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Thursday, August 16 Problems with chassis are fixable By Jack Arute ESPN.com Tuesday, Aug. 21 is the day. The day NASCAR and the media have waited for since lap 199 of the Feb. 18 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. That is the day NASCAR will reveal its findings concerning the death of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt. Bob Cuneo thinks the findings will leave many feeling déjà vu. Cuneo is the co-founder and mastermind behind Chassis Dynamics, a Connecticut race car manufacturer. He has designed, built, maintained and engineered race cars for more than 25 years and has spent a number of years hiring out his engineering expertise to numerous Winston Cup teams. In the early 1980s, Cuneo was part of NASCAR's modified series, which witnessed four drivers die in less than 18 months. One of them, Richie Evans, was to that series what Earnhardt was to the Winston Cup circuit. Evans' death during the Dogwood 500 at Martinsville, Va., coupled with the unexplainable losses of Charlie Jarzombek, Tony Jankowiak and Corky Cookman, put into motion a discovery process in which Cuneo played a role. "Chassis on the modifieds in the old days were kind of flexible flyers," Cuneo said. "Then, as brighter people got involved, the cars got less safe because the cars became more rigid. "When you make a car more rigid, you make a car more predictable, so that when you set it up it does the same thing all the time; adjustments will have the same effect over and over again." Chassis flex makes the car a spring and that means shocks, springs and other suspension components have less of an effect on it -- something to be avoided in a racing environment. Getting the stiffness of a car up to a certain point increases consistency. The modifieds became so stiff that any energy loading traveled to the weakest part, which, unfortunately, was the driver. "It was a combination of NASCAR and car builders that attacked the modified problem," Cuneo said. "We came up with a design that was stiff enough to be practical, but when it hit hard it crumbled up to absorb energy. "In Winston Cup, as factory engineers got more and more involved, cars got stiffer and stiffer. Engineers actually assign a number rating the stiffness by 'x' number of foot pounds of torque per degree of twist. "Over the last six years in Winston Cup no one has stopped to think that they have stiffened the cars up to the point that they are transmitting more energy back to the driver." Cuneo doesn't think it was intentional. "The thought never crossed their mind," he said. "It just happened. It was an evolution thing and people didn't realize. Now its time to re-think it." Cuneo is not saying NASCAR should soften the cars to the point where excessive flex problems return. "What I am saying is that they do need to put more attention into making deformable structures ahead and behind the suspension," he said. These zones would be where energy generated in a crash would go. Made of less rigid materials, they would reduce the accident impact before it got to the main frame area and still preserve the desired stiffness for consistency. A lot of talk since Earnhardt's death has centered on a new device called the "Humpy Bumper," a crushable front-end structure that would fit behind the front air dam. Many expect the NASCAR report will suggest the use of these in the future. "I haven't seen the 'Humpy Bumper' in enough detail to really decide," Cuneo said. "But, if as I suspect, it only occupies the area immediately behind the front air dam, it won't be enough. You need to create a deformable area all the way back to the cross member." Chassis design is not the only area Cuneo feels needs attention. While Winston Cup operations spend millions on engine, chassis, and shock absorber development to shave hundredths of seconds off lap times, little attention is spent regarding seat and restraint belt installations. "In my opinion, what I have seen down there," Cuneo said, "is 70 percent of the seat installations in Winston Cup could be improved." It's not something many thought about prior to the loss of Earnhardt. In many cases, the task of installing belts and seats, a heretofore perceived mundane task when compared to hanging fenders for an aerodynamic advantage or calculating to the hundredth of an inch suspension pick-up points, were left to shop assistants and entry-level crew members. Cuneo feels incorrect installations create a huge deformation problem between the seat, the belt and the driver. "The attachment points are such that you are pulling in the wrong direction on the belt which in turn pulls in the wrong direction on the body," he said. "The other common problem is that many of the belts are attached in such a way that the direction of the belt is changed dramatically when they come through the seat so that now in a really high G-force crash, it deforms the seat which does two things. In deforming the seat the belt becomes loose. And, in the process of deforming the seat and pulling at the wrong angles, there are loads put on the belts that dramatically multiply the forces put on the belt. If the belt pulls in the direction that it is supposed to pull in, I guarantee the belt won't break. If that happens, the body would be held where it belongs instead of moving where it shouldn't." Cuneo says he will read NASCAR's report, but doesn't believe it will be the definitive answer. Instead, he hopes it will be a positive start. "If they address the issues of crushabilty of the cars, and if they address having guidelines for how the seats and the belts are to be mounted, they are really going to help the situation." Cuneo said. "Just like it did in the modifieds."  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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