ray elder 1942-2011
General
Two legends lost in one week. RIP.
Forum Activity for @sandeep-banerjee
Check out this Cody Dinsmore interview with Moonshiner-turned-racer, Charlie Mincey
Stock Car Racing History
Nice job Cody.. enjoyed watching that! It's interesting about him using cans instead of jars. Always wondered how they'd keep the jars from cracking given how bumpy it must've been driving over country roads with beefed up suspension. Although I remember seeing in a Robert Mitchum movie where he had an entire shine reservoir with a tap under the gas tank so there's that too.
Kurt Busch,with Dr.Punch
General
That boy needs a good whooping. Paging Dr. Spencer.. the patient's last dose from 2003 seems to have wore off..
Something in the air.
General
Indeed that's what it looks like. I wish NASCAR would atleast try.. one of these days.. to test a raised front end with no splitter/valance and a highly trimmed off rear spoiler to counter for the loss of that front downforce and see how they race at an intermediate track.
Something in the air.
General
This is some great info.. if you ever write a book, I'm buying it.
It's like the old saying goes.. what's seen cannot be unseen.. and that fact has been shrinking the box more and more all across the racing world every year. I would love it if they could reverse that trend someday but it almost seems impossible since all the tricks are known anyway. What I would like to see is more options atleast.. like let them adjust the spoiler again. If Knaus can lay that blade down at 45 and make it work, more power to him.
Something in the air.
General
Looking through my picture collection it seems like 86 was the pivotal year as virtually all cars until 85 had the old 'lip' under a highly raised front end.. same as they started doing in the 70s but from 86, almost all cars had front ends flush with the ground.
Something in the air.
General
Yea.. wish they'd nipped it in the bud right there somehow.. but I'm sure the teams would've found something else to screw it up eventually LOL.
Something in the air.
General
Hey how about that.. I thought the Banana only ran once, at Richmond where Lorenzen blew a tire. Did not know it ran Atlanta too. Thanks for the pic Dave.
Jim.. great insight, thanks. The thing is though.. just looking at those cars like the 70 Torino Talladega and Dodge Daytona or even the cars until the early to mid 80s.. while they were definitely designed more and more to maximize airflow around the car, they still had so much front end clearance off the ground and only that little lip under the bumper. Seems like that while they understood the importance of cheating the air and basic effects of an inverted airfoil, they probably didn't quite know the advantages of creating a low pressure area under the car (think they call it the Venturi effect?? Not sure) by sealing off the front when at speed until the late-80s when the T-bird and the other cars started growing those big flared out front valances skipping along the ground at speed.