Chicago

We bellyache about NASCAR racing a lot on here, but today’s finish was what made this sport what it was. Congrats to the combatants.

Now if only they would get the cars up off the ground and keep them from being sealed off, give them a 5" tall spoiler to gain some rear stability back in the car, and put them on Bias Ply tires… I think that would make a huge difference in the racing.

Right now what I see is when a car is behind another one, it shoves the nose because it loses air on the nose. The cars are too aero dependent in the front. Taking away downforce from the rear like they keep doing, is not going to fix the aero push created by loss of front downforce, it’s just going to make the cars extremely edgy and I think what amplifies that issue is the radial tires they are on. Radial tires have a pretty forgiving sidewall, but when the sidewall reaches maximum deflection, it puts the car on an edge and I have heard many drivers say that’s a feeling they don’t really like. The bias ply tire has a harder sidewall and doesn’t really seem to put the cars on edge as much, they just slide around more but the drivers can feel it and it’s a lot more of a driveable situation than a sudden snap sideways due to loss of lateral grip which honestly would make better racing in my eyes because the drivers have to DRIVE the car, kinda like Earnhardt and Elliot use to in the “old days”

/rant

I think you are right, Phil. I think higher ride heights and bias ply tires would make a big difference.

"The bias ply tire has a harder sidewall and doesn’t really seem to put the cars on edge as much, they just slide around more but the drivers can feel it and it’s a lot more of a driveable situation than a sudden snap sideways due to loss of lateral grip which honestly would make better racing in my eyes because the drivers have to DRIVE the car, kinda like Earnhardt and Elliot used to in the ‘old days’ "–Phil

Yes, it’s the Enormous Fat Lady in the room that nobody talks about, and the North (Phil) rises yet again.

Look at old racing footage. The cars are sideways–at Daytona–and everyone drives like Larson.

And I am old enough to have driven fast on street bias ply tires and every word about breakaway is true.

Initially they had to push the sale of radial goodyeahs. But now, how many tire buyers know what a race car is, much less a “radial” tire?

A cheap fix that is just lying there being ignored.

Re: Chicago finish–

>>Great Finish

>>Great show of sportsmanship by both drivers. They simply called it as it was–great racing. Of course, no one actually crashed…

>>I do not especially like Kyle Busch, but I gotta tell you, after he (appropriately) did the “crybaby” thing in front of the stands I dislike him a little less!

>>>How about that Larson “saving” that car?!

Be still my heart, my old buddy OldSchool agrees with me lol!

Several years ago we had a Shelby GT350 Mustang clone we raced in HSR. It had the old school Hoosier bias ply road race tires. I am not sure I ever turned the steering wheel at Sebring, just used the throttle to steer it. Great fun!

Educate me… Is there a reason they went away from Bias Ply Tires?

It’s hard to say how much I am making up and how much is fact, but…

Marketing.

The radials came out, they looked half flat and they rode like they were half flat. And they were expensive. And the sidewalls blew out.

For a while, I continued to use bias tires. But they got to be more cheaply constructed and lighter, and although they were predictable, they got “greasy” to drive fast on and they wore out sooner.

Meanwhile, the radials got better and the rounded and pooched out sidewalls got to looking “normal”.

And net-net, the radials got to be faster. I switched in about '82.

And along the way NASCAR switched. Presumably to sell tires: “We put a little of every tire we race into our street tires, and yada, and more yada”.

It ruined the racing on the spot, and Big Mean E could not “carry the car” any longer, and complained bitterly.

Still, the sport grew, everyone made money, until one day we had mostly 1.5 mile tracks, bulletproof cars following each other on radials, and a very stylized product.

It just wasn’t racing as we know it, and the money genie went away.