Drivers lobby for less spoiler UPDATE: Rusty Wallace said Saturday that he and other Winston Cup drivers are lobbying NASCAR to reduce the size of the rear spoilers on all of the cars on the circuit to reduce downforce and attempt to limit effects of the so-called “aero push.” “I’m politicking real hard now, and a lot of drivers are, to get the rear spoilers downsized on the cars,” Wallace said. Wallace said that as NASCAR has increased the size of the rear spoilers in recent years, the increased downforce has forced Goodyear to go to a harder tire compound. “Goodyear has the tire real durable, and they have told me that if we can get NASCAR to take the rear spoiler off and get the downforce off, they’ll soften the tires back up,” Wallace said. “When they soften the tires back up, then the tires will wear and we’ll see the passing come back.” Wallace said he is among a number of veteran drivers who’ve tried to resist going to aggressive shock and spring combinations that would have been abusive on the softer tires used before Goodyear’s change to a harder compound. As more drivers have had success with the aggressive set-ups, however, Wallace said more drivers are going to it. Wallace said he thinks cutting a half- to three-quarters of an inch off the rear spoilers would do the trick. He thinks the front air dams should be left alone, however. “The air dam needs to be low to the ground so the front end sticks,” he said. “But you’ve got to take some off the back so you can’t charge into the corner so hard. …We’ve got to keep working on it. We’ve got to get the tire softened back up and get the downforce off so the softer tires can live.”(ThatsRacin.com)(6-23-2002) UPDATE: XM Radio reports – that Jim Hunter – NASCAR Spokesman said “I think any time a guy like Rusty Wallace is talking we’re going to be listening to him. And, of course, Rusty is one of the veterans on the circuit and I think John Darby our Winston Cup Director is well aware .actually from an aero-push standpoint you could just take the spoiler off the cars. The drivers don’t want to do that. So I think there’s a balance somewhere in there and I think that’s where Rusty’s coming from that we need to spend some time researching and looking at it Yes, to answer your question directly we certainly listen to Rusty.” (AM Radio Q:) How soon might we see a solution to the problem? “I think we’ll probably look at some things between now and probably the first of August. Maybe by the time we get to Indianapolis, maybe even earlier. We may share some ideas with the guys when we have them all together for testing at Indianapolis because we’re going to give them an update on some other things while we’re up there – so I think that will probably be a good place to get their input and also to let them know where we’re coming from”(XM Radio – NASCAR Radio)(6-23-2002)
