• Recall the T-Rex car? -

    From a425couple@21:1/5 to All on Sat Oct 9 11:32:22 2021
    Innovative, Banned, and Unique Racing Vehicles.
    Steve Poythress · 22h ·

    Ray Evernham: " - it passed inspection ... it’s legal."
    Bill France: “IT WON'T BE TOMORROW.”

    This car is named T-REX (sponsored by the Jurassic Park franchise) and
    in one appearance radically changed NASCAR - it was so fast in its first
    race (1997 Charlotte All-Star) Jeff Gordon started dead last, overtook everybody to win, cleared inspection, and pocketed $1M.
    Literally decades ahead of its time, this car developed so much
    downforce the springs had to be increased 17% front, 12% rear, plus use
    the largest anti-sway bar scrounged from the race trailer (1-3/8").
    What made the aero work was simultaneously raising the floor, dropping
    the frame rails closer to the ground, moving the shocks outboard of the
    frame, and subtly designing the chin air dam to seal with the pavement
    at speed; combined with the new underbody this glued the car to the corners. T-REX permanently impacted performance engineering across NASCAR, as
    Hendrick Motorsports engineers also included improvements like hollow
    axle shafts, completely redesigned shock absorption, fanatic lightening
    of unsprung weight and rotating components, lightened gears and
    driveshaft, and many other subtle optimizations.
    119 Comments


    Howard L. Chapman
    Similar to the car they took to Daytona about 15 years ago that sat on
    the pole and blitzed the field all day long. Instead of stickers on the
    car, they made the car as slick as possible by painting on every
    contingency and team sponsor images. This is… See More
    · Reply · Share · 4h

    · Reply · Share · 4h
    Jason Shald
    It's always been a matter of what you can get away with, moreso than
    what was known. I was there (Nascar circles) in the early 90's and it
    was very clear no avenue was unexplored. You wouldn't believe the data collection setups I saw on a secret test session ...
    · Reply · Share · 20h · Edited
    Jon Capps
    I believe a lot of the design came from an ole guy name Wayne after they
    tested at Indy . They were sitting around at the " Widbd Tunnel" or
    Kelly 's and Wayne started telling Ray how to get around Indy.the pen
    and napkins cane out and the rest is hi… See More
    Wayne Leary, 1939–2010 – Vintage Road & Racecar
    VINTAGERACECAR.COM
    Wayne Leary, 1939–2010 – Vintage Road & Racecar
    Wayne Leary, 1939–2010 – Vintage Road & Racecar
    · Reply · Share · 2h
    Scott Harris
    While "fairness" is the stated aim of rule books, in many race series
    the goal is to contain costs by outlawing expensive technology. NASCAR
    is famous for resisting simple things like disc brakes and fuel
    injection to keep costs down.
    · Reply · Share · 18h
    Mark Arnold
    a lot of those "cost saving measures" cost more. Penske got AMC part
    numbers for the brakes used on the Porsche 917 to run on his Rambler.
    · Reply · Share · 18h
    Chris Stewart
    Ray Evernham was the then-modern version of Smokey Yunick......find any advantage, explore all gray areas of the rules and exploit it to the
    max. Was never that big on Gordon personally, but Ray Evernham's ability
    to build winning cars certainly had my attention and eventually respect.
    · Reply · Share · 21h
    Matthew Taylor
    gotta love the outta the box thinkers👍🏻
    · Reply · Share · 19h
    Adam Eckert
    Chris Stewart I wish he was still running a team. Evernham Motorsports
    was the cool underdog when I first got interested in racing, and I
    always thought he was great.
    · Reply · Share · 14h
    John Matras
    My solution to everything is a speed bump at pit out. If it’s a “stock” car, it should have enough ground clearance to clear a modest bump.
    Would keep pit lane speeds down if there was one on pit in too.
    · Reply · Share · 20h

    Nick Manlove
    Someone in the garage read one of Smokey's books . Most of the stuff
    mentioned Smokey had already pulled off....for a while!!
    · Reply · Share · 15h
    Colby Bradfield
    Unless they did an in depth diagnostic, it was very common for them to
    cheat displacement tests and various other tests
    · Reply · Share · 18h
    Ed Wach
    I remember hearing that Evenham never truly denied rumors of traction
    control on this car.
    · Reply · Share · 20h
    Andrew Hunter
    Read Colin Chapman, Smokey Yunick, Bruce McLaren, Corroll Shelby. They
    pushed the rules
    · Reply · Share · 14h
    Matt Wood
    What's funny is that it raced a few more times after the Winston too,
    even though the urban legend states otherwise.
    · Reply · Share · 22h
    Jimmy McKinley
    Matt Wood where else did they run this car? Everything I've ever read
    about it says "one race", and I've been a fan since the '70s.
    · Reply · Share · 21h · Edited
    Jon Probst
    Matt Wood I thought it only raced in this configuration once, then was
    modified to fit the new rules and raced after.

    Steve Poythress
    Jimmy McKinley Hendrick Motorsports tried at least several times to
    campaign the car altered to comply with rule changes, it wasn't competitive

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