Be Ready for Bristol

History, Tips and Tech To Help You Prepare

Bristol Motor Speedway is hosting short track race cars once again. The races, slated for this May 19 thru 21st are always a racer favorite. Billed as the U.S. Nationals of Short Track Racing, it is sure to attract a lot of teams. And who doesn’t like Bristol! As for me, it is my favorite track of all time. That being said, there are some things you need to know about Bristol that you probably didn’t. If you are going there to compete, this is a must read.

My perspective comes from racing at this track in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s as both an engineer and Crew Chief. I worked with Goodies Dash teams, All Pro Late Model teams, Pro Cup and a part time Craftsman Truck team. And I have helped Cup engineers with their setup for this and other high banked tracks like Dover and Daytona.

The All Pro Series Super Late Models ran at Bristol from 1994 to 1997 and from 1999 to 2002. The Pro Cup series under various title sponsors ran Bristol from 2004 until 2008 in what were more like the XFINITY cars of that era. I was at the first race and I saw a lot of scrambling to adjust the cars to the high banking.

On my first visit to the track, I was helping out with a local team running the NASCAR Goodies Dash series, which also ran at Bristol for a number of years, but I was not in charge of the setup. Nonetheless, I evaluated it and said to the team owner/driver that it looked balanced, but too soft. It had 400ppi springs up front and I felt it needed at least 700ppi springs.

The guy who had chosen the softer springs was also the engine builder and made a smart remark like, “Oh, well then, we’ll just put in 2,000ppi springs. That should fix it…” I had to leave the trailer to keep from knocking him out.

I had developed a method of calculating the mechanical downforce and therefore the suspension travel based on the banking and G-forces that were expected here. From the calculations, the travel exceeded the ride height. You can probably guess what happened next, right? Yep, on the first hot lap, he bottomed out, took off the bottom of the oil pan and cooked a brand new motor.

I wanted to tell you that story to give you some kind of idea what you might expect. Bristol has not changed in its un-forgiveness, it’s only gotten more unforgiving. If you remember anything about this piece, remember this. Most teams new to Bristol show up with spring rates too light for the extreme downforce the car will experience. And there will be very few teams with previous experience running there.

Why Is Bristol So Brutal? – In years past, Bristol was advertised to be the highest banked track in the US and the fasted half mile. The later is true, but the former was exaggerated. The published banking was 36 degrees, or five degrees higher than the turns at Daytona. On my first visit there, I measured the banking at both ends, top to bottom and I came up with a consistent 26 degrees.

When I got home, I phoned a friend of mine who was one of the few Cup engineers around at the time and told him my results and he was very surprised. He confirmed my numbers on his next visit to the track.

That’s still a lot of banking to deal with. And it’s only gotten steeper. A few years ago, the track management decided to shake things up a bit and changed the shape of the track. They decided to create three different banking angles, a lower third, higher middle, and highest top third.

They did this by cutting the middle third down a couple of inches and then matching the top and bottom thirds to it whereby the middle is still 26 degrees, but the bottom is something like 24 degrees and the top is around 28 degrees. If you watch most NASCAR races run there lately, the cars mostly run the top third, they have to.

…probably the most important message I can give a driver running Bristol. Never, never ever, turn right at this place… I know, you think you can save it, but everyone familiar with this track will tell you, no you can’t.”

Comparison To Other High Banked Tracks – It is interesting to compare Bristol and its high banking to other high banked short tracks. For instance, the only three that come close to this much banking are Slinger (or what it is purported to be), Winchester and I-70 Speedway that is no longer there. I-70 was a true 26 degrees and looked the part. I won a race there in 1999 with Brian Hoppe.

As for Slinger, I had always heard it was twenty something degrees, but I had a few teams measure it and the reality was somewhere between 16 and 18 degrees, far off the banking at Bristol. Heck, Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is around 16 degrees, so Slinger is not that far out of the ordinary. And Winchester is 16-18 degrees from what I have had teams tell me that have measured it.

At Daytona, the advertised 31 degree banking is a real number, I know. When I was in high school, myself and a friend of mine went into the speedway one night to look around. We weren’t there to vandalize the place, we just wanted to see what it was like. I think alcohol was involved.

We entered over the banking between turns one and two and I could hardly crawl down the banking. You cannot walk up or down it without using your hands for sure. So, with nearly Daytona like banking, Bristol is like no other short track speedway you have ever been to, that is a fact.

What I Think Will Happen – Based on past experience, here is what I think will happen. About 95% of the teams will show up sprung too light. The cars will bottom out at best, either hard on the bumps or hitting the track. Remember we are talking about not only Super Late Models, but Pro Late Models, Late Model Stock cars sanctioned by NASCAR, Modifieds, Street Stocks and Compacts.

The question arises, from a purely engineering evaluation, are these cars built strong enough to withstand the extreme forces both laterally and through down-force that they will experience? I ask that question so that those who will go there will think out how their cars are built and maybe make changes to strengthen certain parts of the car.

When Bristol spread dirt over the track a few years ago, and ran dirt late model cars there, it was a huge success. But many of the cars broke shock mounts, frames and control arms in the process. Some of that will happen this time around.

When short track cars ran back fifteen years ago or so, they were built differently. The Goodies cars were little Cup cars and built to be very strong. They could handle the extreme downforce very well. The Pro Cup cars were larger and built equally strong.

The All Pro series Late Models were what we call perimeter cars. This means they were built symmetrical and with strong frame rails and door bars on the right hand side. Basically the offset late models of today are offset designs and the right side of those cars, the part that will impact the walls first, are built very flimsy in comparison to the All Pro cars of yesteryear.

