The Dodge Intrepid R/T will see its first Winston Cup racing action at the Daytona 500 in February 2001.
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After a 15-year hiatus, Dodge announced that it will reenter the NASCAR Winston Cup Series at the Daytona 500 in February 2001. This announcement, which was made in October, was followed with a first look at its Winston Cup car, the Dodge Intrepid R/T, at the North American International Auto Show.
Built in North Carolina under the direction of team owner Ray Evernham—the former crew chief of three-time series champion Jeff Gordon—the Intrepid R/T race car retains much of the styling of the Dodge line of vehicles. This is important to meeting NASCAR's strict design guidelines of resembling the production vehicle.
"Even before we set out to design the race car, we had a lot going for us because the design of the Intrepid production car is very conducive to NASCAR Winston Cup racing," said Evernham. "The Intrepid's dramatic roofline and shortened rear deck make for a very sleek profile. More important to racing, however, it gives us a low coefficient of drag that's on par with the most aerodynamic production cars in the world."
To meet NASCAR Winston Cup specifications, engineers had to make the Intrepid R/T slightly narrower, from 1897 to 1841 mm (74.7 to 72.5 in), and longer, 5174 to 5283 mm (203.7 to 208 in). The roofline was also lowered from 1419 to 1295 mm (55.9 to 51 in), and the wheelbase shortened from 2870 to 2794 mm (113 to 110 in). Under the hood, the rear-wheel-drive race car will be powered by a 5.7-L Dodge V8 racing engine with a 12:1 compression ratio that generates more than 522 kW (700 hp) and 678 N•m (500 lb•ft) of torque.
Full-scale testing of the Intrepid R/T is expected to begin in March and will continue through 2000.
Frank Bokulich
AEI March 2000
