ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 15, 1996 TAG: 9602150089
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
In the summer of 1994, some 18 months before the public unveiling of the 1996 Pontiac Grand Prix, company officials took the rare step of allowing outsiders from down South into the high-security, secrecy-shrouded General Motors Design Center in Warren, Mich.
``This was the inner sanctum of GM styling,'' said Gary Claudio, manager of Pontiac's motorsports division. ``They walked through high-security areas. It's not uncommon to be walking along the hall and a freight elevator will open and there's a brand-new 2001 Cadillac.
``So you have to pass security at the design center, plus you have to be escorted by a member of the design staff.''
The outsiders were NASCAR President Bill France, Vice President Mike Helton and Winston Cup director Gary Nelson. They were there to see the prototype of the '96 Grand Prix passenger car.
After that visit, NASCAR and Pontiac began working together to create a NASCAR Winston Cup race car based on the two-door passenger car.
The six Pontiacs that are on the track today at Daytona International Speedway in the Twin 125 Winston Cup qualifying races - with their distinctive scalloped rear decks and angled spoilers - are the result of those efforts.
``No pictures were allowed and we were ushered in because the whole deal was so under wraps,'' Nelson said of the 1994 visit to Michigan. ``They didn't want it to be shown publicly or any pictures of it to get out.
``We saw it. We measured it. We looked at it. We talked about it.
``Just standing back and looking at it the first time ... there's certain cars you look at and you say, `Man, that looks funny,' or, `That's different.' And my first look at that Pontiac was, `Hey, this is a good-looking car. It will make a good race car.'''
The unusual visit was arranged because Pontiac officials were well aware France, Nelson and Helton would be making critical decisions on what kind of race car would be morphed out of the passenger car.
By closely cooperating with NASCAR on the development of the Chevrolet Monte Carlo race car, which was unveiled in 1995, General Motors motorsports officials found themselves with an excellent race car. Naturally, GM decided to repeat that process with the Grand Prix.
The process began in October 1994 with the construction of a mock-up car at Winston Cup car owner Chuck Rider's shop in Mooresville, N.C. In further meetings with Nelson and other NASCAR officials, the Pontiac brass used full-sized drawings, clay models and other techniques to show what they wanted and needed in the race car.
The biggest problem in making a race car out of the Grand Prix was the passenger car is a front-wheel drive vehicle with a sideways-mounted V-6 engine. The race car would be a rear-wheel drive car with a standard-mounted V-8 engine.
``As we started to build the car, we realized that this was going to be quite a project,'' said Jeffrey Kettman, a Pontiac engineer. ``The way the car lined up really started to give us nightmares.''
``If we had tried to go absolutely stock, the air cleaner would have been underneath the windshield,'' said Terry Laise, GM's top motorsports engineer. ``The car would have looked like it had a Funny Car scoop on it.''
So the entire body had to be moved back on the chassis. And the hood had to be raised about 11/4 inches to allow the engine to fit. And the hood was lengthened a bit.
``There was a lot of [mechanical] interference,'' Nelson said. ``So we had to adjust and work to get it all to fit. We ended up having to push and pull [the body] a little bit. But overall, they kept the lines of the car.''
By June 1995, the basic shape of the race car was set. Track testing began in August 1995, with considerable input from the Pontiac drivers.
``The engineers would let us try different things,'' Bobby Hamilton said Wednesday. ``I mean, Michael Waltrip built a spoiler for the car before Johnny [Benson] started driving it. They let me move the deck lid around on the car.''
The ultimate shape of the race car was not set until December, when the final specifications for the Pontiac Grand Prix race car were approved by NASCAR.
The production car was not unveiled until Sunday in Chicago. It will go on sale in April.
But the Grand Prix race cars have been plenty active on the track here during Speedweeks. The drivers are optimistic they will have a good race car, although the jury is still out on how good.
``It's hard to evaluate that Pontiac today,'' Nelson said. ``They're still on a fast curve of development.''
But one Pontiac driver, Rick Mast of Rockbridge Baths, already is pleased. Mast was eighth fastest in pole qualifying Saturday.
``I'm just tickled to death with our car,'' Mast said. ``I can't wait for Sunday to get here.''
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB