[Lee Stewart]

Keith:

One of the biggest problems with NASCAR race cars was air getting trapped inside the engine compartment. In essence, the trapped air is stagnant and becomes something that the car has to overcome to make speed. And of course, trapped air will not allow the engine to cool properly.

When Chrysler was doing the wind tunnel testing, they found that putting air vents on the top of the fenders would draw the air out of the engine compartment and allow the air to flow "through the car." But NASCAR said, what's on the showroom stock car is on the race car. No modifications. Chrysler didn't want to start cutting holes in the fenders of showroom cars. So when the Charger Daytonas went through tech, they explained that the "fender blisters" were there to provide additional clearance for the tires when the suspension flexed. This was a legal modification. NASCAR bought it and Chrysler was able to get an additional 5 to 10 miles an hour top speed because of them.





You can see the size of the holes that were cut into the fenders. This feature was just as important as the rear wing and the nose cone.