5 replies to this topic

[Timm]

In 1998, the Hendrick team wheeled out a car to run in the Winston. The car was of unusual design and the team was told that they shouldn't try and race it again or it would take up permanent residence in technical inspection. It ran away with the race and was never seen again.

Does anyone know anything about why this car was so special?

[rdrcr]

A quick search reveals:

...Gordon came from third to first and won the first 30-lap segment of the race, then came from 17th to fourth in the second segment. It took him less than two laps to get the lead in the final 10-lap segment and he was in front the rest of the way.

After the victory, Gordon and crew chief Ray Evernham said the car was a product of the research and development program at Hendrick Motorsports, and those comments set off quite a controversy.

The car passed NASCAR's post-race inspection, but by early the following week it had told Evernham not to bring the car to another race until changes were made in it.

"That car fit all the rules,'' Evernham said. "(But) they changed the rules for 1998. NASCAR basically made new rules because of that car.''

Eddie Dickerson, manager of chassis engineering for Hendrick Motorsports, said there was no one magic gimmick that made the "T-Rex'' car better.

"We went through the rule book and wherever there was a real gray area or no specifics regarding certain components, we worked hard in that area with new things,'' he said. "There are no major changes you can make to components on these cars. So we worked hard in different little areas. It was a combination of things. ... (But) we did not do anything illegal with the car.''

Evernham and Dickerson won't say what those changes were, but NASCAR eliminated them with changes to its 1998 rulebook.

"With the new rules, the car was just no good,'' Evernham said. The car was a prototype for the team's 1998 cars, with The Winston serving as a competitive testing ground. "It has put us a year behind with our chassis program. While we were sent back to the drawing board, it has forced us to run a lot of older cars during the first part of the '98 season.''

Where is "T-Rex'' now?

"We cut up the car and changed some of the pieces NASCAR liked,'' Dickerson said. ``The car didn't work as well, so we basically cut it up and used some of the components as a show car.''

[KenC]

My recollection was that the car had alot of titanium components to lighten it to maximize ballasting. The driver's seat was deeper in the chassis to improve balance. And, framing was different to improve chassis stiffness, particularly on the front end, and was designed with the aid of a CAD/CAM system by school-trained engineers. Apparently, not an easy car to work on, due to the packaging of the internals.

[Joe Fan]

I heard that one of its main strengths was the optimal placement of weight in the car. Although it wasn't technically illegal, NASCAR realized that this chassis was so revolutionary that it would upset the competitive balance of the series. So basically NASCAR passed rules to prevent them from using this type of chassis because of the expense involved for other teams to build similar cars. About half of the field outsources their chassis building and these teams are the lower funded teams who would struggle if the cars were allowed into the series.

[vtpachyderm]

I also thought that the engine had better breathing as well as all the other points mentioned above? Since it was at Daytona, and they used restrictor plates, it helped them in terms of power, or am I confusing this with something else? I vaguely remember watching the interviews after the races and they were talking about the car with its Jurassic park paint job, but I could be really wrong.

[squiggle bob]

Originally posted by vtpachyderm
they were talking about the car with its Jurassic park paint job, but I could be really wrong.

wasn't that the same car in 'days of thunder'..