Banned By NASCAR: "Jurassic Park Car" the T-Rex
Find out why the T-Rex car driven by Jeff Gordon at the 1997 All-Star race swept the competition and never raced again.
Written by Allison Stone
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
After just one race, it was banned by NASCAR, but why? The
car ownership experts
at Jerry revisit this motorsport-world lore to break down just what made this car a champion and what deemed it too dangerous for the track.What was the T-Rex?
The famous Chevrolet was created after Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick proposed a challenge to build “the ultimate race car,” and was nicknamed T-Rex thanks to its Jurassic Park paint scheme that sported a Tyrannosaurus Rex on the hood of the car.
Three-time champion crew chief Ray Evernham, who was at the time crew chief for Gordon and the No. 24 team, asked Hendrick chassis engineer Rex Stump to design them a new car.
Hendrickmotorsports.com
reported that Stump was given free rein to experiment, and the only restriction was that it had to meet NASCAR’s rules. Let Jerry find your price in only 45 seconds
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What was different about the T-Rex’s design?
Evernham said that aerodynamics and good timing were the keys to the T-Rex’s unique performance.
“We raised the floor pan and dropped the frame rails to get underbody aerodynamics. We made the chassis stiffer and moved the shocks outside the frame rails,” said Evernham, as reported by racingnews.co.
“What we know now is that we dropped the front and got that underbody aerodynamic deal to work.”
The T-Rex ran for exactly one race and delivered a never-before-seen on-track performance. For the No. 24 team, it was love at first drive, but it would be a fleeting affair.
Why the “Jurassic Park Car” was ultimately banned
Evernham believes that in part, having as talented of a driver as Gordon behind the wheel could have been partially to blame for the T-Rex’s downfall.
The car was already pushing the envelope in its radical design, and its unprecedented on-track performance left it subject to extreme scrutiny from NASCAR officials.
“If it wasn’t for Jeff Gordon driving that car, it might still be legal,” said Evernham, as reported by hendrickmotorsports.com. “It was just a really well-built race car that Jeff Gordon decided to put his foot to the floor at the height of his career and just smoked those guys.”
While the car technically passed the post-race inspection, NASCAR officials wrote new rules that would exclude the T-Rex from ever racing again.
“We tried to fix the car with the new rules. But, it never really ran the same. By that time, everybody caught up to us anyway,” said Evernham.
Today, you can see the car for yourself on display at the Hendrick Motorsports Museum.
MORE: A Look at NASCAR Horsepower (It's a Lot)
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