May 26, 2008

Naw, Naw, Naw to Yaw, Yaw, Yaw

NASCAR reversing one of its decisions? That’s absolutely unheard of!

Okay, we shouldn’t be mocking them, because in our estimation, after fumbling it initially, the NASCAR folks got it right and decided to limit the amount of yaw that can be dialed into a Sprint Cup race car by adjusting the rear housing. Last week we wrote about the issue in this space, pointing out that the amount of yaw in some Sprint Cup cars we’ve seen lately reminded us of an old body-on-frame American car that has been knocked silly in a t-bone crash and then was repaired by a nearsighted bodyman who didn’t have a frame straightener.

This year several race teams -- most notably Carl Edwards’ -- have been tinkering with the rear housing adjustment to give the car some yaw, aiding its initial turn-in. This has seemed to have provided advantages on some of the sports’ shorter-length tracks, and some racers like Jeff Gordon have said it was getting out of hand, despite the fact that his Hendrick Motorsports team was one of the first to try it.

NASCAR official initial reaction to the situation was pretty typical -- they said everything was okay and they weren’t going to do anything. But then, within days, they had a sudden change of heart, which we applaud. The rule stated that the rear could not be adjusted more than a quarter of an inch one way or the other, which doesn’t sound like a lot but could have significant effects. With such an adjustment, the rear wheels are pre-inclined to turn, basically giving the car a bit of rear-wheel steering, which, in turn, makes cornering that much easier. This past week, NASCAR officials clarified the rule to outlaw any adjustment greater that one degree. Previously, teams had been dialing in well more than two degrees.

Interestingly, the driving force behind NASCAR’s change of heart seemed to be cost rather than safety or fairness. As the rear toe adjustment grew more radical, the hard parts required to make it all work grew more expensive, so NASCAR’s ruling was largely to put an end to that. We’ll just have to wait to see if Carl Edwards does any backflips over the ruling.