Short Freight Trains at ‘Dega
Written by Rich Hemstreet · May 1, 2008
Restrictor plate racing is alive and well. So to speak! Sure, there were a lot of lead changes, but most of them were all very predictable. Instead of the old multiple car freight trains the 08 ‘Dega affair was limited to an “engine and caboose.” Most of the passes took place when one car pushed a second car to the lead. Denny Hamlin was the only driver that I saw all day long that could push virtually anybody else to the lead and still have the momentum to cut below the car he pushed and still take the lead himself. Robby Gordon pushed one or two people to the lead and looked like he might be able to make the “caboose” pass, but it never quite worked out for him.
It didn’t really work out for Hamlin either… as he would get passed by the next two-car mini-freight train. As usual, here was the obligatory ‘Dega “Big One” that everybody hopes to avoid. It’s fun to see the guys run three wide continually, but there’s very little tolerance for mistakes at those speeds. I’d love to see NASCAR take a different approach at the restrictor plate tracks. Instead of choking the engines, downsize them and give them full power. Limit the gearing if you have to, for the sake of longevity, but make the plate a thing of the past. Sell the plates on ebay as collector’s items.
Limit the engines to 300 cubic inches. See what sort of throttle response you get from that combination. If the cars slowed down to 175 MPH, but the racing were less freight train like and similar to what we see at the “intermediate” tracks I think it would be a step in the right direction. I imagine the costs of the engine development would also go down for the teams.
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Welcome aboard RIch! I have to wonder how the smaller engines will be much different from the racing we have today. The driver’s will all have the go pedal floored and they’ll still be nose to tail, 3 wide, just going a tad slower.
But an interesting idea none the less
Thanks for the greetings George. I think unrestricted 300 cube engines wouldn’t have to run pedal to the floor in the draft, and therefore they might have enough reserve power that the old fashioned single car slingshot could be revisited. The COT, with it’s large wake, would still have lots of freight train action, but I’d like to see the driver that can handle the throttle be rewarded with moving forward on his own.