Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Drivers and crews must adjust on fly

Teams can change five major areas on a car's handling.

By KEVIN KELLY

© St. Petersburg Times, published November 11, 2000

HOMESTEAD -- James Ince lies in bed at 11 p.m. with new ideas and old decisions racing through his head.

"It's a constant thing," the NASCAR Winston Cup crew chief said. "If we were perfect, why would we ever make a change during a race?"

Choosing the correct adjustment on a race car is challenging enough.

Doing so during a 16-second pit stop is enough to cause even the most experienced crew chief to lose sleep.

"It's a very hectic time," said Ince, who works on Johnny Benson's car. "I don't know if it's nerve-racking, but it sure is hurried and tense."

Of the thousands of adjustments a team makes each weekend, tire pressure, wedge, track bar, tape and spring rubber changes are the most common during a pit stop.

They are, for the most part, quick, easy to do and can turn a backmarker into a winner.

"These cars are pretty adjustable," said Ray Evernham, who won 47 races and three Winston Cup championships as Jeff Gordon's crew chief. "You can affect the car a certain way with each of those adjustments. A lot of it just depends on the racetrack and the driver's style. It's just a tool."

Sounds simple.

It is ... if you like math, physics and geometry.

Robin Pemberton, crew chief for Rusty Wallace, tried to explain as clearly as possible what each adjustment does.

But before long, he was into cross-weights, percentages, roll centers and spring rates.

"It's really not that complicated," Pemberton reassured. "What makes it hard is the fact that this sport is so competitive, there's so many teams on the lead lap at the end of the race, the slightest little thing can screw it up."

Tire pressure, wedge, track bar and spring rubbers are changes that in one way or another make the car grip the track better. Teams also tape off the grill of the car to maximize horsepower, improve aerodynamics and raise or lower fluid temperatures.

More interesting than the specifics behind each adjustment is the process by which teams arrive at a decision.

Lap times can only tell a crew chief so much, meaning it is up to a driver to relay what he feels, hears and sees.

"We know these cars like the back of our hand," said Elliott Sadler, who drives the No. 21 Ford. "Most of us know, or think we know, which way we need to adjust it.

"There's no computers on board. It's in the driver's hands and you've got to make the right calls to try and do the right thing."

Through years of experience and thousands of laps, drivers can decipher what changes need to be made based solely on senses.

"If you're lucky, like our team is, you have a driver that can feel all those minute changes," Pemberton said. "Knowing what he knows, knowing what he feels in the car, he can dictate what you need to do."

Good communication is critical.

Before radios were common in the sport, teams relied on hand signals to communicate.

"If the car was pushing (toward the outside wall), you would put your hand at the top of the window and push up," said Buddy Baker, who drove in the 1960s, '70s and '80s. "If you had a loose condition, you motion to the bottom side of the door. You could live without the radios."

Not anymore.

Drivers rely on two-way radios to stay in communication, discussing track conditions, weather and potential adjustments.

"I guess you say what the crew chief wants to hear or give the little insight that he needs to know to fix the car," Sadler said.

The decisionmaking process is anything but an exact science.

"We make wrong calls," Ince said. "You can never hit it perfect, very few ever hit it perfect. If we were all perfect, why would we make a change during the race?"

Wrong decisions, which can result in a driver losing position rapidly, are dealt with during the next pit stop.

And sometimes the next night.

"A lot of times you make the wrong adjustment, something you called for is not really what it's looking for and you go backwards," Sadler said. "It's very important to make the right call.

"It can be the difference between winning and running dead last."

Pennzoil 400

WHAT: NASCAR Winston Cup race 33 of 34.

WHEN: 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

WHERE: Homestead-Miami Speedway.

TV: Ch. 8.

TICKETS: Available by phone at (305) 230-RACE, by visiting any Ticketmaster location or online at www.homesteadmiamispeedway.com or www.ticketmaster.com.

1999 RACE WINNER: Tony Stewart.

SCHEDULE: Today -- Winston Cup second-round qualifying, 10:30 a.m.; Winston Cup final practice, one hour, 11:30 a.m.; Miami 300 (200 laps), 1:10 p.m. Sunday -- Pennzoil 400 (267 laps), 12:30 p.m.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright