The road not often taken: racing on road courses is very much a different ballgame for Winston Cup drivers, crew chiefs and cars

Sporting News, The, August 12, 2002 by Jim Pedley

The joke that Winston Cup crew chief Brandon Thomas was about to tell wasn't one of send cocktail partygoers into martini-spitting delirium.

No, Thomas' joke was of the had-to-be-there, insider variety.

"We've got this running joke when we get to a road course," says Thomas, who runs the crew for Petty Enterprises driver John Andretti. "Somebody on the crew will invariably pick up a wrench to go work on something, and halfway there he'll realize that he's going to the wrong side of the car!"

There might no to be zinger punch line in Thomas' joke, but there is a point. Twice a year--once each at Infineon (formerly Sears Point) Raceway and this weekend at Watkins Glen--Winston Cup teams have to relearn the fundamentals of racing.

Some like it; some hate it.

Everyone in Winston Cup racing, however, must deal with the sometimes topsy-turvy world of road racing, and everyone has different ways of dealing with it.

Everyone.

Sterling Marlin is old school. He is a 45-year-old Tennessee boy who, like his father Coo Coo Marlin, grew up at round racetracks. When the schedule dictates, Marlin, the current Winston Cup points leader, dutifully marches off and does his best. That doesn't mean he does it with joy in his heart.

"When you've got to go to the principal's office," Marlin says, "you've got to go to the principal's office." He says he doesn't like road courses because they aren't fun. "It's hard to pass, and there really isn't all that much passing."

Many crew chiefs don't like the road races because they interrupt their routine, and many team owners don't like them because of the added expense.

A significant number of NASCAR types want road racing to die a quick death. Others in the sport love the twisties. Robby Gordon, who is a CART veteran and has a road-racing background, is among the latter.

"I love it because the driver makes more of a difference," Gordon says. "A good driver can carry a bad car in road racing. If you don't have a good car on an oval, you're done."

Some drivers, including Kenny Wallace, just think it's fun. "I just like shifting and braking, you know?" he says.

Many crew chiefs also like road-race weekends. Count Robbie Loomis, Jeff Gordon's crew chief, among them. "Love the roads," Loomis says. "I love going to the road course, well, because Jeff is so good on them. He can beat guys in nine turns instead of just four."

Two facts override whether a competitor likes or dislikes road racing. The first is that Winston Cup races on road courses twice a year, and there are no plans to change that. The second is that road races are points races, and every point is important.

"They used to say they were two throw-away races" Thomas says. "But now there is a lot of attention on the road races. They pay the same points as the Daytona 500. They may not pay as much in purse money (as the 500), but for points, they are just as important."

Race teams and drivers are spending more time and money preparing for life on the roads. "Absolutely, teams are getting more serious about preparing (for road races); Andretti says.

Preparation in auto racing focuses primarily on people and machinery. They have an equal bearing on success. Proper preparation for road courses includes testing, and it inevitably is costly.

The DRIVERS

Most drivers are big on maintaining their physical conditioning these days. Almost all work out; some are obsessed with it. Andretti, who isn't big, is a physically fit guy. As part of his physical preparation, Andretti works on his cardiovascular system and strength. That routine varies before road races.

"When I go to road races, no weights," he says. "Typically, I have weights in my routine. I don't want to fatigue something I know I'm going to abuse. But I might work on those things harder the week before."

Drivers also must be prepared for more of a mental challenge.

"Psychologically," Wallace says, "at an oval race, you only have to worry about a couple of things, you know? When you road race, you have to worry about the car stopping, you have to worry about the car turning righthanders, how it's turning the lefthanders. Then you've got to worry about gearboxes. You have so many more things to try to pinpoint."

Some drivers take road racing so seriously these days that they act contrary to their egos: They seek help. Veterans and young drivers are going to driving schools to work on the road-racing holes in their game.

And the holes are evident, says driving instructor Joe Hooker. He works for Turn One, a school frequented by Cup types that operates out of Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, S.C. "Most of them are, obviously, extremely good drivers or they wouldn't be in Winston Cup" Hooker says. "But they have to cope with things that are completely different (on road courses)."

Turns are the biggest issue. The technique in taking a turn on a road course is different. Hooker says Winston Cup drivers tend to brake late on road courses.

"On an oval, they coast or brake into the turn and then accelerate in the second part of the turn," Hooker says. "In road racing, you get all the braking done before the corner. Then you accelerate all the way through the corner."