Dale Earnhardt Jr. on podcast: NASCAR won't give up on this damn splitter

aunty dive said:
Thanks.

Different animal.
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No different than running today, those cars could draft and pass, today's can not, they hit a wall of air and most momentum is stymied. Take the aero package and model it after the 70s, racing would be much better, drivers would actually have to slow down in the corners and use the brakes. Real drivers would emerge, not ones keeping wide open, finesse would be more of a element that skill.
 
Old 97 said:
I love it! I'm very happy that Junior has become more vocal now that he's on his way out! He's starting to remind me of someone.:(
I wonder if our resident aero guru will get on here and tell him he's wrong and there's no possible way for the car to drive without that pice of crap on it!
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It's a shame he fell in line and marched for the past 15 years collecting his paychecks with a smile. He could have spoken out a LONGGGG time ago and he's the only guy in the garage that wouldn't have been able to be intimidated by the suits in the trailer after the race. He was too big to be F'd with, and he did nothing with it until now, while he has one foot out the door.
 
Mopardh9 said:
No different than running today, those cars could draft and pass, today's can not, they hit a wall of air and most momentum is stymied. Take the aero package and model it after the 70s, racing would be much better, drivers would actually have to slow down in the corners and use the brakes. Real drivers would emerge, not ones keeping wide open, finesse would be more of a element that skill.
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all anybody has to do is look at the 74 Daytona 500 clip, over 60 passes for the lead and that was only counted at the finish line. I know some won't believe even when they see it. But there it is.
 
RowdyBusch said:
It's a shame he fell in line and marched for the past 15 years collecting his paychecks with a smile. He could have spoken out a LONGGGG time ago and he's the only guy in the garage that wouldn't have been able to be intimidated by the suits in the trailer after the race. He was too big to be F'd with, and he did nothing with it until now, while he has one foot out the door.
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Yep ...got that right

StandOnIt said:
all anybody has to do is look at the 74 Daytona 500 clip, over 60 passes for the lead and that was only counted at the finish line. I know some won't believe even when they see it. But there it is.
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I remember watching it on Wide world of Sports, awessome stuff

StandOnIt said:
all anybody has to do is look at the 74 Daytona 500 clip, over 60 passes for the lead and that was only counted at the finish line. I know some won't believe even when they see it. But there it is.
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Racing the way it should be!
 
The plate tracks were a different animal then and they still are. If that was not the case, the aero configurations would be the same everywhere.

Perhaps we can get a look at 200 mph 1976 racing at Michigan, Charlotte ...
 
Lets worry about good racing and the heck with aero and how fast the cars are going as those are 2 things not mentioned at Martinsville.
 
StandOnIt said:
I'm sure we will have O'Donnell on XM telling us they are looking into it, all things are on the table with the new design blah blah.
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I think he has already said that, IIRC. Thanks for posting this article. It is excellent, and Junior's comments are very well thought out and expertly presented.

One thing I wonder about is, how different the set ups would be from one car to the next, assuming Dale got his wish? Engineering expertise and set up simulation have advanced a lot in the last decade. If the splitter were no longer dictating front travel and ride heights, how different would the solutions be from one car to the next? Dale's premise seems to be that cars will have different speeds (and thus easier to pass) because some hit the best set up and others don't. I'm not so sure about that. I do know you can't unlearn stuff just because it was more fun back before you learned it. That's not gonna happen.

Skoalbandit33 said:
I know an aero guru that could be mired in dirty air and deny its existence...
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Perhaps your un-named aero guru is enamored with F1, because those guys say actual racing doesn't matter and the cars are so "shock and awe" that seeing them circulate in isolation is good enough. That is the F1 stance on dirty air. Other than that arrogant and ignorant stance, I think everyone knows dirty air has profound effects in racing... and aero strategies have to balance how dirty air alters drag, lift, downforce, sideforce, etc. It's a complex science and often counter-intuitive, so some just choose to ignore the nuances and fling cheap shots instead.
 
Mopardh9 said:
Allowing these cars to exceed 200 mph on tracks like Charlotte is absurd. There is no need of it, the racing has suffered because of it.
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I was watching one from Darlington 1971 and they qualified in front at 148. Track record now is like 184 back in 2014 before they took off some of the down force. Ain't no need fo dat.
 
