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The Driver Suit Blog-Some Issues with the New Gen 6 Car

By David G. Firestone

I would like to discuss some issues that have come up in recent weeks with the new Gen 6 car. These issues seem minor, but with this new car, they need to be addressed. And because these issues are issues, it leads to a conclusion that is kind of stunning in my mind.

Two issues revolve around Denny Hamilin. The first is his $25,000 fine for “criticizing the product.” and I’ll get to that in just a minute. The other one is his massive L1 Compression fracture that he suffered at Fontana. This injury should never have happened, but it did. The Gen 5 cars, as unattractive as they were design-wise, were safety-focused. The discussion on how safe they were ended with Michael McDowell’s scary wreck during qualifying at Texas in 2008. The car suffered serious damage, but McDowell was unhurt. This wreck was just as bad, but Hamlin is out of the car until he is fully healed.

NASCAR needs to be safety-focused, putting driver and fan safety before anything else. The fact that Denny has an L1 compression fracture because of a wreck is proof that there is a lot of room for improvement in the Gen 6 car. That isn’t the only issue with the car that needs to be addressed. The car seems to change with each race. At a super speedway, the spoiler is lower than it is at other tracks. At intermediate tracks the roof cameras are not used for reasons that have yet to be explained to the general public. It almost seems as though NASCAR is making the rules up as they go along. Please pick a design and setup and stick with it.

The other issue that needs to be discussed is penalties surrounding the new car. Denny Hamlin was fined $25,000 for saying that the car has room for improvement. Why was he fined for that? I understand that the car was designed by many different people, who put a lot of time and effort into it, but here is the thing…the people who designed the car are not the ones who are the focal point of racing, the driver is. If the drivers are complaining about the car not being competitive, and not driving the way it is supposed to, it should be addressed. The Gen 4 and Gen 5 cars went through a lot of refining, and so should the Gen 6 car.

One penalty that was issued was to Penske Racing for having suspension parts unapproved by NASCAR. Although all of Ford’s engines come from Roush Yates, many teams use their own designs for equipment used in the car. As such, these parts have to be approved by NASCAR. Obviously these parts weren’t approved. Yet Penske, Brad Keselwoski, and Joey Logano are swearing up and down that they were legal, and working in a gray area. If the parts are unapproved, they are unapproved.

The other major penalty was to Matt Kenseth for having a connector rod that was 3 grams under the minimum weight required by NASCAR. My concern with this issue is that the engine in question came from Toyota Racing Development. TRD knows what the rules and regulations are, and they knew what the parts should have been. I do not believe for a second that of the people involved with making the engine, not one of them knew didn’t realize that the parts were illegal. They knew what it was, and they sent it out anyway. That brings up an important question. 8 teams in the Sprint Cup work with TRD. In total that accounts for 10 different teams. Each team has a primary and backup car. There is also an additional engine at the teams disposal. So for each Toyota team there are 3 engines for use. If Matt Kenseth is running illegal equipment, who else is?

On to paint schemes…

Brad Keselowski #2 Redd’s Apple Ale Ford Fusion Black and Red is always a good scheme, and the overall design is good. The sticking point for me with this scheme is that APPLE ALE is almost invisible on the quarter panel. So for a final grade, it gets a B-

Tony Stewart #14 National Wild Turkey Federation Chevy SS Good color scheme and overall design, but the major issue I have is with the NATIONAL WILD TURKEY being on a curve and not as visible It gets a B-

Jeff Gordon #24 AARP Chase Card Chevy SS The color and designs are all over the place, and the giant credit card on the hood is pretty ugly. Not good at all, F

Kevin Harvick Bell Helicopters Chevy SS A simple design with a good color scheme. Not much else to say other than good job, and it gets an A grade.

Jeff Burton #31 Airgas-Bulwark Chevy SS Meh. That sums it up. Uninspired color scheme, and bland design give it a mediocre look and a C- grade.

