How do wind tunnels help stock car drivers?
In the world of stock car racing, it all comes down to one factor — speed. Since the beginning of the sport, drivers, owners and the corporations who make the cars have been searching for ways to go around the track just a little bit faster. Do you know what’s slowing them down? The answer is blowing in the wind … As a car moves through the air, friction between the automobile and the air molecules creates a force called drag. If you’ve ever stuck your hand out the window of a moving car, then you already have experience with this force. When you tilt your fingers down, the air moving past your hand will push it down. That’s drag and it slows you down — a lot. It’s all part of a branch of mechanics known as aerodynamics. When you hear a car referred to as aerodynamic, it simply means that it has been built to minimize friction with the air [source:
