Tech Q&A: Donnie Wingo

March 10, 2001
12:40 PM EST (1740 GMT)

Donnie Wingo, crew chief for the No. 26 Fords fielded on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit by Travis Carter and driven by Jimmy Spencer, has seen a significant evolution in the sport.

Wingo, 41, a native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, who currently resides in Mooresville, North Carolina, with his wife, Kim, and children, Erin and Coleman, has had near-perfect attendance on the circuit since 1981. By his count, he has missed just one or two events, and that was in 1985.

Wingo has learned from some of the best owners and mechanics in the business, including Carter, Junior Johnson and Tim Brewer.

QUESTION: What's the biggest technological advancement you've seen since you entered the sport?

WINGO: Mainly just the shock absorbers, mounts, actually measuring roll-centers and things like that. Each team's now got one or two engineers. But to me, the basic racecar's the same as it was when I started. Sure, they've changed the stiffness of them some. They've changed some bars around. But the basic front-end geometry of the cars has stayed the same.

QUESTION: Talk about what kind of challenge it's been to keep up with the changing technology. Are you guys able to take any kind of classes, or will some of these manufacturers' reps send people out to demonstrate their equipment for you? How much of it is up to you to pick up on your own?

WINGO: The shock people have classes each year and so do the data acquisition people. You have your engineers who can go to these classes because they have new technology coming out each year to measure different points. But as far as going to school, there's a few people that probably do, but I probably learn more just from my engineers as far as working with computers and stuff than I do from going to school.

QUESTION: If someone wanted to go to college and pursue a specific course of study aimed at becoming a crew chief, what kind of degree would you advise and why?

WINGO: Most of your engineers in racing now are aerodynamic engineers who major in fluids or whatever. But I'd say mechanical engineers. I think that takes a broader range of studies. That would be my choice.

QUESTION: When you look around your team's shop, what's the most useful piece of equipment you have? If somebody said they were going to take away everything except one piece, which would you pick to keep on hand?

WINGO: Technology-wise, I'd probably have to say the shock dyno.

QUESTION: When you look at all the areas of technology, what do you see as the area with the biggest potential for development in the years ahead?

WINGO: I would say over the years, you could say when the cars first started out, they were boxy cars. Aerodynamics didn't play a big part when I first started racing. But I would say that's going to continue to be the biggest gain that you're going to see teams make. These days you've got wind tunnels, and that changes every single week. If you could go to the wind tunnel every week, you could learn more and pick up more. But aerodynamics are going to continue to get better _ unless NASCAR does something about it.