Jeff Burton #31 American Ethanol Chevy SS Good color scheme and design. A-

David Ragan #34 CSX Play It Safe Ford Fusion This is a very solid scheme, with great colors, great design and an overall great look. CSX did this scheme very well and it gets an A+

JJ Yeley #36 NASCAR Day Chevy SS Another simple yet attractive scheme that works very well. Nothing more to say than great job, and enjoy your A grade.

David Gilliland #38 EZ Pawn Ford Fusion Good color scheme though the design is a bit over complex. As such it gets a B+.

Ryan Newman #39 Code 3 Associates Chevy SS Ok, you can have either flames OR a racing stripe, but not both. Because the combo takes a good design and makes it into a horrible design. The only thing giving this scheme a passing grade is the color scheme being as good as it is, but it earns a D-

Bobby Labonte #47 Pine Sol Toyota Camry Yet another simple yet amazing good scheme that earns an A grade!

Elliot Sadler #81 Alert Energy Gum Toyota Camry A good scheme with a consistent design and a decent color scheme that earns a B+ grade.

Travis Kvapil #93 Dominion Raceway Toyota Camry Am I the only one who thinks it is odd that a speedway that doesn’t exist yet is sponsoring a car for one race? That aside, the door design needs work, but the color scheme is solid, and I give it a B-

The Driver Suit Blog..The SFI and FIA patches…Why they are as critical as they are.

By David Firestone

Many race fans have seen these small patches on driver suits, and may have wondered what they are. What many do not realize is that these small patches have a very critical role in driver safety. These small patches are the safety certification patches. These small patches state that this uniform part has been examined by one of the two groups, and determined to meet the standards set by the group. For North American made equipment that group is SFI.

According to their website, SFI was founded in 1963 as part of Speed Equipment Manufacturers Association or SEMA, as a safety group. Back then, the safety culture wasn’t as rigorous as it is today, and there were not many standards in place. SEMA started the safety certification with SFI or SEMA Foundation, Inc certification. If the equipment didn’t meet SFI standards, the participant could be denied entrance to the event. Eventually, SFI left SEMA and became its own independent group.

Since then, SFI has certified safety equipment, and their certification is the standard in North America. This small patch is usually sewn into the inside wrist area on the left sleeve. This example, from a Terry Labonte suit from 2008, indicates that the suit meets “3.2A/5” standards. According to their site, this certification is standard for driver suits, and this suit would need re-certification in the next 5 years, or 2013. This certification is standard for many NASCAR suits, as shown below.

For suits made internationally, the certification comes from a different group, the FIA Institute. Like SFI, the FIA Institute has the exact same goal, to make sure auto racing is safe, and that the equipment that drivers wear is as safe as possible. Unlike SFI however, FIA certification ends up in one of two places, either on the back of the neck,or inside the belt,

Both certifications serve the same purpose and both are mandated in racing today. These certifications also appear on driver gloves,and even helmets, usually on the HANS anchorMoving on to more 2013 paint schemes…

Trevor Bayne #6 Valvoline Ford Mustang Love this scheme! This brings back some fond memories of Mark Martin behind the wheel back in the 1990’s. The color and design scheme are amazing, so it gets an A

Regan Smith #7 Tax Slayer/Hellman’s Chevy Camaro Same as the 5 and 88, so nothing really to say here…

Brad Keselowski #22 Hertz Ford Mustang Only Penske can ruin one of the best color schemes with an awful design. Seriously what is the design on the front? It kills this scheme. Final Grade: D

Travis Pastrana #60 Ford Mustang What the Hell? Did Lisa Frank design this car? I’d love to comment on the color scheme, but just looking at the picture is enough! I didn’t think it was possible to make a scheme worse than the Kyle Bush Sponsafier car, but here we are! Final Grade: F’

By the way, I never thought I would reference Lisa Frank in this blog…

Jamie McMurray #1 Cessna Chevy SS Cessna has figured out the way to a good paint scheme, simple colors and simple design. It works very well and earns an A grade.

