NASCAR gets a clue: No more post-race height inspections!

[jmowreader]

http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2013/12/17/nascar-sprint-cup-series-intermediate-track-rules-package-details.html?cid=ema_bri_newsletter_newsletter_122013&ProspectID=33A85E6496EF41619006E7688C594970

One of the most popular inadvertently-violated rules in NASCAR is post-race height.

What the Hayul* I am talking about: It's no secret that NASCAR is very dictatorial about the design of a car. And up through the end of this season, they measured your car's roof height twice: once before the race, once after. (They hang a weight from a string at the specified height and push your car under it; your car must touch the weight.) Problem is, guys run soft springs to get better handling, and over the course of the race those can deform...when they do, you'll be a quarter-inch too low. There's no realistic way to intentionally violate this rule: you go straight from pre-race inspection to the starting grid, and there are so many NASCAR inspectors out there that if you were sitting there changing springs on pit road before the race someone will ask you what the Hayul you are doing.

For 2014 they finally got a clue: they're going to measure the car before the race and call it good.

* Hayul is where Southerners go when they've been bad people in life.