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Tune in for 2007 TV Schedule Race Previews & Results Additional Stories 10 Questions from Kyleerview with Mark n Chad McCumbee and John Andretti Named To Drive #45 Dodge
 Robbie Loomis
Feature guest on Loomis looms large for Petty team Inside the Halls of Petty: Welcome back Andretti 2007 NASCAR TV TNT Kyle Petty to serve as Race Analyst Petty Meets Key  |
HERB BRANHAM: We're now joined by the vice president of racing operations for Petty Enterprises, Robbie Loomis. Robbie, maybe we could start off, talk to us from your perspective about how the Car of Tomorrow project is going to benefit some of the slightly smaller organizations competing in NASCAR Nextel Cup, like Petty Enterprises. ROBBIE LOOMIS: It's going to be exciting. I'm really looking forward to Bristol. I think probably the biggest thing is all the unknowns going into Bristol. When I look at the Car of Tomorrow, if we take the number one thing that it was created and designed for, and Petty Enterprises got involved in it, especially Kyle driving it about two years ago, was really the safety factor. When I look at our race teams, what Petty Enterprises has, our biggest assets is our drivers in all the race teams, especially with Bobby Labonte and Kyle Petty. Anything we can do to help protect them and keep them safe is what we're looking for. I think the Car of Tomorrow has done a great job with that. With that being said, it's created a different set of circumstances. The aerodynamics has changed a lot on the car so the chassis and handling part of the car is really going to come into play a lot more, especially as we go down the line and get into Martinsville and then Darlington, a lot of the other racetracks we're running at. HERB BRANHAM: We'll now take questions from the media for Robbie Loomis. Q. With Jeff Gordon talking about during the Bristol test that those guys were on the bump stops all the time going through the corner, Clint Bowyer talking about things flying off through the corners, Bristol has the record for cautions in a NASCAR race, 20 or 21 on a couple of occasions. Do you think it's going to be a necessary evil until people get these things figured out, could there be a record number of cautions, these guys trying to get a handle on driving the cars this first race? ROBBIE LOOMIS: It's definitely going to be a lot different as far as getting the car set up, handling. It's funny, watching the cars the first day compared to even after the dinner break, we got to run till 9 that first day, and if you went and watched in the corners, the cars were bouncing a lot. It's funny, the cars that were running the best, they weren't bouncing a lot. After dinner, everybody's car started to settle down, get in a groove, run in the bottom of racetrack. I think the potential's definitely there. The great ones are going to figure it out and it will be a great race coming down to that last lap. Everybody will be talking about the last lap at Bristol instead of the Car of Tomorrow. Q. How long is it going to take for teams to see cost savings out of this? ROBBIE LOOMIS: That's a great question. I think, you know, in the beginning there's no doubt, especially this year with having the phase-in, we've been fortunate here at Petty Enterprises, Jeff Troxler has been full-time on the Car of Tomorrow, and really put a lot of effort into just that project. But when you run two parallel programs, trying to run the current existing body on the mile-and-a-half tracks, then going to the Car of Tomorrow, there's going to be quite the expense. I think as we change stuff over, I think that's why there's been a lot of conversation in voting for the team talking towards going next year to the Car of Tomorrow across the board. So there's going to be a lot of expense in the beginning. I think down the road it's going to be a great thing. I think the biggest thing I keep drawing back to is it's complicated, it's going to bring a lot of challenges, but the main reason we're doing it is for the safety of the drivers. I think about it, like even when they mandated the HANS device, there are some drivers jumped up and down, hated it, thought it was the worst thing in the world. If you look back now, they've probably been through some accidents and they're very glad they had that HANS device, and it was a big part of the safety. It's going to be costly in the beginning, but I think in the end we're going to take and move that money in other areas and still use a lot of money to make it happen. Q. Is that when it helps you become more competitive with bigger teams? ROBBIE LOOMIS: I think as far as that part of it, there's probably a little benefit that's going to come from that. When it comes to being competitive and winning, it really comes down to the people. We have a lot of great people here at Petty Enterprises, we keep strengthening that up more and more. It's not rules or NASCAR things that determines whether we win or lose, it's the job we're doing here at Petty Enterprises, or the Hendrick organization and other organizations out there. I think if there's one place it will probably help is right now when you're a smaller organization, a lot of time you're chasing what the bigger teams are doing and they're able to react and respond to things quicker and make changes quicker to the body and offset the roofs and do different things, where in a smaller team, seems like you're always