By: Adam Arnold

NASCAR National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing

The Beginning  Stock car racing has its origins in bootlegging during Prohibition.  Bootleggers needed to distribute their illicit products, and they typically used supped up small, fast vehicles to better evade the police.  Prohibition ended in 1933 but some people loved the taste of moonshine so drivers still supplied the demand.  Every “moon runner” had pride of his car and so challenges to races by other drivers occurred. The cars continued to improve, and by the late 1940s, races featuring these cars were being run for pride and profit.  These races were popular entertainment in the rural Southern United States, and they are most closely associated with the Wilkes County region of North Carolina.  Most races in those days were of modified everyday cars just supped up from stock version with a bigger turbo and camshafts and more sophisticated suspension systems.  Then in 1947, a man named Bill France Sr. decided this racing would not grow without a formal sanctioning organization, standardized rules, regular schedule, and an organized championship.  On December 14, 1947 France began talks with other influential racers and promoters at the Ebony Bar at the Streamline Hotel at Daytona Beach Florida, which ended with the formation of NASCAR on February 21, 1948.

The king Richard Lee Petty born July 2, 1937 Nicknamed "The King“ He won the NASCAR Championship seven times Won over 200 races during his career winning the Daytona 500 a record seven times He dominated the 1967 season winning a record 27 out of 48 races (ten of them consecutively) Statistically he is the greatest driver the sport has ever seen and is one of the most respected figures in motorsports He also collected a record number of poles (127) over 700 top-ten finishes Petty was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of fame in Petty's last race was July

NASCAR Now There are now 5 different NASCAR series Sprint cup series Nationwide series Camping World Truck Series Canadian Tire series (Canada) Corona Series (Mexico)

sound Sound: Vibratory disturbances in a gas, liquid, or solid medium The most important thing to bring to the track is your earplugs. A normal conversation is 60 db.'s. At a NASCAR race it is roughly around 105 db.'s… that 32,000 times louder than a normal conversation! Earplugs are suggested at the tracks since most of the older folk have lost there hearing earlier in their careers without the earplugs. NASCAR doesn’t implement mufflers since that is such a key point of it. The sound of the cars is all part of NASCAR. Since solids conduction sounds better than liquids and gases you feel the roar of the car right into your bones when they go rushing past you at 200 mph.

So why does a NASCAR engine have so much more power even though the fuel we both use is similar? Power Engines job: takes chemical energy stored in the fuel and converts it into kinetic energy, which is energy of motion. Power of an engine is how fast it can convert the energy of the fuel into power to the wheels. Your average NASCAR engine is about 850 hp. Your average car on our roads is about hp. so imagine putting 6 engines in your regular family car, then your getting close. Your average human can generate 4/10 of a hp for 10 mins. A race engine generates more than 2,000 times that Power= the ability to do work. If NASCAR only raced engines around a track it would be easy but there's a lot more to it than just that. Its simple, the faster you can take air out of the engine the faster you can put air in the engine. And the fast you can does this the more horse power you will have. Due to no muffler and bigger intakes and bigger cylinders and etc... You can bring air in faster and take it out faster. Also if you spin the engine faster, the more power will be generated. A NASCAR engine has a RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) limit of about 9,500. on average your regular car will run at 2,500.

Grip and turning Each driver has their own opinion on many things but all drivers want more grip. Grip= the amount of force the tire has to cling to the road. NASCAR regulates that every driver must use the same tires, so the only way to get more grip is to use more force down on the tire and that’s were down force comes into play. There are 2 different down forces Mechanical: the cars actual weight. Aerodynamics: the air that passes over the car. There is roughly 70-80% of the weight of the car on the left side tires throughout the turn. While sitting still a NASCAR tire patch is about a man size 11 shoe print. When driving through a corner the tire patch is about the size of your I-Phone. Think about that! You try driving at 180 mph around a corner with 4 I-phone`s as your traction and see how it goes. It takes over 10,000 pounds of sentripidal force to take that first turn at Texas motor speedway. Cornering ability= sum of grip from all 4 tires + aerodynamics of side force. There are three different parts in a turn. The entrance, the middle and the exit. The entrance you are applying the brakes and taking the load transfer from the rear to the front (momentum) putting down force from the splitter on the front end with more grip on the front tires By the middle of the turn you are off the brakes and are just riding the turn. The center of gravity switches from the front to the rear and this is help out with the rear spoiler. But in the exit of the turn you are heavy on the throttle and the momentum and center of gravity switches to the back of the car and even sometimes will lift the front wheel off the ground little.

