 |
Posted on 10/24/2007 7:31:04 PM PDT by glock rocks
.
|
 |
Please pray on this day, and every day, for our Patriot Armed Forces standing in harm's way around the world in defense of our liberty, and for the families awaiting their safe return.
commish was onto this back at post #240!
Yes he was. I thought someone mentioned it earlier... there it is.
Just heard on NASCAR NOW that NASCAR is ruling out sabatoge as Hamlin and Blaney drive different makes....but they (NASCAR) have no idea how the water (which they acknowledge was present) got there.
maybe it was left over from katrina last year
Todays practice is in the HMS #5 tribute car, I can hardly wait. I will grab pics later if NN has any which I'm sure they will. AND THE OWNER WILL BE THERE!!!! WOOHOO FINALLY!
NO MORE OF THIS..below..NO NO NO............
After Sunday’s Hamlin wreck, in the interest of driver safety, fuel will be tested after every race. Any team with more than (*)ppm water in their NASCAR mandated fuel will be penalized points, money and face suspension.
* pick a number, any number.
Uh, maybe they should test BEFORE the race????
Right here at Atlanta on Monday, the Car of Tomorrow will be tested as it is prepared to finally be rolled out on these 1½-mile tracks next season. And Dale Earnhardt Jr., for the first time, will be driving his future Hendrick ride – his relief stint of Kyle Busch earlier this season notwithstanding.
“It’s going to be an important day. … We’re glad to see it, to get started,” team owner Rick Hendrick said. “(Crew chief) Tony Eury Jr.’s been here, been working with the guys. He’s had some ideas. They have a lot of things to test … (Monday) is a day we’ve been waiting for. We’re excited.”
Hendrick seems more interested in team communication, gathering data and sharing information – both with Junior and Tony Eury Jr. and also with the upcoming No. 25 pairing of Casey Mears and crew chief Alan Gufstafson.
But it’s more than technical. It’s more than a chance for Earnhardt, Eury and Co. to shake down some new equipment.
It’s a chance for a fresh start.
Just hours after spinning and smashing, after having to leave an erstwhile stout race car behind in a heap and make his way to the infield care center, Junior will get strapped into a Hendrick Car of Tomorrow, which this year usually has been the class of the field.
Junior can leave, for a moment, his past behind and get a glimpse of his future. And with the way Sunday’s race ended – with Junior wrecking hard and finishing 25th – that glimpse perhaps couldn’t have come soon enough.
This isn’t to disparage DEI. This isn’t about minimalizing that team’s efforts. Short of something quirky [QUIRKY??] going on in the engine department, these guys have given Junior strong cars all season, as the team also has done for Martin Truex Jr. (whose great day here at Atlanta, incidentally, also ended in frustration).
And Junior still will be driving the wheels off his car, only this time it will be figurative.
“All I know is I have a headache and I’m going to my bus to rest up,” Junior said after Sunday’s race.
Chances are, he’ll feel a bit better on Monday.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This writer fails to mention that most of the 7 engine failure, the clutch put in backwards, power steering going out, the famous wrong brackets put on before Tony Jr got to the track costing him 100 points and now the tire problems all came after Jr announced he was leaving DEI.
And, if you read the rest of the article he’s still living in the dark ages about Jr fans not liking Gordon or HMS. The Jr Nation IS on board the HMS train 100%. There are a few who don’t like JJ but we don’t have to like everyone. I personally think a lot differently of JJ after he donated all the winnings yesterday to the fire victims in California. And, one cannot ignore the fact that Chad is one hell of a crewchief.
Why do you want to cloud the issue with common sense and logic?
Don’t they know there’s a drought in Atlanta?! Nascar’s wasting water!
As with most "water in fuel" issues, they need to test the underground fuel tanks first and I don't know why in the world they would penalize a team for having water in their fuel.
Don't they know that Detroit buried the engine running on water concept many years ago?
Good one!
Seriously, on Wind Tunnel last night Dave said that testing the underground tanks was the first thing that NASCAR (says it) did, but they tested OK. Since water is heavier and would be at the bottom of the tank, wouldn’t all or most of it be pumped out in the initial filling of the gas cans? Plus, as was also suggested last night, the water could have been in the (NASCAR controlled) gas cans before they were filled. If this were the case, wouldn’t there be a discrepancy between the meter reading and can capacities?