one step behind whatever the latest, greatest thing is. As John alluded to earlier in the conference, now they've drawn a little bit tighter box around a lot of areas. We're going to keep the same amount of people; we're just going to go to work in different areas of the car and pay a lot of attention to details going forward. Q. Safety is the major factor in this car. What are some of the new safety features that drivers and fans are going to notice right away? ROBBIE LOOMIS: That's a great question. I think the biggest thing that stands out probably when you're watching a race on Sunday is when you see the driver's window net up, a lot of the times the driver's helmet is right against the window net, sometimes pressing outside the window net a little bit. In the Car of Tomorrow, he's moved over approximately two or three inches towards the center of the vehicle. So whenever there's a left-side impact, it will definitely put his head a lot further away from harm's way. There's things like padding in the sides for the impact. Outside of the door bars, if the car was to T-bone in the door bars. Probably the biggest area that I notice that people don't look at is the drive shaft area. They've really strengthened that up. If a drive shaft flies out of a car, that's one thing I always worry about most with these race cars. With the tunnel, they way they have constructed that, it's going to be very safe for the drier. Even if the drive shaft comes out, the driver should be completely safe. Q. With your experience in testing and stuff, is it comfortable to drive, comparable to the cars they're driving now? ROBBIE LOOMIS: I question Kyle and Bobby a lot about that when they drove up at Bristol. It's funny, when they're in the car, it's basically the same race car they've been in. It's not really changed. They do have more room in the cockpit. That's the one thing I think they both noticed, is there's a lot more room, which makes it safer inside the cockpit. But besides really knowing the difference, I don't think they really know much difference. Q. As a former crew chief, do what extent does the Car of Tomorrow take away your latitude to creative and sort of inventive in building a fast car? Has it taken away some of your fun or reward? ROBBIE LOOMIS: I don't think so. It's a good question. I think it changed. It changes the focus. I think in the past it used to be we focused so much on the chassis, the handling, springs, trailing arms, sway bar, shocks, that's really where we found all of our advantages beating a guy through the corner. In the last few years, you've seen a lot of cars now they run with the nose down, spoiler up. They really – we focus so hard, our fab shop guys at the Petty Enterprises work so hard on the aerodynamics on the bodies of the car to keep making the body better and better. Now it changes your focus a lot. Now you're focusing a lot more back on the chassis, the handling of the racecar, the mechanical part of the car versus the aero side of it. Q. As you get used to it, will that have primarily to do with what you do with the wing and the splitter or is it more subtle things than that? ROBBIE LOOMIS: We'll always be monitoring what we're doing with the wing and splitter. That's just part of our aero package. Probably the biggest thing we'll be doing is working with the springs and the shocks, trailing arms, all that stuff. Q. NASCAR racing is a lot about changes. Have you experienced more apprehension by teams over changes while at NASCAR with the arrival of the COT? ROBBIE LOOMIS: 10 or 15 years ago, I was one of those guys when they made a change, whatever it was, if it was one shock instead of two shocks, I was jumping up and down, thought the world was coming to an end. It would take me two weeks to get over it. I'd realize it took me two weeks off my focus what I needed to be focusing on. You know, I've kind of learned to roll with the changes they make. The majority of the time, if you look at the France family, what they've done with NASCAR, it's been amazing. Usually everything works out and goes forward, keeps getting bigger and better for everybody involved. When we hear Petty Enterprises, when they started the Car of Tomorrow project, like I said, they've been in it since the beginning of June. Two years ago, embraced it. I think it's going to be a great thing. I go back to the air boxes. I remember when they put air boxes on the air cleaners, everybody thought it was the worst thing in the world. Now if you went in there and told the guys in the garage you were going to take them off, everybody would jump up and down and want to quit (laughter). Change is part of our life, not only in racing, but in everything we do. Q. With your background at Hendrick Motorsports, I'm sure garage talk, you have an idea how much Hendrick Motorsports has been able to test the Car of Tomorrow with David Green. Compared to that and compared to a single- or double-car team, how much of an advantage is that going to be especially when we go into the Chase where five of the 10 races are Car of Tomorrow events? ROBBIE LOOMIS: I think what you'll see, we've talked about this a lot, I think the bigger teams, when they first come out with this Car of Tomorrow, they've had a little more chance to test, they have more resources to throw at in the beginning. Hopefully a year, year and a half down the road, it will start to balance out some. We can get caught up with our