EDDIE JONES, General Manager,
BAM Racing (Ken Schrader’s #49 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge):
(NOTE: Jones is former crew
chief, worked with Junior Johnson, Darrell Waltrip and Rick
Hendrick organizations)
(NOTE: Schrader was caught
speeding on pit road during Daytona 500)
"I can kind of see
where they are coming from on one hand but speedometers on
race cars just doesn't sound right. In this case it sounds
even stranger - for what they are looking for, they'd probably
be called 'slow-ometers' because the object isn't to see how
fast you are going as much as to see how slow you can go.
That's like the weatherman making a big deal out of a freeze
warning at the North Pole.
"There
are other ways to do it without adding another piece to the
car and something else to distract what is going on on pit
road.
“I’ve seen it first
hand on a Formula One car and have seen it on television in
other series with pit road speeds. When the driver hits pit
road, he pushes a button in his car – and he holds the
throttle wide open but can’t go any faster than the pit road
speed. When he leaves pit road, he pushes the button and it
releases. That is what keeps them on pit road speed.
“You can do the same
thing with the rev limiter on a Cup car. Just lock it into the
rev limiter and, when you hit pit road, push the button.
“Speedometer or
tachometer, it doesn’t make any difference. There is no
difference in looking down and seeing '4,000 rpm' in second
gear or whatever and '45 miles per hour.' You still have to
read what is there.
“I think the problem
is developing when we gauge pit road speed to begin with. The
cars are split into two packs, each behind a pace car at the
start of the race. You know when you are at the pit road
speed, check your tach and go from there. But I think the cars
are still getting too spread out during that and the drivers
aren’t always getting accurate reads.
“Instead of
speedometers, maybe adding a pit road practice like we used to
do would be the way to go. During practice, let the cars run
down pit road at pit road speed and gauge their tachs. That
should solve the problem better than anything.”
