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NASCAR WCUP: Wally Dallenbach: Politicking; 'I don't play the game'

6 June 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Note: Galaxy Motorsports driver Wally Dallenbach isn't concerned with a NASCAR Winston Cup rule concession given to Pontiac teams beginning with Sunday's Kmart 400 at Michigan Speedway. NASCAR has approved a new rear bumper cover for Pontiac teams that essentially raises the rear end of the car with the aim being improved downforce.

This week will be a busy - and crucial one - for Galaxy Motorsports. Dallenbach is scheduled to test Tuesday and Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway in preparation for the July 1 Pepsi 400. Also Wednesday, Dallenbach's two Michigan cars will be tested in Ford's wind tunnel.

Michigan is one of Dallenbach's strongest tracks. In 1998, he placed 10th and eighth in Michigan's two Winston Cup races.

DO YOU OFTEN RAISE YOUR VOICE CONCERNING RULES CHANGES? WALLY DALLENBACH (No. 75 RedCell Batteries Ford Taurus): "I don't play that game. That's not up to me. NASCAR does what they think is best. There's no reason to whine or complain about it. Obviously, if the Pontiacs go out and kick everybody's butt the next two or three weeks in a row then there are going to be people that are wanting answers. I just worry about getting my Ford Taurus to handle and I don't worry about where it stacks up body-wise."

A LOT OF GUYS DO COMPLAIN. EARNHARDT COMES TO MIND. WHY NOT YOU?

"Earnhardt can whine about it and somebody will listen. Everybody else can cry and whine about it and nobody is going to listen. Obviously, somebody like (Richard) Childress or (Robert) Yates or (Jack) Roush or (Joe) Gibbs, they'd have a lot more pull when it comes to complaining about everybody else's bodystyle or their own body stuff. Me getting up there whining about it is just one more guy whining and it doesn't make a difference. There's really no reason for us to complain. Let's be realistic. If a 36th-place team is going to complain about the body, it isn't going to carry a lot of political clout. We need to get our own program straightened out and be the best Ford team and then maybe somebody will listen to our complaints."

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE DIRECTION THIS TEAM IS GOING NOW?

"I feel good about it. We just have to keep doing what we're doing. We need to get a couple of breaks in the next four or five races and be able to have a strong program going into next year. This year is kind of a building process. We've got a lot of racing to do, but we're still trying to build for next year. We need to seal a good sponsor deal for next year and have something to really look forward to."

THIS TEAM IS TAKING ITS TWO MICHIGAN CARS TO THE WIND TUNNEL WEDNESDAY. TALK ABOUT THAT.

"Wind tunnel time is tough to get and it's definitely something that we've been lacking a lot of. It definitely raises the bar so to speak as far as having our stuff a little more competitive because when you can't get your car to the wind tunnel you don't know how much drag you've got and you don't know where your problems are. The more wind tunnel time you can get the better you are off obviously. Look at the Yates team. They get more wind tunnel time than anybody and it shows. It's going to definitely be nice to know how we stack up. I don't know how much we're going to change before we get there, but it's going to be nice to know what the cars blow."

DO YOU KNOW HOW YOU STACK UP AERO-WISE AT THE CURRENT TIME?

"Not really. In the next week or two we'll have a better idea. The stuff that we did earlier this year and the comparables we had to some of our cars at the beginning of the year were not too good. We know that we're probably between terrible and good right now. We've made some improvements since Newt (Moore) came on board. He's made some changes to the bodies and stuff , but we haven't been to the wind tunnel to measure those changes. So we'll blow the cars again and have a new baseline to go off of. We know our speedway car was not very good. That's something we've got to work on big-time, the Daytona and Talladega stuff. We didn't qualify well at either track and we know we've got good motors. So that leaves the bodies. We know we have a lot of work to do there."

YOU'VE REPEATEDLY SAID THE NEXT TWO MONTHS OF THE SCHEDULE CONTAIN SOME GOOD TRACKS FOR YOU. WHERE DOES MICHIGAN RATE?

"I like Michigan. I've always run good there. All these tracks are where I feel we can be competitive and we should be top-10 material. This is a point in the season that we can use as a big turnaround. If we can get to Daytona, which is the halfway mark of the season after having good runs the previous month, then that really sets the mood for the rest of the season. We need to set a good mood."

IS THIS A MAKE-OR-BREAK STRETCH FOR THE SEASON?

"Not really. There's nothing ever really make-or-break. But I think this is a good opportunity for us to show well and show that we've taken a team that was in bad shape to something that we can be proud of. You get two or three good runs in and boy, it just changes the morale and the outlook and everything on how your race team is. We'll see what happens."

MICHIGAN OFTEN COMES DOWN TO FUEL MILEAGE. HOW DO YOU STACK UP IN THAT DEPARTMENT?

"It hasn't been an issue for us yet this year. The type of throttle guy that I am, we usually have good fuel mileage, whether I've been driving a Ford or a Chevy or a Pontiac. I've always seemed to get good fuel mileage. That has to have something to do with the way I'm throttling the cars. I think we'll be OK. We need to stay on top of it and cut it pretty close there. That's pretty much the motor guy's department on how lean or how rich we're going to run the motor and how far we're going to stretch it. We'll fill the car up for practice at Michigan and make a run where we can be real precise on determining how far the car can go on a full tank. We'll know what we're burning."

Text provided by Brian Hoagland

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