IMO, NASCAR is just throwing out responses to questions without any real thought. Remember, when first questioned about this, NASCAR dismissed it out-of-hand.
None of this makes any sense, but then again, it’s Nascar.
HAMPTON, Ga. - Denny Hamlin, who thought he had enough gas while leading when his car sputtered and didn't start with three laps remaining in the Pep Boys Auto 500, actually had water in his fuel cell at the time.
Whether that caused him not to accelerate and get hit from behind by Martin Truex Jr. is uncertain, Joe Gibbs Racing Senior Vice President Jimmy Makar said Sunday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway, site of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race.
But what is certain is that Hamlin and Bill Davis Racing's Dave Blaney had water in their fuel cells, and Roush Fenway Racing's Greg Biffle also might have had a similar situation.
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby said that no water was found in the Sunoco pumps following the race. Darby said all of the Sunoco documentation from the weekend shows no water in the tanks.
"The teams did give me a sample from each of those cars that has a little bit of water in it, but again water always settles to the bottom," Darby said. "What you don't know is when the water got introduced, was it two weeks ago, was it a week ago ...
"What we're pretty confident of is the dump cans they were using today, because they're all stored in their tractor trailers and locked up all weekend, and all the fuel that we've taken, including just doing a chemical test on the [Sunoco] tanks over there, show no condensation."
The crew chiefs of the afflicted teams were perplexed, as was Hamlin.
"All day we had been getting water in our fuel," Hamlin said. "The water displaces fuel, and so we weren't getting the full potential of fuel. We took it apart again [after the race] and pulled some gas out of [the] fuel cell and again we get water.
"It's a shame. ... Once again, it wasn't our day."
The fact that it affected at least two different teams and manufacturers (Hamlin drives a Chevrolet, Blaney a Toyota) - and possibly three (Biffle drives a Ford) - is perplexing as well.
"Because of the difference in the individual teams that have shown us water in it," said Darby, who dismissed talk of sabotage of select teams. "That's the reason we're trying to backtrack to figure out where it came from. ... Our focus is more on trying to understand where the water came from."
Biffle, whose car was on the pole, was having acceleration problems at the start of the race but was able to finish the event.
"I don't want to take too much of the fuel system apart because we had trouble from the start of the race," crew chief Greg Erwin said. "I want to take it back to the shop and pull a vacuum on it and take it apart one piece at a time.
"We checked the filter. There didn't appear to be anything in the filter. From the very, very start, about 20 laps into the race, ... he thought it was going to blow up. Obviously it ran all race. It didn't smoke any oil out. There's something weird going on."
Blaney's team also was trying to figure out what happened.
"We had water in our fuel from the get-go, all day," said Blaney crew chief Tommy Baldwin. "We put [the car] back in the garage and worked on it and didn't know what was going on. We drained it - half water and half fuel."
Baldwin said the fuel still had water in it at the end of the race but didn't know for sure how that happened.
"There might have been some remnants still in there," Baldwin said. "I'm guessing we were probably one of the first ones to get fuel - us and the [No.] 11 this morning or something. We're trying to find out the chain of events now."
Makar said he didn't know if his team would be able to determine how the water got in the fuel cell, but Darby expected to make some progress in his investigation.
"We'll get a good direction," Darby said. "What we do kind of believe is that it may have came on the initial, the very first fill of the day. Water settles to the bottom [of the tank].
"But just as soon as you move enough gallons of fuel through anything, then it's liable to flush out and be clean. That's what we're trying to find out the sequence of the cans that got filled this morning.[end]"
Now what about Wheelgate?
The 2 and the 12 AND the 48 also had water in the fuel, I’m sure we will hear more about this.
Here's a few teasers.........
"Junior said the biggest difference he noticed between his new Hendrick ride and the cars from the Dale Earnhardt Inc. stable was in the steering.
"The steering is smoother," Earnhardt said. "I think the theory and the method that Hendrick takes in putting their geometry together and putting this front suspension -- how the front suspension's assembled -- makes the car steer smoother. That's the way the 5 car felt at Texas. It was quite a bit different than my car at Texas. It's a little bit the same here."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.