Winston Cup Series Forces Teams To Shift Gears

The switch from Ford’s Thunderbird to its Taurus model isn’t the only big change coming to NASCAR’s Winston Cup series next season.

Teams using Chevrolet Monte Carlos and Pontiac Grand Prixs will have new engines in 1998.

General Motors is introducing its SB2 engine with intake valve angle at 12 degrees instead of the current 18 degrees. That should produce more torque, but it’s also going to have the engine shops of the GM teams scrambling this winter.

“It’s probably the biggest design change the Chevrolet V8 has ever seen,” said Ron Puryear, engine builder for Bahari Racing’s No. 30 Pontiac. “Even though it will basically use the same engine block, the configuration of the cylinder head is drastically different from what we have worked with over the past 30 years.

“The biggest difference,” Puryear added, “is the port layout and the valve angle and combustion chamber design. The only things that remains the same are the crankshaft, rods, oil pan and the water pump. Other than that, everything has to be changed to accommodate the new cylinder head.”

Ford teams will have to discard the sheet metal for the Thunderbirds, which will no longer be built by Ford, and GM teams will also have to cast off some materials.

“At Bahari Racing, we’re looking at throwing away 25 engines that cost about $35,000 each, and essentially starting over,” Puryear said. “A month and a half ago, we started generating new blocks. We have five complete now and have 15 on order.

“We are now machining a second set of heads, so it’s going to be a tremendous amount of work over the rest of the year. Not only do we have to prepare for Daytona (the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 15), but the whole season as well.”

Family attachment

The 1-2 finish by brothers Terry and Bobby Labonte in the DieHard 500 was the third time the siblings have managed that feat.

“It’s a great feeling, but I like it better with me ahead of Bobby,” the older brother said.

Bobby won the two previous 1-2 runs by the brothers, the 1995 May race at Charlotte and the August race at Michigan that same year.

Last Sunday’s finish was the 22nd time in Winston Cup history that brothers were 1-2. The three Flock brothers, Tim, Fonty and Bob, managed the exploit 13 times in various orders; the Allisons, Bobby and Donnie, did it five times - with four of Donnie’s five career wins being just ahead of his brother; and the Thomases, Herb and Donald, did it once.

Over the top

Right in the center of the spectacular and scary 21-car wreck last Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway was Jeremy Mayfield, whose Ford was shoved over the front of Jimmy Spencer’s Thunderbird.

“It was one heck of a wreck,” Mayfield said. “I was doing everything I could to miss it, but I got caught up in a cloud of dust and I felt the car starting to lift. All I could think of was ‘Hold on!’

“I felt a ‘Whooomp!’ and I looked over to my left and I’ll bet my nose wasn’t 10 inches from Jimmy Spencer’s nose. There was nothing any of us could do. There was nowhere to go and nowhere to hide.”

Pole cats

The lineups for two of the 29 Winston Cup races this year were determined by points after qualifying was rained out. There have been 18 winners in the 27 races that did hold pole qualifying.

That’s already four more than last year, with three races remaining.

Not only that, but pole leader Mark Martin has only three, the smallest number at the top of the qualifying charts in recent years.

Last season, Jeff Gordon, who has one pole in 1997, led the series with five. He was followed by Martin, Terry Labonte and Bobby Labonte with four apiece.

Bobby Labonte has two this season, but older brother Terry has yet to win a pole. Others who won at least one pole in 1996 and have yet to win one this season include Jeff Burton, Ricky Craven, Dale Earnhardt, Mayfield and Ted Musgrave.

First-time winners in 1997 are Joe Nemechek, Mike Skinner, Kenny Wallace, Todd Bodine and Robby Gordon.