breath. You know, I think when it comes to the end of the day, at the end of the races, it comes down to the people that work on these race teams, the drivers that are in the seat, and the job that we're doing. I don't think when you look at the rundown it's going to change a lot based on just the Car of Tomorrow or not the Car of Tomorrow. Q. How long will that take? A ballpark, with all the testing they've done, all the technology they have, how long will it take the lesser funded teams to catch up? ROBBIE LOOMIS: I'm hoping by, what, Sunday (laughter). But that's a real good question. I think time will just tell. That's kind of predicting into the future. It's going to take a lot of work. Like I said, Jeff Troxler, all the guys here, focused on the Car of Tomorrow have been putting a lot into it. We're excited about it and, like I said, NASCAR has done a good job of drawing a tight box around it. Q. You mentioned it's going to come down to people working on the race teams on these cars. Certainly here in this recent era there's been changes to the cars, tires, tracks. How challenging has it become for teams, crew chiefs, team managers in the last couple years in the sport? Certainly you need a smarter individual than what you needed even a couple years ago to keep up with all these changes in the sport? ROBBIE LOOMIS: Yeah, you know, I think the sport's changed. Richard was in here talking today with us. I think the sport has just changed so much. It's changed so rapidly. At the end of the day, it's still the same thing: we're going out there racing, trying to beat the competitors. When it comes down to the bottom line, you just always want to try to have the guy that's on the leading edge of the development. Like I said, if they take the body things away that you can do for the aerodynamics of the car, then you got to get on to the next advantage where you can find it. I think that's where you see the great crew chiefs, the great team leaders have always excelled in the past. Q. Where do you find those people nowadays? ROBBIE LOOMIS: We were talking earlier, race car drivers, guys on the team, there's a lot of talent out there. It's just a matter of we get a lot of great help that comes in here out of different series. There's always somebody on the team that's a car chief, say, at one of the other marquee teams that's looking to be a crew chief. There's crew chiefs that aren't in the right situation, looking for something different. Usually in our sport, there's a certain amount you can get from within the teams. A team like Petty Enterprises, we like to give guys an opportunity from outside, like from Busch racing, Truck racing also. Q. Would you like to see the schedule for putting this on all tracks accelerated to next year everywhere? ROBBIE LOOMIS: I would. I swear, I think looking at the hardship it's put on the guys in the shop this year, all the work that everyone's done here at Petty Enterprises, I think for all the race teams out there, it's been a ton of work focusing on two wind tunnels, wind tunnel for the mile-and-a-half car, wind tunnel for the car that the Dodge Avenger we'll be running up there at Bristol. I think, yeah, it would definitely be a lot easier. Plus by the end of this year every team out there is going to have eight or 10 of these Dodge Avengers or Car of Tomorrow, however you want to look at it. Q. Could you talk about what Bobby Labonte has brought to your organization, how that can help you grow and become more competitive. ROBBIE LOOMIS: I think Bobby, it's just amazing what he's brought to Petty Enterprises. He's a cornerstone of the place now. He's raised the water table for all of us here. He's challenged us all to be better. I mean, every week when he does a race report, he drives us to make our product better. I think it's great. Really, really felt good having him and Kyle up there at the Bristol test. We got together after the first day, kind of fed information off each other. It's neat because Bobby's drove in the Busch Series, he's drove in a lot of different cars. He's been a champion. Once you've been a champion, you're a winner, you want to keep driving towards that. You know Bobby probably as well as anybody out there, he's great for the sponsors. Any time he meets a sponsor, they love him. The thing he has best about him, he's like Petty, he's got the cleanest name out there. Q. When the King walks through the shop, you mentioned you have new people, do still see guys turn around and look, Wow, that's Richard Petty walking through the shop? ROBBIE LOOMIS: Petty Enterprises is a very special place. That's a lot of what we've been talking about, you know, it has a special heart to it and a special feeling. I think with whatever we do as we grow, we want to make sure we keep that Petty touch into it. I see drivers, race car drivers out there, when they see the King, it's a special moment. I think for us it's really neat. I see it with Bobby and Richard when they're talking. It's a neat thing seeing two winners like that talk. HERB BRANHAM: Robbie, we really appreciate you taking some time out from your schedule to join us today and help us talk about this long-awaited project about to come to fruition, the Car of Tomorrow. ROBBIE LOOMIS: Let's go win Bristol with Petty Enterprises. |
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Last update Kyle Petty name and/or likeness used under license by Petty Marketing Company, L.L.C. |
