The Buzz: Feb. 14, 2001

February 14, 2001
4:35 PM EST (2135 GMT)

NASCAR Winston Cup director Gary Nelson said Wednesday that Monday's wind-tunnel testing proved no car make has an advantage, but Ford teams continue to cry that they are at a distinct disadvantage.

Nelson said the test was comprised of several categories that must each be taken into account, such as drag, front downforce and rear downforce, among others, and therefore no one make can be cited as the best.

However, one Ford crew chief says the wind-tunnel numbers don't back up Nelson's claims.

We at NASCAR.com are by no means technoids, but here's the gist of the issue:

Wind-tunnel numbers are a sea of confusing data, but the bottom line is horsepower. During the test, "aero horsepower," or drag count, is determined by taping up the car as it would be in a qualifying run and sending a 200-mph stream of air over it, then calculating how many horsepower it takes to pull the car at 200 mph.

Seven "aero horsepower" equal roughly 1 mph of speed, which calculates to roughly one-fourth of a second on the stopwatch.

According to a Ford crew chief, Dodge had 40-50 more "aero horsepower" than did Ford, which in essence means the Dodges could have an advantage of more than 5 mph over the Fords.

The No. 14 A.J. Foyt entry is in its second full season.

No. 14 demise untrue?

Rumors circled throughout the garage Wednesday that the No. 14 A.J. Foyt Racing Pontiac had shut the doors on its program. A team spokesman said it was totally untrue.

"We were well overstaffed during the winter to get ready for Daytona," the spokesman said. "We're at Daytona now, so we let a few guys go back at the shop."

The spokesman said the people released were fabricators, motor room personnel and body hangers.