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Photo ID # M03.21.16_099_BOD_POC_0070_2
Car #: #99
Driver (s) : Geoff Bodine
Location: Pocono
Date: Early 70's
Photographer: Jim Simmons
Photo provided by: Mike Shaub
Comments: Comment:  Not a lot of small detail to be seen on the #99 on this pic, but it don't matter...  The shape and the stance of this car is all business, and that's all that matters!  (Looks like the engine was way over on the left side maybe to help inside weight %?) 

Also, look how wide that roof is...  Sure does look wider than a stock 62 Valiant roof! - and this was in the early 70's, a good 8 or 9 years before the Batmobile did its thing on dirt at Syracuse.
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Date: Visitor's  Name:

Comment:

04.16.16 Terry Fick

You are correct about the engine offset.  The single heaviest component in any race car is the engine, even an aluminum block engine.  Look at a supermodified if you want to see engine offset.  Weight distribution and car balance all work together. 

When the car is in a corner centrifugal force wants to drive the car straight toward the outside wall.  Too much weight on the outside tires and "the force" wins since the traction of the outside tires will be greater than the inside.  If you can keep more weight on the inside tires, "planting" them to the surface centrifugal force will still attempt to make the car push but the increased traction on the inside causes the outside to pivot around, what drivers call rotate.  Get the weight on the left rear just right, balancing side bite and forward bite, and you will have clear track in front of you.  

This is one of the things that makes winged sprint cars so fast, the inside sideboard on the top wing plants those inside tires.  Some sprints raise the inside lower frame an inch to prevent it from digging into the track.  In modifieds I believe body panel rules bar such aerodynamic tricks but the panels which are allowed do help to keep the cars more level in the turns than they would be without the sheet metal.  

Remaining computer technology challenged in Alabama, I remain,
Terry Fick

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

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