Found this article interesting...

1

17_Fan

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There is an article in the latest issue of Circle Track magazine (Sept. 2003) called 'Wanted: A Kodak Moment'. This is an excerpt from that article I found interesting.

"For a time, the Kodak team was the scourge of the restrictor-plate tracks, Daytona and Talladega, practically as dominant there as DEI cars are today. Led by Ernie Irvan, its first "name" driver, and Sterling Marlin, crew chief Tony Glover, and engine specialist Runt Pittman, Morgan-McClure Chevys won the Daytona 500 3 times from 1991 to 1995. During a six-year spree, Irvan & Marlin won 9 restrictor-plate races, 5 at Daytona, 4 at 'dega, all but 4 of the team's 1st 13 wins.

So what happened? At the end of '96, Glover went to Felix Sabates & Marlin followed the next year after the team's 1st winless season in 7 years. Chevy introduced a new engine and Morgan-McClure lacked the manpower for proper R & D. In '98, after a cpl of GM teams applied political pressure, McClure says, NASCAR scrapped the manifold design his team was using, practically killing Pittman's restrictor-plate engine program."

I found the last line interesting & wonder which two teams it was? I'm guessing it was Hendrick & RCR.
 
I remember going to those races and you could close your eyes and pick Marlin's car when he went by. It sounded more like an Indy car than a stock car.
 
Well, one team has to fall for the benefit of another. Maybe this tactic was also used to demoralize Petty Enterprises and a bunch of other teams ?
 
A very interesting article to say the least.It sure gets my old conspiratorial mind racing.The R.A.D group came along right about that time....mmmmm...

Gotta to give this one a little thought before I say anything more.
 
Notice the timing of GM introducing the new engine configuration. If so, it becomes logical M/M would have had to reconfigure thier entire winning engine program to conform with the new design, which in return placed them at a distinct disadvantage. While M'M was enjoying thier winning ways, other teams were looking for the edge, in the form of new design.

Once NASCAR gave GM approval on the head and engine design, the two front runners in r&d petitioned the use of the newer engines. M/M never caught up. As for the sound these cars make, it is almost exclusively derived from the exhaust manifold configuration. Several years ago Rusty raced a car that made an "Indy" sound. Everyone thought he was doing something radical. His car made a sound different than NASCAR was used to hearing. A high pitched whine rather than the gutteral sound of brute horsepower. :D
 
I think it was the year that Morgan Shepard spun Earnhardt on the backstretch at Talladega and Mark Martin won the race was the race I really remember Marlin's car having the "Indy" sound. You could pick him out in a pack of cars.
 
Whiz, sounded more to me that Morgan-McClure lacked the $$$ to compete with the larger GM teams as far as the R&D work required to be competitive with the new Chevy engine and Nascar banning the manifold they were using was just the nail in the coffin.
 
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