NASCAR

Cooling

Engine Issues at Talladega: Vapor Lock, Gas Cans and Oil Coolers

2012-05-07 dr. diandra 7

An usual number of teams “ran out of gas” or had engine troubles during the Talladega race. The TV analysts had some ready answers for what might have caused these problems. Their extemporaneous theories tend to elicit sighs from engine builders, who know that problems can rarely be diagnosed at the track – and even more rarely by someone who hasn’t looked at the car.

A wonderful aspect of blogging is that we’re not called to have answers on the spot like the television broadcasters and we have the leisure of time. Let’s examine some of those theories. […]

Edwards, Carl

Richmond Redux: Relative Velocity

2012-04-30 dr. diandra 0

NOTE: Some clarifications added 1:00 p.m. 4/30/12. Thanks to all the commenters, especially @nateryan! I think Dave Moody did a good job breaking things down. The situation is confounded because there were so many different […]

Cautions

Cautions: A Historical Downward Trend Over the Last Six Years

2012-04-24 dr. diandra 4

Being the data geek that I am, I was really curious if the decreasing number of cautions was specific to this year. It’s not: Cautions have been decreasing since 2005,as the graph below shows. The squares are the cumulative number of cautions per 100 miles, obtained by adding up all the cautions in a season and dividing by the total number of miles in the races. (This is a more accurate number than total cautions, given rainouts, shortening races and different venues from year to year.) […]

Cooling

What’s a Pop-Off Valve — and Why You Need to Know for the Daytona 500

2012-02-21 dr. diandra 3

One thing you will hear a lot as soon as coverage of practice starts Wednesday will be speculation about possible changes to the pop-off valve on the radiator. What is a pop-off valve and how will it affect the Daytona 500? Here’s the answer: […]

Electronic Fuel Injection

How close is NASCAR EFI to “Real” EFI?

2012-02-17 dr. diandra 10

As we turn on the (new) engines to start the season, the twitterverse is getting even more full of people debating the NASCAR EFI system. Is it like the EFI in production cars? Is it throttle body? Is it multiport? Here are the answers: […]

Allmendinger, A.J.

More Ragan vs. Allmendinger Statistics: Running at Finish

2011-12-30 dr. diandra 0

Great comment from Robby on my post statistically comparing AJ Allmendinger and David Ragan:

One thing you didn’t really factor which is a big deal to car owners is busted equipment. David Ragan destroys alot of race cars…AJ is one of the least wreck prone drivers in NASCAR. Ragan’s low finished were often a result of a wreck. AJ’s bad finishes were generally the result of bad handling cars or bad luck (Dover, Indy, Texas). […]

math

100 Million vs. 78 Million is not the Numbers Question for FOX vs SPEED

2011-06-21 dr. diandra 3

The NASCAR pundits have again simplified a complex situation. Incorrectly.

The NASCAR Net is a-twitter since FOX floated a trial balloon about moving races from ESPN to SPEED. I’ve heard the argument over and over, in print and on radio that this is a bad idea because EPSN is in 100 million homes and SPEED is in “only” 78 million homes. They argue this would be a decline of 22 million potential viewers. The question not being asked how many of those 22 million ESPN watchers are actually potential viewers? […]

Engines

How Mobil1 Goes in a ‘Quaker State’ Engine

2010-10-12 dr. diandra 1

Got a number of questions today about how a team that uses Hendrick engines – Hendrick having Quaker State as a sponsor – can have sponsorship from another oil company. The questions were along the lines of “Will Stewart-Haas have to drain the oil pans when they get them from Hendrick?” Here’s a quick answer, since I’m in the middle of a cross-country move and just about everything I own is in boxes: […]

NASCAR

A New Trackside Sign: Speech Limits

2010-07-29 dr. diandra 7

Jenna Freyer of the AP reported that some NASCAR drivers have been fined recently for negative comments about the sport. She wrote:

“The Associated Press has learned that NASCAR warned teams during the offseason that public criticism of the sport would no longer be tolerated, and at least two star drivers have been fined — one as much as $50,000 — for comments that were deemed destructive to the industry.” […]