NASCAR notebook

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Posted 6:39AM on Wednesday, January 16, 2002

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Although NASCAR's new one-engine rule won't take effect until the week after the season-opening Daytona 500, the Winston Cup engine builders are thrashing away to make sure they have some fail-safe motors ready. The new rule, effective in Rockingham, N.C., the week of Feb. 24, eliminates practice and qualifying engines and requires that the teams use the same engine from the start of practice through the race. ``The plusses are that we're not going to have to take as many engines to the racetrack and you'll get more out of the guys,'' said Tom Ghent, head of the engine department for Roush Racing. ``Instead of having to thrash when the engines come back for rebuilding, you'll be able to pace yourself better. ``On the other hand, one thing we'll have to expect in running one engine for the entire weekend is the unexpected. We'll have some small failures, I'm sure. When you have 5,000 valves, you're going to have at least one failure. If that happens at the racetrack, that's a problem.'' Another drawback to the new rule, Ghent said, is that the teams will no longer be as likely to test the durability of new parts and pieces during practice and qualifying. ``That would be a pretty big risk under the circumstances,'' he said. Randy Dorton, chief engine builder for Hendrick Racing, said one possible problem of the one-engine rule is what he called ``thermal cycles,'' meaning the repeated heating and cooling of the engines as they run through practice, qualifying and the race. ``When you tape up the cars for qualifying, it heats them up pretty good,'' Dorton said. ``Normally, we would just put in the race engine after that. Now we'll have to see how the engines react.'' Ghent and Dorton took part in a question-and-answer session on engines Tuesday during the annual UAW-GM Motorsports Media Tour, organized by Lowe's Motor Speedway. Although both of the engine builders said all the teams are working on making their motors more durable, a part failure after the car is qualified could prove costly. ``NASCAR is going to handle that just like a wrecked car,'' Dorton said. ``If you have a failure after the car is qualified, the car will have to start at the rear of the field.'' AIR POWER: The Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the United States Air Force, will be the sponsor for the Busch Series entry of Ashton Lewis Jr. By signing on as primary sponsor for the No. 46 Chevrolet, CAP hopes to increase public awareness of its efforts in cadet programs, aerospace education and emergency services. A spokesman for the new NASCAR sponsor said no public money is being spent on the three-year deal. Instead, the cash is coming from a surplus of annual membership dues. OWNER-OPERATOR: Dave Blaney has become owner of Sharon Speedway in Sharon, Pa., one of the oldest continuously operating racetracks in the United States. The Winston Cup driver purchased the facility, which opened for competition in 1929, with his father, Lou, still a regular competitor at the track, and a group of local investors. In recent years, the track has promoted races for sprint cars, dirt modifieds, e-modifieds and street stocks on its half-mile dirt oval every Friday night between late April and Labor Day. The Blaneys, who head the group that bought the track, have begun work on a wide range of improvements, including changing the track length to three-eighths of a mile, widening the oval and upgrading the racing surface. ``Buying Sharon Speedway is something our family has looked at for a long time, and I'm as excited about what we have planned there as anything I've been involved with in racing for a long time,'' Blaney said. ``Everything fell into place with the right partners at the right time, and we decided to make the changes necessary to place Sharon Speedway alongside the best weekly racing facilities in the country.''