Softer bumpers may make difference in draft
The Associated Press
April 13, 2006
10:26 AM EDT (14:26 GMT)
NASCAR is hoping that a new, less-rigid bumper configuration on its Nextel Cup cars will cut down on the bump drafting that has been blamed for some of the worst crashes in recent years.
The new bumpers will be in use for the first time in the race April 30 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Bump drafting is the art of banging into the rear of the car in front to gain momentum to make a pass. It works well on the straightaways but is not as effective in the turns, where a bump in the wrong spot can cause a car to spin out.
Two-time series champion Tony Stewart became so concerned about bump drafting after the exhibition Budweiser Shootout at Daytona in February that he said NASCAR needed to do something before someone was killed.
Before the next week's Daytona 500, NASCAR officials set up "No Zones" in the turns, where drivers were not allowed to bump draft. Officials also said overaggressive driving would be penalized, but that only slowed down the bump drafting a bit.
Softening the bumpers could make a lot more difference.
"I'm excited that NASCAR is doing something," said four-time Cup champion and four-time Talladega winner Jeff Gordon. "I was hoping for something like that a while ago."
The change involves teams removing steel plates that have been used in recent years at Talladega and Daytona to reinforce the bumpers and allow for very hard bump drafts with damaging the front or rear of the car.
"I'm curious to see how they're going to govern that," Gordon said. "There's a lot going on behind that front bumper that's easy to hide for the teams, with all the ducting and things for the radiator and the oil coolers and everything else. I don't know how they're going to know what one guy has in there and what another guy doesn't."
Gordon said the new bumpers might not make much difference late in the race at Talladega, either.
"It's not going to do anything for the last lap," he said. "On the last lap, guys are going to say, 'Hey, I don't need water in the engine anymore. I don't care if it overheats.'
"It might just help out the first three quarters of the race and maybe make guys think a little bit more about things. It's not going to change the way I race much. I've gotten into situations where I've bumped some guys harder than I wanted to but, for the most part, I try to just barely push a guy or stay off of him and just let the air push the cars. So it's going to be a big adjustment for some guys."
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