I’m not sure of the construction of the Street Stocks or Compacts, but I do know they have never seen the punishment they will see here at Bristol. I have talked to a few Late Model teams who might go, and are not decided as of this date, and they all tell me they will be taking an older chassis.

What You Need To Do To Prepare – In preparation for this race, you will need to pay attention to a few things. Regardless of what type of setup you will be running, the forces on lower control arms, shock mounts especially and wheels and tires will be like you’ve never seen or will see again.

Reinforce your lower control arms, reinforce your upper shock/coil-over mounts and check them throughout the event for cracks. Bring strong wheels built to withstand the high lateral forces. Check with your wheel supplier to make sure you have sufficient strength in your wheels.

Reinforce your safety fuel cell mounts. Most current designs in late models do not do a good job of mounting the cells for this type of track. They are fine for normal banked tracks, but with the speed we’ll see here, a cell could exit the car in a hard sliding rear end hit with the wall.

Do not come to Bristol without a head and neck restraint system, period. I don’t know all of the rules for the five sanctions, but whatever they are, buy and use a H&N system here. Check all of your other safety equipment and make sure everything is in working order and within the proper dates.

Setting Up For Bristol – It used to be that if you went to Bristol, you would multiply your normal spring rates by three. So, if you were running a NE touring modified and were running 250ppi front springs, you would show up with 750’s on the front. If you didn’t, you soon would.

As for the Super Late Models in the All Pro series, normal spring rates for the conventional setups were around 250 to 300ppi back in the day before bumps and soft setups. So, the winning car at the last Bristol All Pro race had 700ppi front springs on the car.

Let’s think about that for a minute. We would usually jacked the ride height up an inch or more for Bristol for All Pro cars. The original ride height was four inches, so we came with say five inch ride heights. The wheel rate for the 700ppi springs was around 450ppi.

The right front traveled about 4.5 inches, so that times 450 = 2,025 pounds of force on the tire. That’s just the right front corner. Probably 80% of that is on the left side tires, or 1,620 pounds, so the total vehicle loading is twice each of those added together, or 7,290 pounds of downforce. That does not include lateral forces, only mechanical downforce. That represents 2.6 times the vehicle static weight. The G-forces will be a bit higher than that, or around 3.0 G’s.

If you currently run on bumps, either bump stops or bump springs, you can still run those and do well. What you do need to change are the ride spring rates. If you current run 150ppi front ride springs, you need to bump those up to 450-500ppi, seriously. Then you’ll be helping out the bump stops so that they won’t get crushed in the first two laps and disintegrate.

As for bumps springs, the same applies. Help them out and make them do less work and they won’t go into coil bind. With the above higher ride spring rates, the current shock rebound rates that will work with those bump setups will take care of the new higher ride springs and keep the car down on the bumps. We are just trading force on the bumps into force in the ride springs. The overall force will be the same.

For the other classes that do not run bumps, spring up my friend or suffer the loss of your car or worse. If you are running a Pro late model on 200-250ppi springs, you’ll need to go to what we ran years ago, 600-700ppi springs. And don’t forget to raise your static ride height.

For stock spring cars running in the 600-700ppi range, you’ll need to triple those rates and I’m not sure you can even find 1800ppi springs for those cars anymore. Hopefully you’ll go into coil bind before you bottom out and then the tires will be your springs.

For all teams and division, remember that there is no advantage to aero down-force at Bristol. There is so much mechanical down-force that any small aero down-force will be insignificant. Lateral grip here is never a problem.

How To Drive Bristol – I won a race here a few years ago, using a simulator program on my computer. Hey, I won. But I did get a chance to actually drive Bristol in my capable Acura Legend Coupe while helping dry out the track before a test day event. As it dried out, I could really get my car going and I had very good low profile tires. It is the most awesome experience you’ll ever feel.

From what I have observed and talking to drivers who have won here in Late Models, you drive hard into the turn, burp the throttle just before entry, and then when the car takes a set (and it happens quickly) you throttle up again.

You have to build up a trust for the banking that it will grip the tires and you won’t slide up the track. The G-forces are very high. Get used to the high groove because if you don’t run there, you’ll not make the show. I hear there will be a lot of entries and a lot of teams will go home early.

You can take a little time to work into that trust thing, but eventually you’ll need to go for it. I went there with a rookie driver near the end of the last era of late model racing at Bristol. I disputed the talk about “needing to hold it wide open all the way around” that was impressed on the driver by others. But when it came time to qualify on stickers, I told him, I had some bad news. Yes, you’ll have to almost flat-foot it all the way around. Such is Bristol.

Now for probably the most important message I can give a driver running Bristol. Never, never ever, turn right at this place. Yes, I know, you think you can save it, but everyone familiar with this track will tell you, no you can’t. If your car goes sideways entering the turns or in the middle, keep turning left and ride it out. If you try to correct by steering right, you’ll never be fast enough steering back left to keep the car from pointing into the wall and you’ll hit head on.

A Final Note – OK, maybe I have painted somewhat of a grim picture of Bristol you might be saying. No, I think I have painted a true and accurate picture of what you can expect when you go to race at the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile” race track. I did it this way because I want you to have fun, be safe, run well and come home in one piece.

Make no mistake about it, if you go, this will be the most fun you’ll have in your racing career, both for the drivers and for the team members and fans. There is nothing like the speed and excitement that this “Last Great Colosseum” creates. I will be there and supporting a few teams I have known since the last time we ran here. I hope to see you there too.