Quote:
Originally Posted by Cd
If they could have just smoothed the heck out of the front end and plugged it up, versus go with a pointed front end, then you can bet gold that they would have chosen to do that.
But they didn't. Something about that pointed nose worked better than the blunt one.
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Remember the Charger 500 didn't have the 2 1/2 foot tall rear wing on it either. The bullet nose of the Daytona/Superbird does add front downforce, which would be critical in maintaining handling balance with the obvious amount of downforce that the rear wing could potentially generate.
In addition to that, NASCAR racers of the era probably couldn't tolerate nearly as much of a "grille block" as the current racers typically run, limiting how much smoothing and plugging could be done. With the bullet nose the Daytona/Superbirds were bottom breathers; they had a lower forward-projecting air dam at the bottom of the front end above which was the cooling inlet. Don't forget also that they both had rearward-opening "scoops" on top of the front fenders above the tires that allowed the cooling air to escape from the tops of the fender wells (but only because the fendertop had to be cut open to clear the tires on the race cars).