My theory is that they began running the splitter in Cup to benefit Toyota once Toyota learned how to win in Truck series which adopted the splitter a few years before Cup.
 
even a layman can watch a bit of this to see the 148 MPH is better than 185, the good part starts at about the 12 minute mark, the track is shining it is so slick :D classic Petty Allison battle they don't need no stinkin aero :p

 
LewTheShoe said:
I think he has already said that, IIRC. Thanks for posting this article. It is excellent, and Junior's comments are very well thought out and expertly presented.

One thing I wonder about is, how different the set ups would be from one car to the next, assuming Dale got his wish? Engineering expertise and set up simulation have advanced a lot in the last decade. If the splitter were no longer dictating front travel and ride heights, how different would the solutions be from one car to the next? Dale's premise seems to be that cars will have different speeds (and thus easier to pass) because some hit the best set up and others don't. I'm not so sure about that. I do know you can't unlearn stuff just because it was more fun back before you learned it. That's not gonna happen.


Perhaps your un-named aero guru is enamored with F1, because those guys say actual racing doesn't matter and the cars are so "shock and awe" that seeing them circulate in isolation is good enough. That is the F1 stance on dirty air. Other than that arrogant and ignorant stance, I think everyone knows dirty air has profound effects in racing... and aero strategies have to balance how dirty air alters drag, lift, downforce, sideforce, etc. It's a complex science and often counter-intuitive, so some just choose to ignore the nuances and fling cheap shots instead.
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I never want to speculate on what everyone knows as I remember there were people who believed Rick Hendrick faked his leukemia and recently I have read that some folks don't believe that Nascar is losing fans and the Nielsen ratings have no merit. The only thing about common sense is that it is not that common. Aero will always be present but the key is mitigating it and that can be accomplished just by racing on proper tracks. Failing that there are other ways bright men and women can tackle this problem and greatly reduce its impact. Navel gazers can't see it though.
 
^ Ah, I had wondered how this thread got onto its second page without mention of numbers of fans or TV ratings. Now I see that oversight has been mitigated.
 
aunty dive said:
The plate tracks were a different animal then and they still are. If that was not the case, the aero configurations would be the same everywhere.

Perhaps we can get a look at 200 mph 1976 racing at Michigan, Charlotte ...
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1970 speeds were in the lower 180s, IMO where they should be.
 
StandOnIt said:
I'm not sure they will lose stability, they were running speeds comparable to that back in the 60's and 70's without much of the valance Jr is talking about. Some years on bias ply tires. I think some of it is lazyness on Nascar's part, they don't have to police the ride height with the splitter. Teams had really expensive shocks that would bounce back up (most of the time) after the race was over.
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You are right, they drove those speeds back in the day. But they weren't driving as close as they do today, there was no pack racing (they ran yards apart not within a foot). Plus the cars were under less scrutiny so there was a bigger difference between cars. And the second place car had the advantage due to the sling shot move that was common back then. (I smiled when I watched a some of the videos posted).
 
Zerkfitting said:
You are right, they drove those speeds back in the day. But they weren't driving as close as they do today, there was no pack racing (they ran yards apart not within a foot). Plus the cars were under less scrutiny so there was a bigger difference between cars. And the second place car had the advantage due to the sling shot move that was common back then. (I smiled when I watched a some of the videos posted).
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you need to watch the 1974 Daytona clip, they were pushing each other all over the track. It was great. Three wide yeah sure there wasn't a huge pack like it is today, but their was pack racing. like Jr was talking about everybody has the same, splitter slammed to the track and running the same. But back then you had vastly different makes running together. They do the same thing today in IMSA with different makes and models. They can do the same as IMSA with weight and fuel cell reductions
 
StandOnIt said:
Nothing but slingshots here..Pearson whooo :D
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Great stuff.

What's somewhat goofy, however, is how they shortened the race by 20 laps due to the gas crisis and, instead of ending the race after 180 laps, they started it on "lap 21". :confused:

Also, the race photographers being allowed to stand in the infield along the backstretch without any protection from an out of control car :eek: is something we haven't seen in a while.
 
pjmolo said:
Great stuff.

What's somewhat goofy, however, is how they shortened the race by 20 laps due to the gas crisis and, instead of ending the race after 180 laps, they started it on "lap 21". :confused:

Also, the race photographers being allowed to stand in the infield along the backstretch without any protection from an out of control car :eek: is something we haven't seen in a while.
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hilarious looking back on it now like 20 laps less was going to help the gas crisis
 
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