Biffle speaks on driver's athleticism

DAVID POOLE, dpoole@charlotteobserver.com

Wednesday, Apr. 04, 2007

RICHMOND, Va. -- While commenting on the melting foam during a break in the test at Richmond, Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle talked about how that provides a bit of insight into what conditions drivers face inside their cars.

“People say we aren’t athletes,” Biffle said. “Well, that foam is inside the race car. If my arm was a foot longer, I could reach over and poke it with my finger, and that stuff is burning. That’s how hot it is inside that race car for 4˝ hours.

“The cars smoke outside the right-side pipes going into the corner – just black smoke – and it must be the change in fuel from leaded to unleaded fuel, and we see flames coming out the right side pipes. I don’t know about the chemistry, but I think that’s unburned fuel typically is what ignites in the exhaust system when it’s hot, so there may be some issues with trying to science all of this out as we go forward.”

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