Load and Balance When you increase the load on the tire( more down force) you are also increasing the friction between the tire and road and you have improved grip. The terms loose and tight in NASCAR means that if its tight the front wont turn and if its loose the back is sliding all around the place. You can put your hand under the left front tire of a car coming out of the turn at Martinsville speedway and it will barely hurt. But the key for handling in turns in NASCAR is to keep the weight of the car on that left front tire and you will win in the turns. Many drivers say the races are won and lost in the turns and this is true since stepping on the gas and driving straight is pretty simple but drafting will help out your speed.

Tire pressure and Fuel burn off The hotter the tire gets the higher the psi (Pounds Per Square Inch) in the tire will get and the tread will get worn down. At a track like Martinsville your left front tire can start with 10psi and in 100 laps end at 30psi and 100% tread worn. that about 0.1 of a second slower each lap since the tread is wearing away and the psi is increasing Since the fuel tank is at the rear of the car( about 150 lbs. of fuel) as they burn the fuel off the car becomes lighter in the rear and as the tires wear away.. By the time the car will come into the pits on 100 miles of straight racing it has no gas and baled tires.. Which is very dangerous since the car will spin its tires more easily.

Friction and Heat Friction and heat are both the best friend and worst enemy of a NASCAR driver. Friction and grip are used in the acceleration with the tries but also the deceleration of the tires with the breaks. When the two brake pads clamp onto the rotor they start to slow down the car but as they are applied again after again the brakes wear away and become more hotter and hotter and sometimes fail. At certain short tracks the breaks will see upwards to 1300 Degrees Fahrenheit are made up of different materials to stay cooler. Another way they try to keep the breaks cooler is by allowing air to comes through ducts and cool down the breaks. Nascar only allows 3, 3 inch diameter cooling ducts for the breaks. More friction= More Grip= More Heat Friction is necessary for the breaks and tires of the car but in the engine you want no friction. The friction overcome by the engine is all power that is being lost by the engine. Friction in engine=loss of horsepower=less speed But with an engine we can use oil unlike anything for breaks and tires. Oil is the blood of the engine. It keeps all the parts running smoothly and most efficiently. Friction always creates heat and that is uncontrollable. The key to the race team is managing the heat so there is a balance of speed while making sure the car will last till the end of the race.

Drag There are billions and billions of air molecules that will hit the car throughout the race and they make the difference. Sometimes air helps the car with feeding the engine and with the down force pushing the tires to the ground Drag acts against the engine and holds the car back. Its invisible to the naked eye but in a wind tunnel NASCAR specialist keep trying to decrease the percent drag on the cars to allow it to have a higher top end speed and will help out with fuel efficiency. Drag: is resistance to motion due to friction between air molecules and the car. The cars a built to have the least amount of resistance so they move the mirrors to the inside of the cars and sculpt the bodies to preform at its peek potential. They will tape off some of the grill and intake to eliminate resistance but reducing air flow will increase temperate of the engine and later cause sever damage. At Daytona and Talladega aerodynamics are the most focused concept since they are the longest tracks and speed matters there. Talladega has a 33degree sloped track so you can get around the track fast and not have to slow down. So for this they use a restrictor plate

Drafting Drivers have come up with there own ways to create more horsepower with the restrictor plate. Its called drafting. Each car needs to push air molecules out of the way, but if the second cars pulls up behind the first the air will just flow over the two cars (inches apart)and in simple terms you are putting two cars into one and will have more power since the split the work load. Drafting can generate between 3-5 extra mph and on the long stretches and that makes a huge difference. The end result is that the second car gets pulled along with the first car and they both go faster. Why would someone make another car go faster? simple, self benefit.. If your one of the two cars going faster your going to the front of the pack.

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