Struggling With Aeropush On Eldora Speedway's Tricky Starts

ROSSBURG, Ohio (June 8) — The tricky aerodynamics of Dirt Late Model racing forces drivers to constantly avoid the "dirty air" and the resulting aeropush that occurs when cars lose the air that typically pushes the nosepiece — and front wheels — snugly against the racetrack.

Among the most difficult places where drivers struggle with aerodynamic issues? The frontstretch and turn one at legendary Eldora Speedway during its unforgiving double-file starts and restarts that frequently shuffle the field and, occcasionaly, determine the winners of the sport's richest and most prestigious events. | Complete Dream coverage

"If you really look at the guys that are really good here, I think those are the (drivers) that maneuver the best" on the Eldora frontstretch, driver Chris Ferguson of Mount Holly, N.C., said on Thursday before the opening of the $129,000-to-win Dream XXIX weekend. "They know where to go. They know where to be on the restarts."

It's one of the toughest challenges at one of the sport's most challenging tracks and 95 Dream entrants will do their best to master it during Thursday and Friday's double-feature prelims and Saturday's 100-lap main event.

On Eldora starts and restarts with as many as 26 cars bearing down into turn one, losing the air on your car's nose and losing, albeit briefly, the ability to steer is a little more than disconcerting.

"The car doesn't turn and it takes off sliding to the right, like it's tight and loose. You just have to wait (to regain steering), or slide up and hit a big berm if there's one up there to get you out of it," said Zack Dohm of Cross Lanes, W.Va. "But really, you just kind of gotta wait till you get a little air. You can feel it. It won't turn and it's sliding, and all the sudden it grabs and goes."

Avoiding aerodynamic issues when the field is strung out around a racetrack is manageable, but with cars bunched tightly together for starts and restarts at Eldora, virtually everyone — except for drivers on the front row — struggle with aeropush.

"It's not even so much (exiting turn four) but maybe at the flagstand once you get up to speed, you can feel (the front end) getting light and you’re anticipating the turn way before you need to just to make sure it gets out of that dirty air. And then when it stops you can feel it," said Tyler Erb of New Waverly, Texas. "You can see it a lot of times. Like a guy will be pushing, pushing, pushing and he’ll be aiming below ’em … and when he finally breaks free he picks up speed. When the nose gets back down, you have optimal traction and your car just operates better."

While starting on the front row allows drivers to control their own destinies, Tanner English of Benton, Ky., considers starting inside the second row a desirable spot, too, and perhaps even more desirable.

"Most everybody overshoots this corner I feel like," English said, gesturing toward turn one near where his Viper Motorsports hauler is pitted at Eldora. "They’re worried about that guy on the outside. … I ain't raced here a lot, but I’ve watched a lot of laps (on video). Everybody overshoots this corner. A lot of times that guy running third, if he just tucks around the bottom he can pass ’em."

English and others say the key strategy for a third-starting car is the stay to the left, or just inside, the polesitter to get at least a half a car's width of clean air.

"Keeping at least half a nose to the inside of the guy in front of you" is key, English said, "but it's almost like, if you’ve ever been in a boat, and you’re riding behind another boat, the wake that it puts off, that air goes like that, like a triangle. So the only way that works is if you’re tucked up right behind ’em. If you’re tucked up behind him and you keep half a nose out, that's fine. But if you’re behind three car lengths, and you’re only half a car with down, then it's the same as if you were right behind ’em."

Erb also anticipates trying to get underneath the front-row starters heading into turn one.

"If you’re (restarting) second row or worse, I always feel like I turn beneath them. Like I try to get my right-front below their quarterpanel before I accelerate. You just feel more stuck to the racetrack," he said.

If Erb's not on the front row, "I’d prefer to be in third because if the leader doesn't turn all the way to the (inside) wall, 99 percent of time you can get all the way next to that (inside) wall. You’ll see a lot of people pass super-low on the front straightaway getting into (turn) one, especially on the Saturday night heat races. I mean, even if you’re in any row, if the guys in front of you don't get low enough, you can always get a little bit more way, way down there at the bottom."

One key is to not get too close to the cars starting directly in front of you, Ferguson said.

"Because when you’re too close, you’re in their air. Now, if you give yourself a little bit of a gap and you kind of catch them, it's not as bad, but like, you know, one rule of thumb I’ve always had here is I always keep half my nose to the left of whoever's in front of me," said Ferguson, whose best Dream finish was third in 2021. "But if I’m too close and there's a car on the inside of me and I can't do that, I’ll even roll out the throttle if I’m on the outside of someone and there's someone in front of me. I’ll roll out of my throttle to give myself a little bit of a space. Because if you follow someone directly behind them, you’re gonna slide to the wall. (Drivers) can sometimes go in higher and get their right sides (outside another car), but usually you tend to lose spots when you do that. Because someone's going to fill the gap. Whoever's behind, you have clean air now because (the competitors) went to the outside. So like you’re almost better kind of rolling out (of the fuel) and losing that car length of space, but you have your own air."

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Dohm's strategy involves not flying into turn one at full speed. Drivers must be prepared for drivers briefly losing control amid the disturbed air.

"The front two rows, they can (run hard into turn one). Everybody else, if you’re starting like I do — maybe everyone doesn't, maybe I’m just too cautious — but the first lap, you gotta roll down in there. You gotta lift way earlier than you want to when you’re racing, because everybody's going slow and nobody has air. I hope the guy in front of me is up the guy in front of him's ass, because when we get down in there, he's gonna shove up out there, I’m gonna hook it and just go right underneath of him."

Figuring out how to handle the starts and restarts are key to Ferguson's success at the Tony Stewart-owned track.

"It's something that's taken me a long time to kind of figure out here, but I feel like now that I’ve been here for however many years, I kind of understand it," Ferguson said, adding that drivers in the modern era can figure out more quickly with three-day programs and preliminary features. He recalls one race at Eldora where he gained three spots on a restart with a savvy move.

"There was a prelim here one year I started sixth on the last restart, and I came out (of turn two) running third," Ferguson said. "And it's because the guy (restarting) in fourth pushed going into (turn) one, and I cleared the guy in fifth. And I had such a good run that the guy in third slid up off a (turn) two, but I was still coming down on the track. I passed him and then I literally finished third. It was all because of a restart."

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When checking the starting lineup or rolling around under caution, Ferguson is always aware of which competitors are around him. That allows him to anticipate drivers who might prefer a particular groove or those with the reputation of random groove-switching.

"It's crazy here. You have to really be comfortable and know what you’re wanting to do before you even go green," Ferguson said. "You kinda know what they’re going to do. You know when you’ve got (Kyle) Strickler on the inside of your or (Erb), they’re probably going to slide up. They’re going to drive in deep and slide up. They’re wanting to get (to the high groove). You know if you have (Dale) McDowell under you, you don't have to worry about this guy. He's not going to" come up the track.

"You got guys you know that you can race with that’ll hold their line, then you’ve got guys who are looking all over the track. That's why I tell everybody this is one of the hardest places to race because there's so many variables. You’re making your decisions based off of other drivers going into a corner."

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Eldora is a unique place when it comes to dealing with aerodynamics, Erb said.

"Air, it seems to show a lot here. Just because you’re going so fast and, I feel like, the corners are just as wide as the straightaways … you’re going so fast. It's not like you shut down and coast, coast, coast, coast, coast getting into the middle of the corner and accelerate again. A lot of the passing (comes) at the entry to these corners.

"It's different. It's a one of a kind racetrack, for sure."

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Jun 10, 2023

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