The Tool Box

Welcome to the first ever post of The Tool Box! The Tool Box is a post put up every Friday that will give a bit of insight towards the technical side of NASCAR.

Have you ever wondered what makes these cars able to turn left at such high speeds? Ever watched a race or racing show on TV and had no clue what they were talking about?

Wedge? Stagger? Camber?

Huh!?

Now you can turn to The Tool Box to hopefully learn a little about what the folks on TV are talking about. During the first part of the season, The Tool Box will bring some of the more basic technical concepts. As we get more and more into the season, The Tool Box will have a bit more complex information. By the end of the 2009 season, hopefully we have all learned something new about what makes these cars tick.

Also, each edition of The Tool Box will feature a “Terms of the Week” section. This will be five new terms and their definitions.

For today’s edition I will talk about some NASCAR racing terminology that you will probably hear during the upcoming Daytona Speedweeks and Daytona 500. This may be a great help to someone who is new to NASCAR racing.

Common Terms Used During Daytona

• Aero – Commonly used abbreviation for the all-important science of aerodynamics.
• Bump Drafting – Bump Drafting is a drafting technique used most commonly at Superspeedways. It begins as normal drafting, but the following car pulls up behind the lead car and bumps into the rear of it, pushing the lead car ahead to maintain momentum. If done roughly or in the wrong position (such as close to the entry of the turn), this tactic can destabilize the handling of the lead car sometimes causing a crash. Use of the tactic in this manner is known as slam drafting. Due to the danger, NASCAR has attempted to limit the bracing on bumpers on cars, introduced "no bump zones" on certain portions of speedways where this practice is prevalent, and penalized drivers who are too rough in bump drafting.

Here the No. 38 (yellow) car is bump drafting the No. 11 car (black)

• Car of Tomorrow or COT - Now sometimes called "Car of Today", is the current car style for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The larger, boxier Car of Tomorrow boasts better safety, cost maintenance, and competition. It succeeds the older, rounded stock car design used in the NASCAR modern era.The car was first introduced in the 2007 Cup season at the Food City 500 on March 25 and ran a partial schedule of 16 races. The original plan was to fully implement the car in 2009, but NASCAR officials made the decision to run the car full time in the 2008 season.
• Clean Air - Air without turbulence created in the wake of other race cars. Clean air is found at the very front of the field.
• Daytona SpeedWeek – The Daytona Speedweek is usually the week prior to the Daytona 500. It showcases racing events nearly every day, starting with The Budweiser Shootout at Daytona and ending with the Daytona 500. Daytona Speedweek features racing from the Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series, Camping World Truck Series and ARCA /ReMax Series.
• Dirty Air - The air used and discarded by the lead car.
• Downforce - The air pressure traveling over the surfaces of a race vehicle creates "downforce" or weight on that area. In order to increase corner speeds teams strive to create downforce that increases tire grip. The tradeoff for increased corner speeds derived from greater downforce is increased drag that slows straightaway speeds.
• Draft - The aerodynamic effect that allows two or more cars traveling nose-to-tail to run faster than a single car. When one car follows closely, the one in front cuts through the air, providing less resistance for the car in back.
• Drafting - The practice of two or more cars, while racing, to run nose-to-tail, almost touching. The lead car, by displacing the air in front of it, creates a vacuum between its rear end and the nose of the following car, actually pulling the second car along with it.
• Drag - The resistance a car experiences when passing through air at high speeds. A resisting force exerted on a car parallel to its air stream and opposite in direction to its motion.
• Groove - Slang term for the best route around a racetrack; the most efficient or quickest way around the track for a particular driver. The "high groove" takes a car closer to the outside wall for most of a lap, while the "Low groove" takes a car closer to the apron than the outside wall. Road racers use the term "line." Drivers search for a fast groove, and that has been known to change depending on track and weather conditions.
• NASCAR – Stands for National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing. The largest sanctioning body of stock car racing in the United States. Founded by William (Bill) France, Sr. in 1948.
• Rear Wing - Aerodynamic surfaces mounted to the back of a race car to create downforce. Race car wings employ the opposite aerodynamic designs as airplane wings (which create lift to help an aircraft elevate) to create this downforce. The rear wing is a new device first used on NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s COT with the rear wing

• Restrictor Plate - An aluminum plate that is placed between the base of the carburetor and the engine's intake manifold with four holes drilled in it. The plate is designed to reduce the flow of air and fuel into the engine's combustion chamber, thereby decreasing horsepower and speed.
• Roof Flaps - These flaps are sections at the rear of a race vehicle's roof that are designed to activate, or flip up, if the air pressure flowing across them decreases. In the case of a vehicle turning backwards, the tendency for an uninterrupted flow of air is to create lift. The roof flaps are designed to disrupt that airflow in attempt to keep the vehicle on the ground.

 The open roof flap on this car prevented it from flipping over

• Silly Season – Slang for the period that begins in the latter portion of the previous season and continues during the off-season where teams announce driver, crew, or sponsor changes.
• Superspeedway – A racetrack that is one mile or longer in distance.
• Tear Offs - Transparent plastic strips applied to helmet visors or windshield. As these strips accumulate debris, a driver or pit crew can tear a dirty strip off for a clear view.
• Template - A device used to check the body shape and size to ensure compliance with the rules. The template closely resembles the shape of the factory version of the car.

The #6 Ford Fusion going through a COT template inspection at Bristol

• Turbulence - Air that trails behind a race car and disrupts the flow of air to the cars behind it.

These are just a sampling of the many terms you may hear during the Daytona Speedweek. An avid NASCAR fan may already be familiar with these terms, but a rookie may find them very useful.

Stay tuned to NASCAR Notebook for more information as the 2009 season is about to begin.

Next Friday’s The Tool Box will be about the importance of tire stagger and why it is a necessary tool in racing.