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do. But they found that the environment inside of the race car was more severe than that of a helicopter gunship in Vietnam with
all the guns firing! I think they measured 160 decibels.

After the test, a Lockeed seven channel tape data recorder was selected. Huntsville selected a wide range of sensors so that the
system could be used for both NASCAR and drag race testing. After the test runs, the recorder was removed from the car and
used to play back the data, which was then filtered and plotted out ona Brush recorder. Initially, a two channel recorder was used'
and later a six channel recorder. The resultant data was of tremendous value to both race groups. At the time, it was as good as
anyone in the world had.

A Home Away From Home
During this time, at the race track we used a
Dodge motor home as an engineering office and
shop. It was similar to the one shown at right. It
was run-by Bill Wright and his group ®' Wi
Hunts vilfc It was a new Travco with a
customized interior. The front half was mainly
work benches and storage. In the rear was a
wrap around couch with a table that we used for
meetings. There was a small galley and a
bathroom in between. At the races, it gave us a
secure place to meet with the drivers. We had
two phones in the coach and arranged ahead of
time with the phone company for a hookup. In
those days, having a private line was unreal.
NASCAR would assign us a space near the
garage and we would pull the unit in on the first
day of practice and leave Sunday evening. Ron Killen who was an instrumentation technician for us m Huntsville usually drove
and took care of the motor home.
' TH® Thost interesting feature of the motor home was our race scoring computer. As everyone did in the ‘old hand scoring days, we
felt there were some races we had won, but NASCAR had missed a lap or such. And NASCAR would never admit that they made
an error. We had Huntsville develop a computer based scoring
system. It was what was then a small computer in the motor
home. The output was from a teletype machine. It’s main
shortcoming was input of when a car crossed the finish line. To
do it correctly would require a transponder on the car, which
would require NASCAR’s cooperation. Our substitute was four
to six people sitting on a platform on the roof. Each scorer
would have a box with several buttons. He would push the
appropriate button when each car when by and that was input to
the computer. There was also a method of indicating a pit stop.
We kept track of the 15-20 factory backed or major independent
cars with a chance of winning. We also recorded on a two track
tape recorder the broadcast of the race and the NASCAR
channel. That tape was synchronized somehow so we could
play back the tape and match it to the timing.
The Huntsville Test Team
Here is a rare photo of the Chrysler test Superbird based at the
Woodward Garage in Huntsville Alabama. The test location is
the former Municipal Airport, abandoned in 1967. Chief Test
Conductor Larry Rathgeb is the man with the headset over his
shoulder. The Travco motor home can be seen. Both the #88
Daytona and the Superbird used the airport runways for things
like coast down testing. The Bird has the white rimmed wheels
also used on the #88 car. When the Huntsville test operation
was closed in spring of 1970, the equipment was all consolidated and sent to Petty Enterprises. Included was the Superbird which
sat outside for a while and was given to Norm Nelson for 1971. It became his #2 “Petty Blue” US AC stock car.