NASCAR Cracks Down on Crab Walking

I first noticed the phenomenon last week at Darlington, and boy, was it ever noticeable in Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Race XXIV at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

That phenomenon? NASCAR Sprint Cup cars driving down the straightaway sideways.

Yes, the "Car of Tomorrow" was designed to reduce the amount of tweaks that a team could do to the body and frame settings of the car as it traveled down the track. NASCAR wanted to rope in the gray areas of the rulebook that permitted teams to essentially build a race car that resembled a wave more than an arrow.

Teams trying to find the newest edge with the new car design have seemingly stumbled across a way to make a car faster by jogging the rear end out to the right side of the car, causing a "crab walk" effect as it drives down the straightaway. Literally speaking, if one was to stand in front of the car, you could plainly see the right rear tire.

NASCAR -- outfoxed on the rules for its new car -- has decided to take a stance and force the teams to take out the awkward rear ends to a certain degree.

Sprint Cup Series director John Darby said Saturday that teams will get a memo, likely this week, telling them to "clean up" the way they're turning their wheels to help the cars handle better.

"They need some of that, but there are some of them that have pushed it," Darby said.

Good for NASCAR on this one, I say. Frankly, the dirt track-type look on the straightaway isn't very visually appealing.

But I do think NASCAR is probably just getting to the tip of the ice berg in terms of the new car.
The new car was designed to be more racy (it isn't), safer (job well done), and help smaller teams race on an even playing field. The final goal is likely going to be the one thats missed the most because NASCAR didn't seem to take into account that teams with tighter rules create looser engineering budgets.

Will it get to the level of a Formula One Series? It's not there yet, but its well on its way. Teams will not stop at any cost -- as long as the sponsorship dollars are rolling in -- to win. And that cost?

From the engineers, where the crab walking cars came from.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

5-19-2008 @ 10:47PM

Bernie said...

The first time I saw a car crab walk I thought it had some sort of tweaked chassis damage then I heard the boys on the Dave Moody show talking about the rear chassis adjustment. I think it's another way to help make the heavier COT get around corners without depending on down force the car is lacking especially on tracks with little or no banking around the turns.

5-20-2008 @ 12:15AM

Don Emerson said...

Cheating in one form or another is part of racing and always has been. It's been "us against them" thing since the early days of Nascar. Before the big money took over, it was almost like a game to see what you could get away with. These days it's become a very intense sophisticated game in which the fines and penalties are making it a lot less appealing. When you look around at other pro sports and the things they do to enhance performance, it makes me gald that I'm a racing fan. Besides, as everyone in the garage knows, it ain't cheating if you don't get caught. Works for me.....

5-20-2008 @ 9:08AM

Mike said...

I thought the idea was to find ways to make the cars go faster. Now, just when they do, Nascar changes the rules to say you cannot adjust this, you cannot adjust that. The teams may as well get rid of R&D because it seems Nascar wants to limit any changes to the car to be changes that can only be made during a race. Can you say IROC?
MBL

5-20-2008 @ 9:58AM

shirley said...

i love the crab look....yea 4 the teams 4 finding ways 2 race again.....this year has been so boring @ most of the tracks.....safe is 1 thing n should b so but hello nascar, what happen 2 "let's go racing boys"????...why not just have 1 pit crew 4 all the cars n have nothing but iroc races....same cars same pit crews same rules....

5-20-2008 @ 9:59AM

Paula said...

"Will it get to the level of a Formula One Series? It's not there yet, but its well on its way."

Not "there" yet in terms of....? Personally I see NASCAR as light-years ahead of F-1 IMO.

5-20-2008 @ 11:11AM

Susan said...

Mike, I agree with you. If they have to make the scales and garage doors wider then they should do it. The fans needs to have a great show.

Thanks
Susan

5-20-2008 @ 11:14AM

Im for NO tweeking lets see what the drivers got and not have a car that anybody can drive.

5-20-2008 @ 11:44AM

Bob Farrell said...

if it ain't in the rule book, it's legal, just ask Smokey Unick

5-20-2008 @ 6:51PM

Kim said...

I guess I am confused, what's the problem with the "crab walk?" The teams aren't altering the car are they? It looks to me like it only benefits the driver if they are good enough to control their vehicle while going partially sideways down a straightaway. More power to them if they have the, hmmm, you know whats to pull it off. I see this as a non-issue. I must agree with Mike on this one. NASCAR is getting really ridiculous in their rule infractions. They need to take back the reigns a little and let these guys experiment with the new cars some. This year has been boring indeed.

Kim

5-20-2008 @ 9:49PM

drgrcr601 said...

If Nascar continues to tie the hands of teams and engineers we will soon be watching 36 IROC races per year that were in my opinion boring as hell and probably one of the reasons they are no longer around. We're heading in the direction of tires and gas only on pit stops. There will nothing to adjust except tire pressure. Maybe! It's very difficult for me to think that Nascar believes this is the direction they want to go but it is beginning to appear that way. Bummer!

Ron

5-21-2008 @ 6:04PM

Bobo said...

Yup, BOORRRRIINNNGGGGG! Here's the parts you must put together your shocks....someone used the specified parts in a differnt arrangement that was better & it got deemed "Unfair Advantage". King Richard had the dual shock absorbers on his pontiac in the early 80's, "Unfair Advantage". Hell, anyone can bolt together the specified parts, just not all will put the washer on first, then the spacer, shim, grommet. The creative ones & the guys who wonder "What If?" will do it, Shim first, grommet, spacer washer & go faster. Rats! Revell will supply a snap together car model for the teams to assemble with the crappy decals you gotta dip in water! Better be carefull snapping in the windshield boys, they never seem to stay in long!!!!