Casey Mears #13 Geico Ford Fusion Eww…just eww. The color scheme is dreadfull, and the designs on the side are painful to look at. It passed because of the logo and number design. Final Grade: D-

Kyle Busch #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry Great color scheme, and good basic design, but there is something with this car I find annoying. The driver’s name is on the windshield and above the door, so why is it on the top of the hood? Not just on the top of the hood, but UPSIDE DOWN as well? Seriously? It makes no sense, and takes the final grade down to a B

The Driver Suit Blog-My Thoughts on the 2013 Daytona Testing So Far…

This video displays some of the things I have noticed from Preseason Thunder…Aside from the fact that the new cars look good, and that there is still some work to do, here are my thoughts from Preseason Thunder at Daytona…

The roof ads are next to invisible when viewed from the standard TV cameras. They may look better from in-car cameras, but until I see them, I’ll reserve my judgement…

The radio antennas are much larger than last year, and are much more visible than last year. This may just be the setup for testing, but it looks really ugly.

The names on the windshield need to be in bigger lettering. At speed, these names are very hard to read.

It turns out that Ford is running tailpipe decals, but they are much less predominant that their Chevy counterparts.

The yellow Dollar General scheme with the orange Home Depot rear looks much MUCH worse at speed.

Many of the cars are running a matte black design, with numbers and sponsor decals…and it is amazing how this improves the look of many of the cars.

and finally…Daytona has a very nice checkerboard design in the front infield.

Now let’s discuss paint schemes…we have a lot of ground to cover.

Clint Boywer #15 5 Hour Energy Toyota Camry Basically the same scheme as last year, nothing really wrong, but nothing really right with this scheme…final grade C

Ryan Newman #39 Outback Steakhouse Chevy SS A decent scheme ruined by a bland color scheme. The mountain stripes look good, but the beige background just makes it bland. Is the Australian Outback dealing with smog? A sky blue would work much better here. Final Grade: C

Bobby Labonte #47 Bushes Baked Beans/Charter/Clorox/Kingsford/Scott Toyota Camry The Final Grades for the Bushes, Clorox, Kingsford and Scott schemes are all A…Nothing wrong with them. The Charter scheme is ruined by a really mediocre color scheme, and earns a C.

Kurt Busch #78 Furniture Row Racing Chevy SS Not much here, but I love the matte black, simple logo and number design and the complete lack of stripes or other designs, and it warrants an A…simple yet elegant.

Moving on to the new schemes in the Nationwide Series

Brian Scott #2 Shore Lodge Chevy Camaro Richard Childress is the only owner who can use the black/white/silver combo effectivey, which is what this scheme does. The stripe pattern needs work, but the logos are very visible, and the lettering is good. Final Grade B+

Elliot Sadler #11 One Main Financial Toyota Camry Great color scheme, logo, number design, and all-around simple yet bold paint scheme that earns a final grade of an A

Eric McClure #14 Hefty Toyota Camry Not a big fan of this color scheme. The stripes on the quarter panels are dreadful. The numbers and logos are good, and boost the scheme to a C grade.

The Driver Suit Blog-Some Thoughts on 2013 Paint Schemes So Far

Yesterday, I discussed the basic design changes for the 2013 redesigned schemes. Today, I thought I would look at some of the schemes that have been released, and give my thoughts on them.

Let’s look at the Chevy schemes first.

Jamie McMurray The basic scheme is solid here. The Bass Pro Shop “lightning bolt” used in last year’s scheme is gone, and a single Golden Arch has taken its place. The car has a cleaner look as a result. I like the design of the car number here as well, and the goldenrod yellow works rather well. Final Grade: A-

Kasey Kahne I really hope this is a prototype design,,,the color scheme is all wrong, there are too many light colors, and the door design is just brutal. The tailpipe decals which are already bad have a silver border around them, which just makes them stand out even more. Of the Chevy schemes released, this is the worst. Final Grade: D+

Danica Patrick Last year Danica’s car was painful to look at. However if this is the final design for Danica, I like it. The yellow is much more subdued, giving it an overall better appearance. Also the orange and black stripes at the bottom give it a bolder look as well. The numbers need work though, as the generic racing font doesn’t do the car any favors. Final Grade: B+

