The Wright Angle
Sept. 10, 2007

Car of Tomorrow test at Talladega

By Scott Wright

As I headed off to Talladega Superspeedway Monday morning to report on the Car of Tomorrow tire test, I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that I was forgetting something. Camera: check. Wallet: check. Tape recorder: check. Oh well, maybe whatever I couldn’t remember wasn’t too important, I thought, as I climbed into my car and headed an hour southwest to the World's Fastest Speedway.


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I pulled up at the turn four tunnel at 9:15 a.m. and the security guard practically waved me right through. Just a cursory check to make sure my name was on his media credentials list and I was inside the track faster than Dale, Jr. can hand grenade an engine.

Speaking of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., he must have been in a foul mood Monday morning. I tried to talk to him twice, to ask about his feelings on returning to Alabama for next month’s UAW-Ford 500. He waved me off both times before I ever got close enough to tell him I didn’t want to ask about the Chase, or inquire about whatever is in the water the guys in the engine department at DEI are drinking (I’m guessing Budweiser, by the barrel-full).

I tried to get a word with Chad Knaus, too. He’s the crew chief for Nextel Cup point leader Jimmie Johnson. But he was too busy -- probably trying to figure out a way to jerry rig a bottle of nitrous oxide to the carburetor. Shucks! I realized I was a novice at walking around in a Nextel Cup garage area to seek out interview subjects; my confidence was already blown and it wasn’t even lunchtime. Well, I thought, at least it wasn't 100 degrees in Alabama today, like it has been for the past six weeks. At 90, I could stand (just barely) standing atop a camera tower behind pit road beneath the broiling sunshine.

My colleague had better luck with the drivers on the other end of the garage area. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the section of the garage area I was prowling seemed to be reserved almost exclusively for teams in the top 35 in the point standings. Because most of teams had brought “A” and “B” versions of their CoT cars to the ‘Dega test, they’d run out of room in the Cup garage and some of the teams at the bottom of the point system food chain had been kicked a quarter mile down pit road, into what is normally the Busch Series garage. My fellow writer came back from his jaunt packing on-the-record interviews with Kenny Wallace and Robby Gordon. Both were very friendly and quite willing to talk, he said. Maybe Junior would have been, too, if he hadn’t rolled another snake eyes last Saturday night at Richmond.

Lunch time finally rolled around, and my buddy and I left the track for a bite. We ended up at a Taco Bell/KFC a few miles down Speedway Boulevard, fighting for seats with a vanload of Goodyear tire engineers in line just ahead of us. About the time we sat down to our meals of Taco Supremes and tough-as-nails KFC, the Ganassi boys walked in.

Reed Sorenson, David Stremme and Juan Pablo Montoya still had their fire suits on, tied around their waists, and were babbling about the morning session. We nodded hello and kept to ourselves a few tables away, which allowed another handful of diners to form an autograph/photo line that eventually ended up a half-dozen patrons deep.

Too bad they don’t peddle tequila at Taco Bell, because it turns out Stremme and Montoya had reason to celebrate. Both their Dodges were among the top 10 in speed during the morning session. In fact, there were plenty of Dodges in the top 20, along with a goodly number of Chevrolets and a few Toyotas. The fastest Ford was Kenny Wallace in the 88-A, subbing Monday for the injured Ricky Rudd. He was 28th fastest. The only other Ford in the top 40 was Matt Kenseth at 36th. I’m guessing Jack Roush probably skipped lunch on Monday.

We drove back into the track around 1 p.m., and waited until 2 p.m. to see some drafting. Jeff Gordon’s half rainbow-half primer Chevrolet was out front early, darting and ducking in and around a pack of eight other cars that included Paul Menard, Ryan Newman and Kyle Petty. The only incident of the day occurred when Sorenson smacked the turn two wall. (Probably indigestion from the tacos.) A few minutes later, during a final walk through the varsity garage area, I overheard Gordon telling a NASCAR official he was able to really “suck up” while drafting behind other cars with the CoT.

There's a joke there somewhere, but I'm going to let it go. There are plenty of other Alabamians who'd jump at the chance to zing the Rainbow Warrior and most of them will be in the bleachers next month, beer cans in-hand. They can lob insults at the four-time series champ if they want, but I won't do it.

Overall, my impression was that the racing is really going to be great for the first-ever CoT race at Talladega on Oct. 7, as long as the temperature cools off and we get a little cloud cover to keep the sun at bay. Did I mention that I finally remembered what I had forgotten to bring along? As my bright red face and neck clearly indicate, it was my sun block.

Hopefully, I'll be healed up in time for the race.