| | LAS VEGAS, NEV. -- It's the downforce, stupid.
If that doesn't sound like a campaign slogan, it should. It's been Chevrolet's war chant since early February when their drag-hefty Monte Carlo was swamped, flanked and side-swiped by the Ford Taurus at Daytona.
Just ask anyone who's been passed by a Ford lately.
"The Fords have better engines off the corners -- more torque -- and now, they've got the best aerodynamics, " said Dale Earnhardt, the Mayor Pro-Tem of Monte Carlo in this, their time of need. "We've got a lot of drag and no downforce on the nose.
"We need some more downforce on the nose."
That's been an issue in the first three primaries -- er races -- of 2000. Chevrolet, still looking for their first win this year, is last in the Manufacturers points standings. During the days of Reaganomics and throughout the bluefish spawn in Kennabunkport, Chevy rarely fell out of the top spot.
Prior to Dale Jarrett's Winston Cup championship in 1999, a Chevrolet driver had failed to win the Series' crown only once in the decade -- that coming in 1992 when Alan Kulwicki drove his Thunderbird to an unlikely title.
Chevrolet, like a political regime, has a control fetish contrived from years of, well, being in control.
"I'm not the least bit sympathetic for them and their problem," said Jack Roush. Of course, his Ford and his driver, Jeff Burton, won the No Bull 5 Million at Las Vegas.
"I think the Chevrolet will take a little different setup than the guys have got in their book based on the fact they've got all this rear downforce and maybe not as much front as they had before, and I wish them luck," Roush said.
Forget campaign finance reform, healthcare and Dave Marcis' Social Security, downforce is what's being cast as the deciding piece of contention in this campaign. Left-wing and right-wing aside, this upheaval is all about the front-wing of the Monte Carlo.
Apparently, the Chevy sing-song -- and some slightly lop-sided wind tunnel data contrived in the past three weeks -- has had its intended persuasive effect on the sanctioning body.
"NASCAR can see it," says Richard Childress, who owns Earnhardt and Mike Skinner's Chevrolets.
In Chevrolet shops around the country, this Tuesday was Super Tuesday. For the first time all season, the fabricators and crew chiefs hunkered down with files and welders in hand and did some self-inflicted damage to the front ends of their Monte Carlos.
NASCAR has decided, after weeks of lobbying from a certain special interest group which shall remain nameless, that a change might be for the better. Beginning with the race this weekend at Atlanta, all 2000 model Chevrolets will have two inches added to their front air dams. The front-end realignment that has been proposed since Day One at Daytona is getting a test drive.
Let freedom ring; the parliament has spoken.
NASCAR Chief Operating Officer Mike Helton had hinted at Las Vegas that a rules modification wasn't out of the question.
Then, when Earnhardt carried his No. 3 Chevy to a manufacturer's best eighth-place finish in the CarsDirect.com 400, the mandate trickled down the Daytona chain of command on Monday.
The bill is signed and delivered -- stamped with the seal of approval of every Chevrolet driver who has turned left in a corner and immediately turned right to avoid hitting the wall. "You just drive it in until you scare yourself, then hit the brakes, then hit the gas again," said Joe Nemechek, driver of the No. 33 Andy Petree Racing Chevrolet.
Atlanta should provide a good indicator of the imposed changes. It's the fastest non-restricted engine track on the circuit with qualifying speeds in the mid-190s. It is also a banked superspeedway, somewhat similar to upcoming events at Darlington and Texas.
If resolution doesn't come at Atlanta, then the wind tunnel in Marietta, Ga., is just a hop, skip and jump away, and NASCAR will most certainly cart the top-finisher of each make down the highway for a go in their propulsion laboratory.
Then, when those numbers hit the airwaves, the political jockeying begins again. Unfortunately, it could last all the way to November.
Phil Furr is a freelance reporter based in Charlotte, N.C., and a frequent contributor to ESPN.com. | |
ALSO SEE
NASCAR changes aerodynamic rules
Definitely 99, yeah, 99; 'Rain Man' a winner in Vegas
|
