hey everyone. i know that (from the commercials anyway) that Mobil 1 is the official oil of NASCAR, but they also say that it is used by almost half the teams (or was it more than half?) i was wondering why they aren't all using the same oil. they all have to use the same fuel, why not the same oil?
motor oils used in NASCAR
- Thread starter o2bfishn
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The fuel all comes from one supplier to control it. There are not nearly as large of advantages to be had with special oil than "special" fuel. The fuel is a competition and safety issue, they would either have to regulate it heavily or have a specified fuel.
i would argue that there are better oils out there and to level the playing field they would all use the same oil, just as they all use the same fuel. are you saying it is up to each team to use whatever oil they want? thats not saying that a team would go get a wal-mart brand while another team would use a name brand, but if there is no NASCAR specific oil, then that is what it comes down to...maybe whoever is paying the most as their sponsor? but if that was the case they wouldnt allow gas companies to sponsor drivers would they (shell, texaco) if NASCAR says you have to use this type of fuel? i mean look at harvick, he is a walking shell station, but he cant use shell gas in his car.
sorry for the long post
sorry for the long post
Some sponsors blend special oils for use by teams and it is part of the engine development.
Others use different oils, for example Joe Gibbs Racing blends racing oil used by many teams.
The thing is, the gains and losses between highly developed, specialty motor oils used at this level are generally less than the percent error of the dynamometer in the same grade. If I have some horrible witches brew fuel like they used to use in Formula 1, it would be toxic to breathe the exhaust in, expensive, highly volatile and teams running anything less than that witches brew may be giving up 5 to 10% in horsepower. It's easier to regulate.
The main reason NASCAR has a spec fuel dates back to the 1950s when Pure Oil paid them to make it the exclusive fuel of all NASCAR series. Sunoco is the official fuel of NASCAR because they outbid 76 to get those rights and it had been something done since the 1950s. Officially, Havoline not Texaco sponsors Montoya, and Shell/Pennzoil is an oil sponsorship with Harvick as well. By rule, only oil, never fuel sponsors were allowed unless they were 76/Unocal/Pure Oil/ConocoPhillips.
Sunoco actually complained about the size of the Shell logos on Harvick's car which is why Pennzoil is much more prominent now.
Others use different oils, for example Joe Gibbs Racing blends racing oil used by many teams.
The thing is, the gains and losses between highly developed, specialty motor oils used at this level are generally less than the percent error of the dynamometer in the same grade. If I have some horrible witches brew fuel like they used to use in Formula 1, it would be toxic to breathe the exhaust in, expensive, highly volatile and teams running anything less than that witches brew may be giving up 5 to 10% in horsepower. It's easier to regulate.
The main reason NASCAR has a spec fuel dates back to the 1950s when Pure Oil paid them to make it the exclusive fuel of all NASCAR series. Sunoco is the official fuel of NASCAR because they outbid 76 to get those rights and it had been something done since the 1950s. Officially, Havoline not Texaco sponsors Montoya, and Shell/Pennzoil is an oil sponsorship with Harvick as well. By rule, only oil, never fuel sponsors were allowed unless they were 76/Unocal/Pure Oil/ConocoPhillips.
Sunoco actually complained about the size of the Shell logos on Harvick's car which is why Pennzoil is much more prominent now.
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I think the post above hits the major points.
In addition, remember its easier to cheat, and gain an unfair advantage, by altering fuel than it is motor oil. You can assume that every fuel trick has been attempted before NASCAR started regulating racing fuel. Today, teams line up at the pumps in the pit area to get fuel, and its all watched closely by NASCAR officials. Each fuel can is inspected and tagged with a decal prior to fueling to ensure each team is using a regulation can. It's very difficult to cheat by altering fuel if only because all your competitor's would be watching.
Regarding motor oil, the engine builders and the oil suppliers work closely to develop the proper oil used. Hendrick Motorsports is sponsored by Quaker State, a SOPUS company. You can bet Hendrick and SOPUS engineers have developed a specific oil for their engines. All the teams who use Hendrick engines use the oil specified by Hendrick. I guarantee you, it ain't Mobil One. I'm sure that's the same for RCR, Roush, JGR, etc.
As for, "official xxxxxx of NASCAR", that's a marketing/promotional issue more than anything else. I don't know how Mobil One can make the claims they do but that's probably described in the promotional contract between XOM and NASCAR.
