Multi-car teams:the myth

[97forever]

The ownership of multiple WC cars isnt a new concept.In fact it dates back almost to the very roots of top-drawer Nascar racing.A lot of heavy hitters have tried the multi-car scenario in an attempt to get a strangle hold on WC racing over the years.Some attempts have been a runaway success...others an exercise in futility.

But is it written in stone that multi-car teams can truly dominate Cup racing?No.

'Teammates' are for stick and ball sports.'Crew mates' make the difference in stock car racing.The men in the pits...not the team cars on the track.The ability of the large teams to dominate is due solely to the lack of competition and ingenuity(And money!) of the SINGLE car teams.

MCT's have only one real advantage over single teams(finance aside for the moment):test dates.In other words,the more drivers you have,the more test dates you have in total for the team.And this is based on the reasoning that testing info is shared.That should be the case,maybe,but is not usually the practice.The sharing of that intangible called 'info' is the ONLY advantage the big guys have.

Well,except for money,of course!

The finances,equipment,personnel of the multi car teams have nothing to do with the number of cars the owner has,however.Rather the amount of money that same owner has to spend.Or a rational arguement could go like this:If *Roush has 100.00 bucks per car to spend,for a total of 500.00,then that is still an established amount per vehicle....one car or ten!True,less cars equal less total revenue,but only a finite amount(no matter how astronomical that amount may be!)is required per car.Give Dave Blaney's Jasper team the amount per car that Jack spends on a single car.That resource could be used to hire more engineers,buy more equipment,etc..And in theory you should have a car able to compete.Let Bill Gates buy one team,throw enough money into it and sit back and watch.

Because the MCT's are held in check by one thing.

Only ONE driver crosses that finish line first.Jeff Gordon may win---but only because Joe,Terry and Jimmie lost.

Money,dedication,the right driver and guys behind the driver will win in the end.Regardless of if the car owner owns 117,642 other cars or not.In the end just one guy crosses the line first.The multi-car teams win because the best drivers sit in those seats....not because they have 'teammates'.Joe won saturday because he beat 42 other guys,including 3 other Hendrick cars.

Anyway...this is just my rant of the week .I might be completely wrong and the multi car teams might be the Holy Grail...but somebody has to show me why a properly financed single car team cant run with the big dogs!
Opinions?Agree or dis-agree?

*(Still my hero,Jack!)

 

[mlitefan01]

I think the key thing here (besides the money) is definitly the test dates alotted to each car per team. When you figure that into the big picture that is really what makes the most difference. annd of course...the money

 

[Whizzer]

Test dates aside, multi-car teams have the advantage, properly utilized, of sharing information. Information gleened from sources other than testing. Hands-on experience and common sense that evolved from two, three or more crew chiefs during a "think tank" situation are a major benefit.
Of course, if these same crew chiefs do not communicate well then the opposite affect will take place. E.g., should one CC refuse to share information which might not help thier team but benefit another.
When Karl Keikehaufer had a multicar team with the hemi-Chrysler the primary reason was an advance in technology and properly maintained equipment and strict discipline at a time when discipline was not considered an advantage.
Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt became dominant with single car teams because of good equipment and driver. Hendrick Motor Sports and Jeff Gordon's success came from a smart crew chief, a good driver along with several years of other teams watching while Gordon picked up multiple positions on every pit stop. Even though the 24 team was a part of a multicar operation, they continued to win while sharing information.
There are too many variables for success, but success on a regular basis is dependent on team cooperation, driver skill, strategy, crew chief talent and most of all, Lady Luck*.

* For Lady Luck, see Ward Burton's win of the 2002 Daytona 500. He won it fair and square and while he deserved the win, Lady Luck held the cards that day. So are mulitcar teams an advantage? Yes, unfortunately.

 

[HardScrabble]

The real question is can this topic can even moderately explored in 3000 words or less. Probably not.

First rule to remember is that there are no "always" statements. There are exceptions to every point but that does not negate the validity of the general concepts.

The age old saw about "How fast can I go?" answered by "How much money ya got?" cannot be minimized.

Multi car operations likely find it easier to survive the harsh years. A one car team can for intents and purposes drop out of sight for a season or two and be finished. A multi car operation is less likely to fall prey to this simply because the odds are one of the teams will prove moderately successful. A secondary part of this is that for the most part the multi car teams stem from folks who bring a track record of success to the table to begin with. Success begets success.

Another correlary to the above is that the more successful owners attract the better personnel. It helps that these owners also attract the better sponsors, therefore more money for longer periods of time, back to rule one.

The larger operations have many advantages over the single car operations in other areas more operational in nature as well.

In House - Engine development, chassis development, aero development are the main areas of R & D. The multi car teams pretty much always do all this work in house.

-----Engines - Look at the majority of the single car teams and you will find they get their powerplants from one of the multi-car operations. It would be foolish to believe that Robert Yates, Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick or any of these guys is gonna hand their best bullets to anyone. The differneces may be very small but the difference between hero and goat in Winston Cup is very small. Add to this that if come raceday the CC of the in house team has instant access to the developer for tuning info. The other guy will likely wait in line if he gets much help at all.

------Chassis - In the old days most everyone went to somebody like Hutchens-Pagan or Banjo Matthews and ordered up a chassis. The design was pretty much what those folks produced for everyone else. The multi car operations for the most part build their own chassis in house. There are a slew of advantages to this. If one of your guys comes up with a trick, it belongs to your teams. If a single car guy goes to an outside builder with a trick, it belongs to the world in some fashion. Individual teams within a multi car operation will order certain unique features for their driver, but any universally improved concept is available to all in the operation. Not all of them will work for everyone in the operation, but the concepts are available.

A little side note here on info sharing. I think all the multi car do a fairly good job of insuring the flow of ideas and info among the teams. Those which have not in the past are quickly correcting this error. This does not mean what one team discovers will work for another within the organization. I distinctly remember last year both Rusty and Jeff G. trying setups used by their younger, and at that moment more successful, teammates and declaring them "undriveable at any speed". One size does not fit all.

------Aero - Many of the single car teams visit the wind tunnel, try out their ideas, and take the best of what they have back to the shop. For some, the team then hangs the body and hopes for the best. For others the car is sent again to an outside vendor, and the ideas become somewhat public domain. A multi car team will send more cars to the tunnel more often. Whatever works can and usually is incorporated into every members aero package. The teams own shop fabricates and hangs the body, the secret is closely held.

One other factor to consider. There is a certain economy of scale in the larger operations. Take for example the best aero engineer in the business, whoever that might be. Likely he commands a large number of dollars to work for you. But he/she can easily perform effective work for two, three, or four teams just as well as one for the same cost. spread that cost among more teams, the dollars per shrink considerably. This applies to many many jobs within a race team, from the floor sweeper to the fellow with a doctorate in ergonomics. It is this economy of scale that in the real world make a multi car member team able to compete with more bucks than a single car operation even though both may have identical sponsorship dollars to wrk with.

This economy of scale, along with the ability to develope and more closely hold trade secrets are IMHO the key reasons outside of overwhelming dollars that make the multi car teams more likely to succeed. Overlooking the the first rule................."How much money ya got?"