- Steve Letarte back from Daytona testing and on Sirius XM this morning Archived Message
Posted by magic8ball
on 1/16/2012, 9:45 am
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Steve Letarte called into the Morning Drive with Mike Bagley and Nate Ryan filling in for Pete Pistone today. Steve said Daytona testing in the books. There is down force testing coming up at the end of the month. He is going through all the data from Daytona and getting as prepared as they can be for the 500. Mike said a lot of people were surprised that Chad was away for the testing and asked what the scoop was with that. Steve said people making more of it than it really is. Chad and him share a building with 85 employees and it is important for at least one of them to be there most of the time. Steve took his vacation in December. Chad had an opportunity to take this vacation to South Africa in January and asked if Steve could help him out. Steve said Chad has a strong team of veteran guys. JJ is a veteran and the team is solid. Steve looked through JJ’s info and his team learned a lot. Mike said Chad left orders for the team that there was to be no pack testing. Steve said it was a judgment call. He thinks for speedway racing, the risk you are willing to take and what you are willing to do for learning can be a minute to minute, day to day decision. It is his responsibility to Mr. H because it is his equipment and his responsibility to Dale and what he will ask him to do. Chad knew that the 88 would take part in the pack racing and that Dale would have a voice in it. Steve said without Chad being there, it was probably the best decision for the 48 team. Nate asked what the 88 team learned. Steve said overall they were pleased as a company and had good speed and power. He thinks they are looking good on that side. They took part in the test in Nov and had a head start with the smaller spoiler. Nascar’s goal is not to have 500 miles of tandem racing. They want packs to put on a good show and changing rules to make it happen. Nascar called a meeting every night last week and discussed what they thought the package needed to be for the next day. They learned a lot about all the different packages and have some work to do on the 88 to be as prepared as they can. They are confident that when they go back on Feb. they are ready for any curve balls. Mike asked if Nascar is doing it the right way to break up the tandem racing. Steve said they are not trying to break it up as much as they are trying to limit it. Nascar knows it will happen but don’t want to see it happen every lap. He thinks with there is no way they can prevent a tandem going down the back stretch around turns 3 and 4 coming to the checkered. He thinks whoever will get you to the checkered first is the goal. Are they going about it the right way, Steve said he is out of ideas. They have worked on their radiators and grill openings. It worked as the push only lasted about a lap and a half. That sort of racing will develop a pack. Mike asked if there were issues of overheating in the big packs. Steve said not any more. They have worked so hard on their cooling systems. There are potentials you could over heat from trash on the grill as well as a flat tire potential. In normal pack racing, they were able to run as hard as they could and it was not an issue. Nate asked about the incident with the 31 and 42 and what the status of the car is. Steve said they had a 2 or 3 more items but they ran it on the 48. The car is not hurt that bad. They could have banged the fender out and changed the ball joints and went back out. It is more of a safety thing. They had a very productive test and had learned almost everything they needed to learn. The last few things, the 48 did them for the 88 team. Without taking the car completely apart to make sure there isn’t a cracked gear in the steering box or anything else, Steve said his responsibility is to the team and he doesn’t feel comfortable to send Dale out taking a chance when there is no reason to. The car will be as good as new in a week. Nate said the biggest story last week was that Steve is now on Twitter with 10K followers and asked how that is going. Steve spent a lot of time talking to Jesse Essex and Laura in the PR marketing depts.. Steve said him being on Twitter will help the fan base. He fielded questions one night after testing. He answered as many as he could and he will probably do that from time to time. He will not be on Twitter as much as a media member. From sun up to sun down, he is busy and will not be on. He will be dark on Twitter on work days. At the end of the day in the motorhome lot or at his house, he doesn’t mind answering questions. The fans come out and buy tickets and support what we do. He said the least he can do is give back to them by talking to them on Twitter. Mike said how much the crash affected the car. Steve said it needs a little chassis work but it was not the 500 car. They will take this one back and race it in the Shootout. It needs a new fender and upper control arm plate plus some chassis work. There is a lot of time between now and the 500. Their goal is to get the cars turned around and Nascar is finalizing the rules. The guys at the shop are excited. Dale is the best drafter he has ever seen. They have a great shot at the 500 and the new rules package will give them this great shot. Nate asked if there is pack racing for 400+ miles, it would benefit the 88 team because he knows how to draft so well. Steve said with the tandem racing, they feel their responsibility is to run with their teammates. Any time you get in a big group, there is more compromise. No one gets their way. With the pack, you might still see the tandem for the last 5 laps. At the end, there might not be a teammate available because some cars crash or fall out. Strategy will be behind the wheel. They will have to go with whoever they can go with. The Bud Shootout will be a huge field this year. So Steve suggests the fans go for the whole week. Mike asked if Dale was satisfied with the test. Steve said he thinks he was. He was disappointed they crashed a car at the end. Dale always takes responsibility for things that Steve feels he does not need to. Steve told him it is just a car and we all make mistakes. The team knows Dale gives the team everything he can every lap he is on the track. Mike asked how many man hours went into getting that car ready that was on the track at Daytona. Steve said you don’t want to add it up as you don’t know who is listening. He said if the accounting staff is listening, he could get in trouble LOL. Steve said seriously they worked on it 6-7 weeks and the fact that it is still in one piece gives them good direction. It needs a few repairs but nothing really. The 500 cars are sitting at the shop. They have 6 speedway cars ready to go in the 48/88 shop and they look pristine. They will do some more windtunneling. They want to be prepared. He thinks the rules will change during Speedweeks and they will be bringing a ton of stuff with them. Mike asked how much notice do they expect to have the changes in play. Steve said they will do some down force testing and get ready for Cali and Phoenix. Last year they got a grill change after happy hour for the Daytona 500. Until you present the car for inspection on Sunday morning for the 500, nothing is set in stone. Nascar has a huge responsibility to balance sponsorships and the partners that afford them to race and make the pieces of the puzzle fit. Steve said it is their responsibility to give out rules. Steve someone will win the first race of the year and they want it to be the 88 car. Mike appreciated Steve’s time and gave congrats on 10K Twitter followers and a good Daytona test. Steve was excited and the test was great. It was great to see the fans at Fanfest. He said the fans on Twitter are amazing and hopefully he gained some more followers. He will do some more Q & A. Steve said he follows Mike and told him to be careful what he says because he will be reading it. Mike laughed and said that is pressure. Mike thanked him for his time. |