I'll be pulling for Elliott and the Woods, any Yates cars or most anybody else except for Edwards.

Instead of using these restrictor plates, why not just reduce the engine size specs? what are the limits on cc's right now?

I think it would be expensive to do that. They would then need to have 2 engine programs. Much cheaper just to pop a plate and gasket in the carb.

I know one of the biggest complaints the drivers have with the plates is not just top end speed, but it also reduces "0 to 60" speed. The cars become sluggust and not as responsive. This requires them to stick together, so they don't loose the draft, even during pit stops.

I remember a few years ago they tried to open up the plate to give them more HP, but added a rail on the roof of the car to keep the top speed down. I thought it was a good idea and the racing was pretty good, but NASCAR abanadonded it.