Tech Q&A: Todd Parrott

May 1, 2001
4:07 PM EDT (2007 GMT)

Just two short seasons ago, crew chief Todd Parrott was responsible for leading the No. 88 team to the Winston Cup title for Robert Yates Racing. NASCAR.com recently sat down with Parrott, the son of legendary mechanic Buddy Parrott, to answer your tech Q&A questions:

Q: I've heard that the car's tires are filled with nitrogen, but most of my friends think I'm crazy. Could you tell me what they're filled with, and if it's nitrogen, why? Mike Bills, Clarkston, MI

A: Yes, we do run nitrogen in our tires. Goodyear, when the tires are mounted, fills them with compressed air out of a compressor. We then drain all the compressed air out and put nitrogen in them. We do this because of the moisture that is in compressed air. We have less air build-up with the nitrogen.

Q: What does the term "wedge" mean? For example, I hear the announcer say that they are taking a wedge out when the driver comes in to pit. Also, can you explain the term "tight?" I am a new fan to NASCAR and I just love it! Brad Hanson

A: The terms "wedge" and "tight" go together. When you have a car that is "tight," you may have a car that is "overwedged," which means it has too much "bite" in it. What we will do is either adjust on the left-rear or the right-rear and we will take "bite" out of the car. For example, we will raise up the left-rear jackscrew on the left-rear tire and that will take weight off the left-rear tire and transfer it to the right-rear tire. It will also transfer weight to the left-front tire.

Q: Why doesn't NASCAR magnetize the lug nuts so they will stick to the wheels instead of using the glue? John Andes, Kapaa, HI

A: This is a hard question! I don't know why we haven't done that. It would be a whole lot cheaper because we wouldn't have to buy all that yellow "snot!" We also wouldn't have to worry about cleaning off all that yellow glue. Haha

I don't think that a magnetized lug nut would sit very straight on the wheel. The part that is magnetized probably wouldn't sit there perfectly when it is trying to stick to something. The yellow glue is working really well and my pit crew is doing a fantastic job, so I am happy with them using the "snot."

Q: The cars must use oil but I have never seen oil added. Where does it come from? How much does a car use in a race? Bill, Jupiter, FL

A: We have a tank that is in the back of the car that holds the oil. That is why during the race you see us only adding fuel to the car and not oil. The tank holds about five gallons of oil and in a normal race the car will use somewhere between a gallon to 1 1/2 gallons of oil. We have to hold that much because we don't want to take the time on a pit stop to add oil.

Q: I'm interested in learning how much cooling a radiator is able to achieve. Also, how much surface area (including fins) does a radiator have? Hill Kutscher, Reading, PA

A: The cooling is very important. It is something that we work very hard on with C&R Racing up in Indianapolis. There are different types of radiators for different types of racetracks. At the restrictor plate tracks, we run a heat-exchange radiator where the oil cooler is actually built into the radiator. The water passes by the oil cooler, which in turn cools the oil down but it also works as a generator, keeping the water at a certain temperature.

There are also different fins for different racetracks. There are 15-, 21- and sometimes 25-fin radiators that we run. It depends on the type of racetrack and how fast the air speed is to determine which fin-density radiator we will run.