Several Winston Cup teams tested the tire tethers at Charlotte(no idea which ones). The heavy steel cable connects from the jackbolt to the spindle on the front tires, meaning it does not rotate with the tire but will hold the wheel on the car in an accident. If it works, the tethers could become standard by the end of the season(Times-Dispatch) — UPDATE 1: “NASCAR officials were handing out steel-cable wheel tethers this weekend, which could become mandatory on Winston Cup cars beginning with the Coca-Cola 600, according to NASCAR sources. The move is seen by some in the NASCAR garage as more of a public-relations move than anything, in reaction to several Indy-car problems over the past year”( PitNow ) — UPDATE 2: I hear NASCAR may use tethers in the BGN race at Lowes this weekend — UPDATE 3: NASCAR had several teams try the devices in the Winston Open and The Winston Saturday night. Various versions of tethers, which are designed to help keep wheels from coming off cars during crashes, have been put into use for Formula One, Championship Auto Racing Teams and Indy Racing League competition. CART and IRL announced they would require tethers after three fans were killed by debris flying into the stands at a CART event at Michigan Speedway last year and at the IRL’s VisionAire 500 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway outside Charlotte on May 1. Gary Nelson, NASCAR’s Winston Cup series director, said Tuesday that NASCAR had been looking into the use of tethers before the IRL incident at the Charlotte track. NASCAR spokesman Tim Sullivan said teams were not required to use the wheel restraints in Saturday night’s special events. Some who were asked if they would be willing to try the devices declined. The tethers were connected from the car’s frame to the wheel assembly, but Nelson was reluctant to provide many details about how they were designed to work. Nelson said NASCAR is looking at comments from the teams that used tethers Saturday. He characterized the response as positive. “We will continue to move forward on the project,” Nelson said when asked if the tethers would be used this weekend for the Coca-Cola 600 and if they would eventually become required equipment(in part from That’s Racin’ ) and a few teams used wheel tethers during The Winston last weekend. Among those were the team owned by Bill Davis with driver Ward Burton and the Wood Brothers with driver Elliott Sadler. Neither team reported problems. NASCAR officials are expected to talk to teams this week about the device’s performance( News and Record ) — Check out an image of the wheel restraints at Sugar Free Racing
