Is it against any rule to modify the car’s exterior to take advantage of this?
NASCAR is a spec series now so they can’t modify the cars at all really.
NASCAR fans are generally a lot more tolerant of shenanigans than I am. I see a well-executed bump-and-run for instance and it just looks like cheating to me, but it’s part of the NASCAR culture that I just don’t understand. So to me, this sort of thing should be an instant DQ for safety and cost concerns (teams shouldn’t feel like they have to destroy their car on the last lap in order to be competitive at certain tracks), but it was wildly popular so I’m sure nothing will happen.
I wonder how many Gs he was pulling. I know NASCAR doesn’t have the same grip as F1 but it must have been pretty intense. Probably couldn’t have pulled it off before HANS devices were invented (pure speculation).
The claim is a little over 5g.
Wow–someone quantified it! That’s a lot of force. The days of the out-of-shape racer are definitely gone.
And now it’s banned.
Wow, that’s kind of a vanilla ban on most of NASCAR’s tactics when applied broadly enough, isn’t it?
That seems like it’d obviate most of the senior Earnhardt’s career.