Bonehead of the week: Bristol

Spotter22 said:
KB is much better at relaying info, Larson is the new breed of "hey I'm here with my helmet and suit", Let the engineers figure it out kinda guy.
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Kiante said:
A bit off topic.

This is why I think Suarez is going to be dangerous in the future, he's learned and talked to Kyle non-stop about feedback in Xfinity and Trucks. Remember, when Ky. Busch drove Suarez's car at Darlington a couple of years back? From that point on, it seemed like he got better at dialing his car in.

Blaney, Suarez, and Elloitt are by far the best at driver feedback out of the "new generation."
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I seem to remember a kid from California coming in at a young age in the early 90s and was the same way. Anytime someone asked him how the car was doing mechanically, he replied with “Im not the guy to ask, I just drive it”. 4 championships and 93 wins later, he did just fine.

Suum cuique
 
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ChexOrWrex said:
I seem to remember a kid from California coming in at a young age in the early 90s and was the same way. Anytime someone asked him how the car was doing mechanically, he replied with “Im not the guy to ask, I just drive it”. 4 championships and 93 wins later, he did just fine.

Suum cuique
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Ray Evernham
 
Does one need to know what's going on mechanically to provide effective feedback regarding how it's driving?
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Does one need to know what's going on mechanically to provide effective feedback regarding how it's driving?
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It sure helps. Instead of telling me that your tight, let me know the car is laying over on the right front and then we can make a change. We can try bar or spring so any feedback you can supply helps us make a quicker decision and not waste a lot of time.
 
There is a big difference between not being able to know what to do to fix the car, and not knowing what the car is doing. I've never heard anybody allege that Jeff Gordon couldn't give good feedback on the car. I DO believe that Ray was able to read Jeff's mind really well, but if you can win 10 or more races with FOUR different crew chiefs, my guess is you are a fairly good communicator. I will also say from things I've read and people I've talked to, I think Jeff's mechanical "ignorance" was somewhat overblown. Granted he was no Junior Johnson, but he wasn't Cole Trickle either. I think some of that was created by Evernham to help shield a young Jeff from the public as far as mechanical issues were concerned (especially after the illegal parts at Charlotte in 95') and let him concentrate on the driving side of the equation.
 
Spotter22 said:
It sure helps. Instead of telling me that your tight, let me know the car is laying over on the right front and then we can make a change. We can try bar or spring so any feedback you can supply helps us make a quicker decision and not waste a lot of time.
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Im sure it helps some, but it cant be universally true. If so, drivers like Newman and Brett Bodine would be ahead of the competition week in and week out with their engineering degrees.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Im sure it helps some, but it cant be universally true. If so, drivers like Newman and Brett Bodine would be ahead of the competition week in and week out with their engineering degrees.
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Its universally true that drivers with knowledge of how a race car works are better to work with and help keep on schedule with the limited practice time thats now allotted.
 
There can be a real downside though to a driver that wants to specify all of the specific chassis adjustments from behind the wheel. Rusty Wallace and Morgan Shepherd are two drivers I have heard stories about probably knowing too much for their own good sometimes. The great line I heard about Shepherd; "He would take a fifth place car and adjust it all the way 30th place". I also worked with a spotter that wanted to be the crew chief from the spotter's stand. Everything seems to work best when everybody understands their role and sticks to it. By the time I got done, I could make every chassis adjustment there was to make on a car. As to why you would want to make that adjustment, not so much, so I stayed out of those discussions.
 
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Bayne after spinning and hitting the wall says "I don't know what to tell you to do with the car" Makes half of my point about quite a bit of the Roush problems. Bayne at least and I suspect Stenhouse really don't have much of a clue to get the car setup to race. A team can have all kinds of adjustibility in the car, but if the driver can figure out what he wants, the crew is in a guessing game.
 
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