FDNY Racing--What was/is the problem?

[Mattswad]

So their speeds seemed to have deteriorated drasticly from every practice session starting from day 1 at Daytona.

Obviously, to the outsider, it sounds like the engine's going south.  And for Carl to be *that* far off of the pace at Atlanta (a track he's been really good at) and Daytona (where all you do is floor it and turn left) signifies that something is wrong with the equipment.

So what's the deal here?  Is it the engine?  The truck itself?  I'm assuming that piece is probably 4-5 years old and has had very little upgrading.  Drive train?  What was it?   Did I miss a final report from Atlanta? 

Are we going to see Carl back with the team?  Can I ask any more questions?  What do you guys/gals think? 

[roachcoach1186]

Engine most lilky.  Doesnt that seem to be the theme this year?  our engines are just WAY off everywhere

[special K]

Not to piss anyone off here but, the truck is a piece of crap.  At Daytona the team made minor changes and the speed fell way off.  For qualifying they put the truck back the way it was and still lost speed, I was not at Atlanta but that seems to be the case there too. 

[Tom]

i have no idea what was wrong with that truck. i kind of doubt that team will be running anything else this season.

[Fish]

Carl said in his interview with John that they were running RAHMOC shocks from the days when Neil Bonnett drove for them (late 80's). So, it seems like lack of funding and new equipment seems to be the biggest problem for them.

[LongislikeKulwicki]

RAHMOC?? Yeah, they need more funding.

[kenny]

RAHMOC also freshened up the engine in that truck, it was originally a ron hutter motor.  i'm not sure how old the truck is but mike, the crew guy i was talking to on the team, said that they had an old truck and everyone kept telling the owner that if he didnt get a new truck that they didnt stand a chance, so the owner got a new truck and it ended up being slower than the old truck.  he didnt specify how old was old or how new was new. 

the truck they took to atlanta is the same truck they took to daytona, which i think is a problem in itself.  i specifically asked both mike and carl if they ever found out why the motor layed down at daytona and carl didnt really say anything about the motor and just kinda went into a discussion about how the truck was slow and not handling and that the entire suspension needed to be taken down and the hubs and everything looked at because something was being a drag on the truck and so forth.  mike said they took the motor out after daytona and supposedly it was looked at but that he never heard that anything was wrong with the motor, he said it must've been "some crew chiefs secret" or something like that.  he said the truck just handled like crap but that pretty much what happens when you just show up to the track to race without any testing. 

[mks18634]

It would probably be a good idea from turning the truck into a flying gas can instead........