Recall the T-Rex car? -

[a425couple]

Innovative, Banned, and Unique Racing Vehicles.
Steve Poythress · 22h ·

Ray Evernham: " - it passed inspection ... it’s legal."
Bill France: “IT WON'T BE TOMORROW.”

This car is named T-REX (sponsored by the Jurassic Park franchise) and
in one appearance radically changed NASCAR - it was so fast in its first
race (1997 Charlotte All-Star) Jeff Gordon started dead last, overtook
everybody to win, cleared inspection, and pocketed $1M.
Literally decades ahead of its time, this car developed so much
downforce the springs had to be increased 17% front, 12% rear, plus use
the largest anti-sway bar scrounged from the race trailer (1-3/8").
What made the aero work was simultaneously raising the floor, dropping
the frame rails closer to the ground, moving the shocks outboard of the
frame, and subtly designing the chin air dam to seal with the pavement
at speed; combined with the new underbody this glued the car to the corners.
T-REX permanently impacted performance engineering across NASCAR, as
Hendrick Motorsports engineers also included improvements like hollow
axle shafts, completely redesigned shock absorption, fanatic lightening
of unsprung weight and rotating components, lightened gears and
driveshaft, and many other subtle optimizations.
119 Comments


Howard L. Chapman
Similar to the car they took to Daytona about 15 years ago that sat on
the pole and blitzed the field all day long. Instead of stickers on the
car, they made the car as slick as possible by painting on every
contingency and team sponsor images. This is… See More
· Reply · Share · 4h

· Reply · Share · 4h
Jason Shald
It's always been a matter of what you can get away with, moreso than
what was known. I was there (Nascar circles) in the early 90's and it
was very clear no avenue was unexplored. You wouldn't believe the data
collection setups I saw on a secret test session ...
· Reply · Share · 20h · Edited
Jon Capps
I believe a lot of the design came from an ole guy name Wayne after they
tested at Indy . They were sitting around at the " Widbd Tunnel" or
Kelly 's and Wayne started telling Ray how to get around Indy.the pen
and napkins cane out and the rest is hi… See More
Wayne Leary, 1939–2010 – Vintage Road & Racecar
VINTAGERACECAR.COM
Wayne Leary, 1939–2010 – Vintage Road & Racecar
Wayne Leary, 1939–2010 – Vintage Road & Racecar
· Reply · Share · 2h
Scott Harris
While "fairness" is the stated aim of rule books, in many race series
the goal is to contain costs by outlawing expensive technology. NASCAR
is famous for resisting simple things like disc brakes and fuel
injection to keep costs down.
· Reply · Share · 18h
Mark Arnold
a lot of those "cost saving measures" cost more. Penske got AMC part
numbers for the brakes used on the Porsche 917 to run on his Rambler.
· Reply · Share · 18h
Chris Stewart
Ray Evernham was the then-modern version of Smokey Yunick......find any
advantage, explore all gray areas of the rules and exploit it to the
max. Was never that big on Gordon personally, but Ray Evernham's ability
to build winning cars certainly had my attention and eventually respect.
· Reply · Share · 21h
Matthew Taylor
gotta love the outta the box thinkers👍🏻
· Reply · Share · 19h
Adam Eckert
Chris Stewart I wish he was still running a team. Evernham Motorsports
was the cool underdog when I first got interested in racing, and I
always thought he was great.
· Reply · Share · 14h
John Matras
My solution to everything is a speed bump at pit out. If it’s a “stock”
car, it should have enough ground clearance to clear a modest bump.
Would keep pit lane speeds down if there was one on pit in too.
· Reply · Share · 20h

Nick Manlove
Someone in the garage read one of Smokey's books . Most of the stuff
mentioned Smokey had already pulled off....for a while!!
· Reply · Share · 15h
Colby Bradfield
Unless they did an in depth diagnostic, it was very common for them to
cheat displacement tests and various other tests
· Reply · Share · 18h
Ed Wach
I remember hearing that Evenham never truly denied rumors of traction
control on this car.
· Reply · Share · 20h
Andrew Hunter
Read Colin Chapman, Smokey Yunick, Bruce McLaren, Corroll Shelby. They
pushed the rules
· Reply · Share · 14h
Matt Wood
What's funny is that it raced a few more times after the Winston too,
even though the urban legend states otherwise.
· Reply · Share · 22h
Jimmy McKinley
Matt Wood where else did they run this car? Everything I've ever read
about it says "one race", and I've been a fan since the '70s.
· Reply · Share · 21h · Edited
Jon Probst
Matt Wood I thought it only raced in this configuration once, then was
modified to fit the new rules and raced after.

Steve Poythress
Jimmy McKinley Hendrick Motorsports tried at least several times to
campaign the car altered to comply with rule changes, it wasn't competitive