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Tuesday, February 12, 2002

NASCAR's change for Fords provokes slew of reactions

By BOB POCKRASS | News-Journal Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH — If fans got tired of hearing Ford representatives complain, they can now hear from practically all manufacturer camps about the Daytona 500 rules.

Fords had their spoiler height reduced from 6 1/4 inches to 6 inches Sunday after their cars weren't competitive in qualifying nor the Budweiser Shootout.

Dodge now wants help, too, after Ford had four of the five fastest practice speeds Monday. But Ford people are also mad, this time over comments that their teams didn't work as hard over the winter.

"My advice to the Fords is to get to work and get their cars working better," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who drives a Chevy. "It goes back to how much effort you put into your car at the shop."

Said Dodge driver Ward Burton: "Some of the Ford teams didn't put into it what they needed to put into it. But if that's what NASCAR felt like they needed to do, maybe that is what they needed to do, I don't have a problem with it."

Frank Stoddard, the crew chief for Ford driver Jeff Burton (Ward's brother), responded with passion.

"People that haven't been in this sport long enough or haven't paid attention to what's going on in the sport might think off-the-cuff that it was because nobody worked hard enough," Stoddard said. "But I can grant you that we have cut up more sheet metal than anybody in the garage area this year."

Stoddard said when the Ford Taurus was introduced, it got a bigger spoiler after it proved to be faster than the other makes and it was only right to help the Fords now. And then he accused the Chevys of sandbagging during testing.

"If you go back and look at the testing speeds, the only people that were sandbagging were the Chevrolets," he said. "They picked up about six-tenths of a second from the way they tested. The best Ford picked up only two-tenths."

The reduced spoiler reduces the downforce but makes it faster at the high-banked Daytona International Speedway because air flows easier over a car with a smaller spoiler.

The spoiler sizes are adjusted for the particular make of car, which vary slightly from the other. For instance, the roof on the Ford is more curved than the roof of the other makes.

Dodge car owner Ray Evernham said giving just Ford an edge without helping the Dodge was a bad move. The Dodge is the car make most similar to a Ford.

"All you can do is say your peace," Evernham said. "It doesn't make any logic. It makes no sense.

"They agree with everything we're saying, but they still make the change (for Fords)."

NASCAR took a car of each make to the wind tunnel for testing Monday and more changes could be announced after the 125-mile qualifying races Thursday. There also was a rumor Sunday of increasing the hole size in the restrictor plate, but NASCAR didn't make a change.

"If we see good reasons to do it, we'll do it in the direction of giving everyone a chance to be competitive," NASCAR president Mike Helton said when announcing the decision Sunday night.

"I would say the wind-tunnel testing would be information that would help us along down the road. It's just not a factor in this decision that we're making now."

For some drivers, that might be too late.

"There is some talk about making changes at some point," said Bob Wildberger, who manages Dodge's Winston Cup program. "But I really hope that if it does occur, it occurs before the 125s, because about half of the Dodges have to fight their way into the race."

Ford drivers were cautiously optimistic but wanted to wait until Thursday to be sure the change would help them.

"I feel good about our chances," said Ford driver Rusty Wallace. "I was happy with what I saw in the morning. Things are looking up.

"I'll take anything they want to give us and be happy with it."

HICI Special Report — Speedway Safety: NASCAR Addresses Speedway Safety

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