Full Throttle

It’s still a couple weeks away before NASCAR’s CORN takes to the track again (Phoenix) but that hasn’t stopped the car from being the center of attraction for the media, among others.

After problems at Bristol, NASCAR firmly stated that it was “impossible” for the foam to catch fire. At Martinsville, billowing smoke from the door of Kevin Harvick’s car was too evident for even NASCAR to deny, so teams now must remove a 23 inch by 8 inch section of foam nearest the exhaust pipe run on the right side of the cars, and install a heat shield in the area.

For those that think NASCAR has been dilly-dallying on this issue this anecdote should put to rest those thoughts.

Greg Biffle was first to take his melted foam panel to the NASCAR technical center in Concord, N.C., after the March 25 CORN debut at Bristol, and got immediate attention.

“NASCAR was in a fairly large meeting with all their guys about the car,” Biffle recalled this week, yet they rushed him right into the middle of their meeting, “and they looked at the foam” on the spot.”

The other major issue has been the CORN’s ability, or lack thereof, to turn with the same proficiency as the “old” car.

The Scottish Racer (SR), with the able help of Robby Gordon takes on that issue.

“Sometimes , you’ve got to know what not to do…” says Gordon. “We’re (all teams) all in the same boat.. learning and learning and learning.. and learning what not to do is as, if not more important than knowing what to do… you can’t keep making the same mistakes..”

SR notes where the biggest problem lies:

“The CoT doesn’t have the aerodynamics of offsets to compensate, the turn has to be accomplished almost exclusively by mechanical means.. so far to get the nose to turn, the rear must have virtually no grip….so balance has to be learned, the drivers are just going to have to adjust to it.”

Aside from the safety issue the CORN was designed primarily to be less dependent on aerodynamics. Early indications are, and without benefit of racing on higher speed tracks as yet, they’ve achieved just that.

Aside from the petty bickering of who wrecked who the last few years the chief complaints heard have been from drivers expressing their dislike for the aero-push the old slicker design produced.

I have yet to see a quote attributed to a driver claiming the CORN suffered from aero-push. Just about everything else has been mentioned but not aero-push. Unless that is what Kyle was attempting to say and chose to use the less elegant “it sucks.” But I doubt it.

Back to Robby Gordon for a moment.

With all the trials and tribulations he has suffered as NASCAR’s only owner/driver he does seem to have a handle (pun not intended) on what it takes to get to where NASCAR and the race teams what to be with the CORN.

Robby also understands what NASCAR was attempting to do when they initiated the program. With the help of The Onion (ya know what’s coming doncha?) he describes NASCAR’s “New ‘Car Of Yesterday.”

Only days after its long-anticipated, much-criticized Car of Tomorrow debuted to overwhelmingly negative reviews at the Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR responded to the wishes of competitors and fans alike by introducing the stylishly retro, technologically retrograde NEXTEL Cup Car of Yesterday.

“This is exactly what everyone from race teams to race fans wanted all along