Seven-post shakers stir up Cup Series' team hierarchy (cont'd)

You can call it up on the Internet and get a seven-page printout that explains it in such great detail that your eyes are watering by the time you've read three paragraphs. But basically it is a machine that can simulate the different characteristics of various tracks and help improve how a car -- whether it is a current Cup car, a Car of Tomorrow or something in between from another series -- will handle on that track.

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Grip has become such a huge issue with the current Goodyear tires, and NASCAR has attempted to cut back on so much of the testing at actual tracks, that the shaker has taken on a new level of importance. The rig allows engineers to simulate conditions as a car rolls through a turn, and can repeat the process over and over and over again while changing everything on the car's setup from the shocks, springs, sway bars, tire pressures, nose weight and so on until a combination is found that will give the driver the best feel and grip.

J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, said his organization installed one two and a half years ago and still struggles sometimes to make sense of it all in a way that pays dividends on race day.

"It's not an exact science. Sometimes it can drive you a little crazy, trying to figure out exactly what you've got [in terms of the data it provides]," Gibbs said.

While Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Penske Racing and Richard Childress Racing have had seven-post shakers at their shops for two years or more, and upstart Ginn Racing also has one, owner Jack Roush of Roush Fenway Racing recently lamented the fact that he only now is preparing to install one.

And lesser-funded teams such as Petty Enterprises and Evernham Motorsports are left wondering what if. They can and do rent seven-post time on a regular basis -- at $15,000 per session. But it's not the same as having one right at their fingertips 24/7 like the others, and they all know it.

Chip Ganassi Racing has a huge, gleaming, stark-white race shop that looks to be the envy of all of NASCAR at first glance. But they don't have a seven-post shaker rig, and lead engineer John Fernandez said that they now find themselves in a Catch-22 position.

"We wish we had one. But we're spending a lot of time on a [rented] seven-post shaker," Fernandez said. "Even being an elite-level team -- and I think we're up there with the top guys -- still we're limited with resources.

"We haven't gotten over the hump in terms of being a winning, championship-level team. And the way in which the reward systems are, if you run up front, you get more money, you get more of a revenue stream coming in -- and you can do more in terms of development. So we suffer a little bit in terms of that. We get over that hump and start winning some races and that revenue starts coming in, and everything should start to feed on itself, basically.

"Are we going to be behind because we don't know about seven-posts? No, because we're on 'em right now. It's just a matter of you've got to rent the time; it takes the time to go there, depending on where you're going. So it's a longer, more drawn-out process than if I can walk down the hall and into a room that has the seven-post shaker."

Like the folks at, say, Hendrick Motorsports can do every day now -- and have been able to do for quite some time. It leaves Robbie Loomis, vice president of Petty Enterprises, wondering sometimes if his organization will ever be able to catch up.

"The seven-post is the new thing," Loomis said. "But you needed one two years ago, not to just be getting one now. We've got it on our big list of things we'd like to have. But we don't have it in our inventory yet, and once you get it, it takes a while to figure out how to use it and how to get the benefits out of it. (Continued)