The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Media Guide published each year has a copious amount of information and historic data for accredited media sources. Within the guide is a Glossary of Racing Terms. Since definitions are helpful for new fans and even refreshing for current fans, the focus here is to select a dozen terms relating to one theme.

NASCAR racing is a lot more than going around in circles so the first chosen theme here is racecars on the racetrack. It’s basic, but knowing terms that announcers use can aid the viewer in understanding the race. Learning more about the sport serves the broadcast and the viewer.

Areodynamics: As applied to racing, the study of airflow and the forces of resistance and pressure that result from the flow over, under and around a moving car.

Adhesion: The “stick” between two touching objects. Adhesion implies a static condition while traction implies a dynamic (moving) condition.

Air dam: A metal strip that hangs beneath the front grill often just inches from the ground. The air dam helps provide aerodynamic downforce at the front of the car.

Banking: The sloping of the racetrack, particularly at a curve or corner, from the apron to the outside wall. Degree of banking refers to the height of the track’s slope at its outside edge. 

Camber: The amount a tire is tilted in or out from vertical. Described in degrees, either positive or negative. 

That’s the ABC’s of a car and a track so far, but the alphabet is far from exhausted as many terms remain.

Deck lid: Slang term for the trunk lid of a race car.

Dirty air: Aerodynamic term for the turbulent air currents caused by fast moving cars that can cause a car to lose control.

Donuts: Slang term for black circular, dent-line marks on side panels of stock cars, usually caused after rubbing against other cars at high speed.

Downforce: A combination of aerodynamic and centrifugal forces. The more downforce, the more grip your car has. But more downforce means more drag, which can rob a race car of speed.

Draft: Slang term for the aerodynamic effect that allows two or more cars traveling nose-to-tail to run faster than a single car. When one car follows another closely, the one in front cuts through the air, providing a cleaner path of air, that is, less resistance, for the car in back.

Drafting: The practice of two or more cars, while racing, to run nose-to-tail, almost touching. The lead car, by displacing the car in front of it, creates a vacuum between its rear end and the nose of the following car, actually pulling the second car along with it. 

Drag: The resistance a car experiences when passing through air at high speeds. A resisting force exerted on a car parallel to its airstream and opposite in direction to its motion.

NASCAR’s glossary presents a lot of good information about racecars on racetracks in just the first four letters of the alphabet. The remainder of racing definitions can be the subject for another article. After all, the idea is to share the racing terms, not overload the session. Selecting one theme and then choosing terms that apply to that subject by offering one condensed presentation at a time is the purpose. It’s hoped this method contributes to racing terms being easier to comprehend. . 

It is hoped too that more Tampa area folks with two major NASCAR tracks in Florida become fans by learning the terms and then using that knowledge for fun.

Photo credit: Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com