In addition, remember its easier to cheat, and gain an unfair advantage, by altering fuel than it is motor oil. You can assume that every fuel trick has been attempted before NASCAR started regulating racing fuel. Today, teams line up at the pumps in the pit area to get fuel, and its all watched closely by NASCAR officials. Each fuel can is inspected and tagged with a decal prior to fueling to ensure each team is using a regulation can. It's very difficult to cheat by altering fuel if only because all your competitor's would be watching.
Regarding motor oil, the engine builders and the oil suppliers work closely to develop the proper oil used. Hendrick Motorsports is sponsored by Quaker State, a SOPUS company. You can bet Hendrick and SOPUS engineers have developed a specific oil for their engines. All the teams who use Hendrick engines use the oil specified by Hendrick. I guarantee you, it ain't Mobil One. I'm sure that's the same for RCR, Roush, JGR, etc.
As for, "official xxxxxx of NASCAR", that's a marketing/promotional issue more than anything else. I don't know how Mobil One can make the claims they do but that's probably described in the promotional contract between XOM and NASCAR.
Originally Posted By: bretfraz
As for, "official xxxxxx of NASCAR", that's a marketing/promotional issue more than anything else. I don't know how Mobil One can make the claims they do but that's probably described in the promotional contract between XOM and NASCAR.
Yep. I can remember the commercials where Gordon rambled about how QS "probably wrote a huge check to Hendrick to use QS. He went on how they tested this that and other, THEN QS wrote them a big check." It's more out of greed than testing in my opinion. QS offered them more money than Valvoline, so they went with QS.
The other commercial Gordon did he said at the end "I said to my crew chief 'We won 8 races with last year's oil....'And he replied 'Yeah, but we also LOST 24 {races}.'" I don't think it was the oil's fault they lost.
What's funny is now his former crew chief is sponsored by Valvoline once again, and in a bigger capacity now.
As for, "official xxxxxx of NASCAR", that's a marketing/promotional issue more than anything else. I don't know how Mobil One can make the claims they do but that's probably described in the promotional contract between XOM and NASCAR.
Yep. I can remember the commercials where Gordon rambled about how QS "probably wrote a huge check to Hendrick to use QS. He went on how they tested this that and other, THEN QS wrote them a big check." It's more out of greed than testing in my opinion. QS offered them more money than Valvoline, so they went with QS.
The other commercial Gordon did he said at the end "I said to my crew chief 'We won 8 races with last year's oil....'And he replied 'Yeah, but we also LOST 24 {races}.'" I don't think it was the oil's fault they lost.
The reason probably half the teams in NASCAR use Mobil One (besides being a decent oil) is that as part of their 'Official Motor Oil" staus, they have a nice contingency program to pay out money to teams carrying the Mobil One decal, so most every team that does not have a regular oil company sponsor use Mobil One to grab a share of that money. When I worked in ARCA, 76 was the official oil, and because we ran their decal, they gave us quite a bit of free oil. By the way, Mobil did not out-bid 76 to be the official fuel and oil for NASCAR , 76's owners decided that since they were now only a regional brand, the NASCAR program no longer made any sense for them, especially at what it was costing them.
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Originally Posted By: bretfraz
Regarding motor oil, the engine builders and the oil suppliers work closely to develop the proper oil used. Hendrick Motorsports is sponsored by Quaker State, a SOPUS company. You can bet Hendrick and SOPUS engineers have developed a specific oil for their engines. All the teams who use Hendrick engines use the oil specified by Hendrick. I guarantee you, it ain't Mobil One. I'm sure that's the same for RCR, Roush, JGR, etc.
For what it's worth, I was told by a Hendrick employee during the time they supplied engine to MB2/MBV Motorsports, that those engines were indeed using Valvolene, and the HMS engine people spent a good bit of time comparing Valvolene vs. Sopus during the teardowns, to see if there was any real difference. The man I spoke to either did not know, or would not tell me if the found any difference.
Regarding motor oil, the engine builders and the oil suppliers work closely to develop the proper oil used. Hendrick Motorsports is sponsored by Quaker State, a SOPUS company. You can bet Hendrick and SOPUS engineers have developed a specific oil for their engines. All the teams who use Hendrick engines use the oil specified by Hendrick. I guarantee you, it ain't Mobil One. I'm sure that's the same for RCR, Roush, JGR, etc.
For what it's worth, I was told by a Hendrick employee during the time they supplied engine to MB2/MBV Motorsports, that those engines were indeed using Valvolene, and the HMS engine people spent a good bit of time comparing Valvolene vs. Sopus during the teardowns, to see if there was any real difference. The man I spoke to either did not know, or would not tell me if the found any difference.
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