Rusty Wallace has been asked by NASCAR officials to help with the development of the new car [COT – Car of Tomorrow]. Wallace is scheduled to drive one at an upcoming Bristol test session scheduled for March 27, the day after the Nextel Cup race. Wallace knows the high-banked track extremely well, having won there nine times.(Yahoo Sports)(3-19-2006)
UPDATE: Only four teams – Richard Childress Racing (Jeff Burton), Penske Racing South (development driver Billy Wease), Chip Ganassi Racing (Reed Sorenson) and Roush Racing (Carl Edwards) – are expected to bring cars to an open test for the “car of tomorrow” Monday at Bristol Motor Speedway. The test comes a year before the car is expected to make its debut at the track. Manufacturers must submit their specifications for approval by July 1. “This is strictly about tuning the cars, understanding what it will take for springs and shocks and handling of the car,” NASCAR Vice President Robin Pemberton said March 18. “We will get some more feedback from the wing and the [front] splitter.” Pemberton said having four teams would be good, and NASCAR can’t expect every team to come to every test. NASCAR is bring its own.(SceneDaily.com)(3-22-2006)
UPDATE 2 – No Rusty; Rules Book close: The first rulebook for the Car of Tomorrow is expected to be in teams’ hands next week, said NASCAR’s director of cost research Brett Bodine, who’s been NASCAR’s lead test driver for the project. NASCAR president Mike Helton asked Rusty Wallace, the 1989 Cup Series champion who retired at the end of last season, to test the prototype at Bristol following this weekend’s events, the fifth test and the first on a short track this season. “I was asked to do the test, but I’ll be at a big production meeting up in Bristol, Conn., with Marty [Reid] and Scott [Goodyear] and the rest of the ESPN guys, so I passed on it,” said Wallace, who will not be at Bristol for the first time in 23 years due to his new position as an analyst on the ABC/ESPN broadcasts of the Indy Racing League, which opens this weekend in Homestead, Fla. “But what I am going to do is probably drive the Car of Tomorrow at Martinsville. I do want to drive the car just to feel it. I want to understand what it’s all about, and if I can make some comments about how they can make their car better or different, I’d be happy to tell them.” Bristol’s 2007 spring race is scheduled as the first official event for the Car of Tomorrow. Earlier this season, the Car of Tomorrow was tested twice at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway and twice on Atlanta Motor Speedway, a 1.54-mile track. A test had been scheduled at Darlington after the Dodge Charger 500 in May, but Bodine said that had been dropped in favor of another 1.5-mile test, at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on the Tuesday after the May 28 Coca-Cola 600.(NASCAR.com)(3-25-2006)
