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interesting article, I was at the 1985 Winston All-Star race when Darrell Waltrip won and upon crossing the finish line you could hear the motor over rev and blow up. He sure didn't want that engine inspected. Darrell and Jr Johnson were masters of pushing the boundaries when it came to the rule book. Nascar was sure a lot more interesting back then.
I always admired Penske for thinking outside the box. In the late 60's with the Trans Am series, his Camaro had some great fuel tank and fuel filling innovations. Where everyone else was taking 11 seconds to fill the tank during a pit stop, his fuel tower and vent system got it down around 4 seconds. He even used dry ice in a separate fuel tank chamber to help compress the gasoline into a tighter density so you get more into the tank, lol. Check out this super tall fuel tower they designed...it worked too good and got outlawed after one race.
I also love the fact that his fuel "filler" tube going into the cars gas tank was able to hold about 2 gallons of additional fuel just in the "neck" of the system. It was bigger than a stovepipe!!
Lastly, at one of the historics event I attended at Sears Point, one of his Trans Am cars had a clutch activated flapper valve the prevented fuel from coming out the back of the vent tube when the car took off after a pit stop for fueling. As the driver sat in the pits taking fuel, his foot was on the clutch which allowed the fuel overflow vent to be "open" like everybody else was 100% of the time. But as soon as the driver dumped the clutch to accelerate out of the pits, the fuel overflow vent was closed and no extra gasoline shot out the back. Every time the driver stepped on the clutch, the tank would vent....and it would only vent on deceleration and be sealed on acceleration. Saving a pint or two might not sound like a lot, but if it can get you an extra 1/4 lap before you run out of fuel, sometimes that is all that was needed to win a race.
10-23-2017, 11:29 AM
Famous Cheaters in Racing
