Taurus Testing Not Going as Well as Hoped. For the past few days Talladega Superspeedway is a site that that is as heavily guarded and top secret as many government operations. Specifics are not easy to come by, but things are not going as well as Ford and the teams had hoped for. All Ford teams are on site, and sharing information back and forth, trying and trying to get the Taurus up to speed. NASCAR is also on hand supervising the testing process that is on going at this time. The teams that have tested include Brett Bodine, Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace, Ricky Rudd, Jerry Nadeau, Jimmy Spencer, Ted Musgrave, Michael Waltrip, Jeremy Mayfield, Rick Mast and Dick Trickle. The remainder of the Ford teams have sent team members from their teams to gather information and help. One team member who spoke out about the testing said things didn’t go very well and another source said the Taurus is about 5 miles per hour slower than the Thunderbird. Many crew chiefs noted that they will be bringing a Thunderbird to Speedweeks just in case the Taurus isn’t up to speed. An interesting comment that came from one top team is that they will possibly run the Thunderbird at Daytona and Talladega in 1998, the two tracks that the Taurus does not perform particularly well at, and a Taurus at all other tracks.(Speedworld)(12-20-97)
