BYRON WARNER, chief engineer (Pontiac): "The objective of the new race car was to be as good or better than the Monte Carlo. We're all aware of the success the Monte Carlo had last year. I think at this point based on testing in the wind tunnel and on the tracks, we've met that objective. The production car is about the same height as the old car. It's about the same length. The wheel base is a couple of inches longer, and the car is about three inches wider. The problems with the old car on the race track were ones of downforce and balance in the rear. It had pretty good aero, but we were always light on downforce in the rear. The new car with the windshield angles, and the rearview angles, the car is much better on balance. I think our aero was equivalent in downforce, and much better in balance than the old car.
The main objective was to be as good or better than the Monte Carlo, and we think we're there. Now we still have to go out on the race track and prove that. I'm not sure we know much about how it's going to handle in traffic. Right now at this point we're feeling real good about the car. We also feel very good about the production car. The production car is going to be built up at Fairfax. The car just started production now.
The car will be hitting dealerships at about the time the races start getting going. We're looking forward to a great year in the marketplace as well as the race track.
"We have to submit the production car to NASCAR, and they make templates off the production car. This car has to match that production car. Based on those templates, this (race) car is the same as the production car. Now there are differences because of the tires, spoiler, and shapes around the wheels. There are differences. But the basic shapes, according to the templates, they are identical. Racing is definitely in our minds, but it's not the primary factor in designing the car. The primary factor in designing a car, this car particularly, is because of the marketplaces. We wanted a sleek, good-looking car. Usually, good-looking, sleek cars do well on race tracks, too. Our primary objective is to design a car that's acceptable to the customer, and then, like some shpes in the rear, like the spoiler, that will be dictated by racing other than the customer. It's sort of a balance. Certainly, the primary objective is to get a good-looking car in the marketplace, and then we make a few adjustments for racing.
"At Pontiac we consider business objectives and performance objectives. Pontiac is the performance division at General Motors. We think we get really good exposure in NASCAR. We only have five sponsored teams this year, and that was an objective. We're not in it for winning the manufacturers championship. You have to have at least 10 teams to do that. Our objective is to win three-four races, and get good exposure. When we do win a race we'll place in USA Today a full-page ad, and we think we really get great mileage out of winning four or five races. That's our objective. We think with guys like Johnny Benson, we look forward to accomplishing that, and maybe doing even a little better. We're looking forward to a great year."
BILLY WOODRUFF, crew chief (No. 42 Coors LIght Pontiac Grand Prix): "Just looking at the numbers on this car, I'm going to say it's twice as good as the old car was. I'm hoping it's going to be better than the Monte Carlo, and I think right now it's just as good. This now puts Ford No. 3, not Pontiac."
BILL DAVIS, car owner (No. 22 MBNA Pontiac): "I think at this point there are still some question marks. We went to Talladega last week, and they ran well. We didn't quite achieve our goals of what we were striving for. How the cars will handle on the intermediate tracks is still a question. We personally haven't tested on any. We're going to Richmond. We'll know a little bit more then. I think we're going to have a real good race car. Certainly a big improvement over where we've been. Pontiac's done a good job with it, and we think we're going to have alot of success with the new car. I know the Pontiac numbers are a lot closer to the Monte Carlo now."
BOBBY HAMILTON (No. 43 STP Pontiac Grand Prix): "The Pontiac we had last year we did so much with it to get it where it was. The reason we qualified good is that when you taped them up you had good downforce. When you untaped those cars, going by numbers, we had several counts of lift on the front end, where the other cars had a few counts of downforce. They were more or less like our car was taped up when they were untaped. The biggest thing now is that the car is actually planted to the race track better, and even if the car gets out of shape or whatever, there's more downforce to hold the car down. Before, if we got beside somebody they would suck you around, and you'd have to back out of it. There were a lot of things that weren't visual that the driver could feel. You couldn't drive the car hard in certain situations. This car we think is going to make a big difference. I'm happy with the car I've got right now."
