Fans hungry for anything race-related will come to Daytona for a pre-season fix. After all, it’s been a long time since the last real race. How many years back was that? I have trouble remembering sometimes. Okay, that was a cheap shot but I took it anyway. There really have been some good races in the past few years, just not a good racing format.
Moving right along, we race fans are slowly being dragged from hibernation, back into the world of speed on four wheels. Don’t be fooled though, into thinking that I’m making any sort of case for Daytona testing being anything akin to interesting or exciting, because it’s not. Even the drivers are bored to tears by it and some, as happens every year, won't even show up. Oh, their car will be there, with a Nationwide or development driver behind the wheel. After all, it's the new cars being tested, not the drivers.
First, in order to be thrilled in any way by watching the testing, your favorite color in the world had best be primer grey, as almost all of our beautiful rolling billboards show up sporting nothing but a car number with no decals or color, as we are accustomed to seeing them.
Next, forget about the thrill (if you are moved by this sort of thing) of side by side racing on a restrictor plate track, because that won’t be happening. Instead, the drivers take their dull grey cars out one at a time, drive a few circles and bring the cars back to the attention of crew members and engineers with lots of computers. Then, while those folks go over whatever data they've gleaned from the car’s short outing, the drivers get to sit on their thumbs and watch someone else turn circles, or if they’re lucky, maybe play cards or grab a snack. Whoopee!
That same scenario continues for about eight hours, for two out of the three days of testing. On the third day, some changes occur and the cars are allowed on the track for “drafting practice.” Unfortunately, only about half of the cars are even at Daytona, and out of those, maybe half will be on the track at the same time. If you’re not yawning yet, you should be; the drivers are.
I've never been quite sure why NASCAR even bothers with the drafting practice. Any one of the drivers will tell you that drafting with a pack of 12 cars is nothing at all like drafting with a pack of 43 cars. Think of it this way; you don’t get the same effect when two or three steers start running as you do when a few hundred of them stampede. Trust me; that’s a very good comparison.
When the new but not improved TV contract was in its infancy, all of the hype was about how many hours of Daytona coverage we’d be seeing live for the first time, including the testing sessions. If the status quo remains, you’ll notice that all of that “excitement” has now been condensed into one half-hour show per day on SPEED and even that contains more talk than action on the track.
Now, I’m no engineer, and I don’t play one on TV, but you don’t have to stay at a Holiday Inn to figure out that all that I've described is just plain boring! Someone, somewhere insists that it’s necessary, but I still remain skeptical. Despite all they “claim” to learn from testing, here’s a little factoid for you to consider. Unless NASCAR has changed the rules lately (And we all know they never do that) when the cars go there for testing, they are not inspected, at least to the degree that they would be for a race or even for practice before a race. Yep, that means they can take a car down there in pretty much any ol' body configuration someone thinks is cute or attractive; they can generally run whatever type of motor pleases them and no one gives a rip. They do still make them run with a restrictor plate; we wouldn't want to see a racecar going too fast. DUH!
Sure, most teams will take what the wind tunnel has shown to be their best effort of the winter, so the guys in the horned rim glasses can get performance readings on how the car runs on the track. Notice that I didn't use the term “in race conditions”, because that won’t exist until all 43 of them are on the track together in the Daytona 500.
If you don’t live in a cave and have watched racing for over a year, then you’ll be familiar with the term “sandbagging.” It’s an old card game term, meaning that someone holds a very good hand but plays as though he holds little, only to pounce at the end and take the pot. This term has become almost synonymous with Daytona testing over many years, and has actually become quite sophisticated. It almost never applies to a single car any more, but rather to an entire group of cars, usually designated by manufacturer.
If Ford (Or Toyota or Chevy) is looking for some sort of consideration or concession from NASCAR, then we will see all of the Fords (Or Toyotas or Chevys) run times well below those of the competition. This enables the chief whiner for whichever manufacturer we’re speaking of, to go to NASCAR and plead his case on the basis of low testing times. It seldom works, but it never seems to stop.
Then of course, there is the other side of the coin... the psyche-out. If sandbagging comes from cards, this move probably comes from chess. The idea behind the psyche-out is to convince the competition, through chicanery of course, that they might as well give up because this car is unbeatable.
The most stellar example I can think of as to how this works comes from Richard Childress. This particular move didn't come at Daytona, but at a testing session at Atlanta. That makes no difference; testing is testing, except that at other tracks, more than one car goes out at a time. The year was 1990 and the battle for points was extremely close between Dale Earnhardt and Mark Martin.
In this particular chess game, Roush brought as many cars to the track as he legally could and even enlisted the aid of fellow Ford owners, attempting to find the best possible car for Martin. Childress brought one car and Dale Earnhardt.
When testing began, the #3 Goodwrench car did not immediately take to the track. In fact, the car went out for its only run when the day was half over. Dale Earnhardt brought the #3 up to speed, ripped off a couple of unbelievably fast laps, knowing that every team there (Especially Roush) would have a stopwatch on him, and pulled back into the garage, all smiles. The Goodwrench team immediately loaded the #3 onto the hauler and went home.
What Childress had done was have the crew mount left-side tires on the right side of the car. Don’t ask me to explain that beyond telling you that the reason it’s not legal in a race is that a makes the car a whole lot faster. Folks are still talking about it as one of the best psyche jobs ever pulled in racing, and since it was only a test session, it was perfectly legal.
Perhaps because of that exhibition of speed, Roush opted to “borrow” a car usually driven by Davey Allison for Robert Yates, for Martin to drive in the final race of the season. Remember, there was a time when those two did NOT share that famous Yates horsepower…or even the same oxygen if they could help it, but on that occasion, it was all about Ford.
Despite experiencing a problem early in the race because Davey set something in his car differently than Mark was used to, Martin went on to finish sixth, but Earnhardt finished third, thereby clinching his fourth Winston Cup Championship. (Lord, I still love saying Winston Cup) Sure, he very well could have won it anyway, but without the psyche-out, Martin would have been in his own Roush car and wouldn’t have lost ground early on.
I know that little anecdote had little to do with Daytona, but it had everything to do with testing. Besides, I thought some of you younger fans might enjoy hearing it…or some of you old-timers might enjoy remembering it. Aw, come on, you knew I couldn't resist telling you one little story about the days gone by.
Right now, the best thing I can say about Daytona testing next week is that the following week will bring the Barrett-Jackson Auction on SPEED. I don’t know about y’all, but this old gal can sit and drool over some of those old beauties for hours on end. What a trip down Memory Lane some of them can bring. It almost makes me wish I were rich…in money that is…I am indeed rich in friends and family and that’s what matters most. Still…I remember a 1956 T-Bird ragtop last year… and my all-time favorite is a 1953 Buick Skylark convertible, done all in shades of turquoise, exterior and interior. She's a trailer queen, to be sure, and she has a name, though I don't remember it. Now guys and gals, we're talking excitement! Testing? Eh... not so much.
Be well gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~PattyKay
Email: nas3car@gmail.com
Twitter: @MamaPKL
If you've enjoyed your visit so far, we invite you to check out the Stock Car RacersReunion site by clicking here. By simply creating a log-in you will have access to over 100,000 vintage racing photos and thousands of articles, stories and conversations, some with legendary participants whose names you will recognize. As part of our racing family, you are free to enjoy the Chat Room and all Forums will be open for discussing your passion for racing with others of like mind. RacersReunion truly is where legends and fans unite.
