Ford Reaction to Rules Change

GREG SPECHT, Ford Racing North American Operations Manager -- WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO THIS RULE CHANGE? "To be very candid about it, we're disappointed and frustrated that NASCAR chooses to ignore our request and do something less than what we think it's going to take to make our cars competitive. We didn't even test a half-inch, but when we tested an inch that was worth about 34 pounds of downforce total, so half of that would be about 17 pounds of downforce and that's hardly enough to talk about. We've got enough objective data to prove our point. Dodge has won four out of the last five intermediate track races since they got that two-inch kickout in August. And then when you look at the wind tunnel data, all of the numbers point to the fact that we're at a disadvantage and NASCAR chooses to ignore that. We started off asking for two inches, but out of desperation we finally asked for an inch and said, 'Give us an inch and we'll shut up and tell everybody to go to work,' and then they ended up giving us a half-inch. That's where total frustration sets in because that seems to ignore the data that's available to everybody."

HOW CAN THE FORD BE DISADVANTAGED WHEN ITS WON 11 RACES THIS SEASON? "In order to win a championship you have to be competitive everywhere and when you look at the races we've won, they've been at the tracks where aerodynamics has been less of an issue. If you put yourself in the racer's position, how do you send somebody out to win a race knowing that they're at a disadvantage to begin with? That's not right. There are certain tracks where we know and we think it's obvious that the Taurus is at a disadvantage because of the way NASCAR has changed the rules. We're just asking for an equal chance to win at all races that we enter."

ISN'T THE DODGE PRETTY MUCH BASED OFF THE TAURUS? "Dodge basically took our car and put a different nose and tail on it and then NASCAR gave them some additional help that we never got. That's another piece of evidence that our car is at a disadvantage aero-wise. The other bone of contention we have from a technical standpoint is that Dodge and Chevy are able to move that valance back and forth, fore and aft, depending on the track because at some tracks it doesn't matter. At some tracks it's a disadvantage to have it kicked out that far. They're able to move over that kickout depending on the track they were at, whereas we didn't have that capability because we had a much smaller tolerance. Another thing we said was, 'You set the templates, so measure the nose kickout and run that nose kickout at all tracks.' That would be another way of evening things out because at some tracks it's a disadvantage and NASCAR backed off on doing that as well. So, it's really given Dodge and Chevy, up to this point, another knob that they can adjust on their car that the Taurus doesn't have."

ROBIN PEMBERTON, Crew Chief --2-- Miller Lite Taurus -- "This is like throwing in a free oil change when you buy a new car. That's about it. It's nothing. In order for any Ford to win on an intermediate track now they have to have a perfect day. Granted, on the stage that we're performing on these days, you've got to almost have a perfect day anyway, but you have to have everything going for you. If you feel like you're operating at a deficit, which we feel we are, you're just hoping for a break and nowadays that generally means people eliminating themselves from competition."

WHAT WILL THIS KICKOUT DO FOR THE FORD? "Directionally it's correct in that it will give you a little more adjustability, but I just don't think there's much to it. I think everybody needs a little bit, but some guys will need more than that."