BY TEAM FORD RACING CORRESPONDENT

Las Vegas — "It's probably as different as the new championship rules. It's that much of a major deal,” said Motorcraft Ford pilot, Ricky Rudd, regarding the new NASCAR 2004 tire and aerodynamic package.

The Ford heat made their way to Las Vegas Motor Speedway to learn what combinations the new tire aero package need to be fast. The full armament of Ford Blue was represented when both Robert Yates Racing pilots as well as the Roush Racing contingent, joined Rudd in testing on the 1.5-mile intermediate classed track.

"The biggest thing I'm seeing is that the tires are quite a bit different," offered Rudd of the new recipe. "There's a pretty major difference in the way you have to approach the setup of the car. The tires are good. They're fast but they are acting like they were designed to do. They go away pretty far. I think Mike Beam [team manager of the No. 32 entry] said it best. ‘They've kind of turned [Vegas] into a Rockingham.’ The guys with good tires just set sail. So that's going to affect pit strategy from what I've seen. Guys will get tires."

"It's a little different feel with the tires but that's just something that you kind of get used to until you know what it's going to do," added 1999 Winston Cup champ, Dale Jarrett.

"As far as the spoiler off the car I can't tell a lot of difference, yet. You see a little bit from the faster straightaway speeds; and maybe not quite as good corner speeds as what we were before and you see more fall off in the tires, which should happen," Jarrett added.

"It drives good and it has good grip," offered D.J. about the new tire package. "You just have to know that it's going to fall off. Here last year, gosh, you didn't fall off four- or five-tenths of a second in a long run and you could keep tires on it. This is going to fall off over a second and so that's why everybody is going to be coming in and putting four tires on pretty much every time.”

Initial reports from some teams show the new tire fall off, or slowing of a car's lap time, by about 1.5-seconds during a 40 lap run.

Asked about the approach Rudd and crew chief Ben Leslie are taking to find a setup for the Motorcraft Ford, Rudd explains, "You make two kinds of grip. You make mechanical grip and aero grip. The mechanical grip has gotten to be a lot more important than it used to be.

"Aero is unseen. It's there but you don't really see it. It's kind of a mystery. Mechanical grip is black and white. The things that used to make mechanical grip years ago still make mechanical grip today.

"The biggest thing is the tires were hard before and you could do things that would just abuse the heck out of the tires, but the tires were so good they would take it. These tires were purposely made not quite as good, so you can't just abuse the tires. You've got to think about tire management and things of that nature. It's definitely different. It's probably as different as the new championship rules. It's that much of a major deal."

Anecdotal reports from a pair of team cars, which worked each other for position on the track, shows the new shorter rear blade appears to help the aero-push issue that was so prevalent during the past several years. According to one of the drivers from the two car passing test the following car could drive right up to the rear of the car he was attempting to pass and take the air off the rear spoiler of the car he was passing. With the air off the rear spoiler the lead car had to left as it skittered up the track, which opened the door for the pass completion.

FEEL THE HEAT
There's no denying the fact that Ricky Rudd is optimistic as he heads toward the 2004 season. Of course having a fast car during the Daytona International Speedway test helped pump that feeling, as well as having a crew who’s as determined as any with whom he’s ever worked.

"It's like someone took the rheostat that runs the lights and turned it up as far as it will go," said Rudd of the new attitude that his now Mooresville, N.C.-based Motorcraft team is showing as they go about their work.

Asked about that fast car he tested at Daytona, Rudd smiles. "That was real. Some guys will lay the spoiler back, or catch a draft, but that fast time we ran at Daytona was real."

NO MORE HEAVY METAL
When Jack Roush narrowly escaped death after crashing an experimental plane into an Alabama lake back in 2002 he had a few remnants of the experience to carry with him as a reminder. Those remnants included the plate and screws doctors used to hold his badly fractured left leg together.

However, those bits and pieces were removed during a mid-December procedure, leaving Roush free off the shrapnel of his death defying experience.

Describing the best part of losing the extra implanted medical gear Roush joked, "Now I can go through the airport without setting anything off."

SAVAGE HITS
A pair of spectacular hits during testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway once again showed that the cement is far harder than the steel. The hits, which were meted out to Scott Wimmer and Jamie McMurray in separate incidents, totally destroyed the rides they were in when they hit the wall.

Wimmer's car was torn off at the back window in his incident. The impact was so heavy that one team member was pushing to find a dumpster to fit what was left of the car into. The rear impact was so severe that it broke the tail off the transmission as the drive shaft twisted into a pretzel with its driving force.

During the Wednesday session Jamie McMurray lost control and crashed hard in Turn 2. McMurray wasn't injured, but it ended a long day for Target Ganassi Racing. McMurray’s car had an engine problem earlier in the day, while teammate Sterling Marlin’s car blew an engine during the morning session.

LVMS was fully prepared for any medical eventuality as they had a full safety staff on hand, replete with life flight chopper and medical staff sitting on standby in the case of an incident.