Tony Stewart Both of Tony Stewart’s paint schemes leave something to be desired. The Bass Pro Shop scheme is the better of the two. The total lack of white on the Bass Pro Shop scheme give the car a good look, and the stripes give a cleaner line. The orange on the bottom needs to be a little darker, but it;s a great scheme. Mobil 1 on the other hand has too much white, an awful set of stripes that seem to be non-sequitur with each other. The overall color scheme is all over the place and is very confusing to look at. In addition, the white on the back doesn’t help. Final Grade: C+

Jeff Gordon Are you kidding? Black flames on a car that is totally black outline in blue? Pepsi has a great shade of blue and a great logo and yet they manage to screw it up by trying the Pepsi Max design to be edgy. I’m a fan of black cars, but this just falls flat. Final Grade: C-

Kevin Harvick Ok, let’s make this clear: This is what a Budweiser scheme should look like, this is not. This is one of my favorite schemes so far, it looks like a Budweiser car should look like, so my Final Grade: A

Jeff Burton From what I’ve seen the Cat car looks about the same as it did last year which is actually a good thing, because the scheme is solid, has good colors, great number designs and a good pattern used. Final Grade: A

Juan Pablo Montoya Great color, great number design, and the pattern used is a lot more sublte than last year’s scheme. The quarter-panels have too many associate sponsors and looks too cluttered, keeping the Final Grade at a B.

Jimmie Johnson Less is more and this paint scheme proves that. The Z-28 stripes, good color scheme, and clean design gives the Lowes car a simple yet elegant design that just works. The Jimmie Johnson Foundation scheme is a little cluttered, but it still works. Final Grade: A

Dale Earnhardt Jr. The Diet Dew scheme isn’t great, the design is pointlessly complex, and the red on green number design is just brutal. If you look at this picture of the National Guard scheme you will see that one of the major changes to Chevy’s driver suits is the full Chevy logo, as opposed to just a red bow tie like last year. This design was used in IndyCar last year and looks better than the old design.

Moving on to Ford…

Brad Keselowski The scheme is decent, but the dark red lettering on the dark blue background is very hard to see. Miller needs to rethink that part of the design, but other than that it’s a good scheme…though I still miss the beer-colored wheels from last year! Final Grade is a C

Marcos Ambrose Is it normal to get seasick while looking at a paint scheme? The Petty Blue just does not work here, and the oval around the letters is pointless. The car looks awful even though it has a great color scheme and great sponsor logos. Final Grade: D

Greg Biffle There’s nothing really wrong here, but nothing really right here either. The side design looks forced, the black roof is idiotic, the color scheme is good, but the number design looks too cliche. It makes no sense, but 3M schemes never do, so I’ll give it a C

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The Best Buy scheme looks good. The number design, color scheme, and simplistic design give the car a good look. The Zest scheme on the other hand has an awful scheme, and like Kasey Kahne’s scheme, has too many light colors and not enough dark to make the scheme work. The Final grade is a C overall, an A for Best Buy and a D for Zest.

Trevor Bayne Timeless, plain and simple. This scheme works well, and if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Final Grade: A

Joey Logano This scheme could very easily be mistaken for McDonald’s. The red wheels don’t do it any favors, and the Penzoil scheme is too simplistic. Sometimes less is more when it comes to car design. Final grade: D-

Carl Edwards The stripes work well here, and the color scheme is good. Unlike the Zest scheme, this scheme uses enough dark blue to make it work. The UPS scheme however is a disaster. The dark brown really works, but the various shades of gold, orange and red make the design look like a sad rainbow. The white numbers don’t help that much either. Final Grade is a C, A for Fastenal, D for UPS

And finally a look at Toyota’s schemes thusfar

Matt Kensith This Dollar General scheme could be good if some of the black stripes go, and what is up with the DG design on the bottom of the quarter-panels? The yellow-to-orange fade on the back doesn’t work either. Final Grade: D

Clint Bowyer The dual blue and white scheme is popular this year, and this scheme is one example. The basic design would work better without some of the stripes on the front. Otherwise it’s a solid scheme with a B grade.

and last but not least, Martin Truex Jr. Simple, elegant with a great color scheme, great logos and great number design. Final Grade: A

I will add more input when more schemes are released.