NASCAR lowered bodywork - benefits on short tracks?

[Mike DC]

                         
I'm aware that NASCARs back in the day were being lowered at the construction stage.  The roof & sides of the car were mounted a couple inches lower on the floor/chassis than stock.  The overwhelming reason being the aero benefits of it.  Downforce from the raked angle + smaller body overall. 


Why did the short-track cars get this treatment too?  If the minimum ground clearance is still fixed then where's the low-speed benefit? 

The suspension geometry wasn't moving since the chassis stayed put.  The aero gains would seem to be pretty negligible on a short track (by 60s/70s standards).  The CG lowering effects from just the bodywork alone would also seem to be pretty minor for the time, since the chassis & drivetrain couldn't be lowered along with it.

[odcics2]

The suspension is moved up into the chassis, which has a net effect of lowering the car.
The crossmembers used were unique and the rear spring eyes are moved up into the passenger compartment.
Usually, lowering blocks were also used on the rear axle. 
With a shallow dry sump set up, the pan was 5" off the ground. 

[Mike DC]

                  
I'm aware that the front chassis/geometry on Grand National NASCARs ended up lower than stock due to various things.  But lowering the sides/roof of the car in relation to the chassis would not contribute to that.


The only reason I can see would be to keep continuity with the superspeedway cars.  It's hard to imagine they cared a whole lot about that when they were running wings & nosecones on some tracks and not others.

[HPP]

Aero starts to come in to play as low as 60mph. It isn't hard to hit those speeds on a short track.

[odcics2]

Forgot to mention that a lot of teams used this years speedway car as next years short track car...
Maybe this is what you mean...   

[tan top]

interesting  info