Only in Nascar is the car and driver weighed together. That is why it is only an advantage in open wheel racing.
When I ran sprints, midgets & mini sprints, we were always weighed with the car. Are CART & IRL different than USAC, from which both were spawned?
housewife101 wrote:I don't know the rules for the Indy Racing League, so I can't answer specifically about their rules. I've seen a lot of races, and I've participated in a lot as a driver, crewman or official. And most race sanctioning organizations weigh the car and driver together after the race, or weigh the driver and add the driver's weight to the weight of the car for the post race tech inspection and weighing.
Only in Nascar is the car and driver weighed together. That is why it is only an advantage in open wheel racing.
The advantage isn't so much that Danica's car is lighter. But there is an advantage for the designers and engineers. They can locate the ballast weight to their advantage to bring the car (with driver) up to the minimum weight specified by the rules. So Danica's car will potentially have a slightly lower center of gravity and will be gentler on the tires than say Robby Gordon's car.