Ah, the irony of it all....

Water is scarce around Atlanta these days, with the city and surrounding areas suffering a devastating drought, but somehow water was found in two (possibly three) NEXTEL Cup cars' fuel cells after Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 at AMS.

Denny Hamlin and Dave Blaney both saw there Atlanta chances hindered by water in their fuel cells. It's still unconfirmed, but suspected, that pole sitter Greg Biffle also had water in his car's fuel cell.

Where did the water come from? Officials at the track didn't find any evidence that the water came from Sunoco's supply. But if not, where? It's odd that three different teams and even manufacturers were affected by the same seemingly obscure problem.

And team members from both teams are perplexed by the water.

"All day we had been getting water in our fuel," Hamlin said. "The water displaces fuel, and so we weren't getting the full potential of fuel. We took it apart again [after the race] and pulled some gas out of [the] fuel cell and again we get water."

Blaney's team also found water in the fuel both early in the race and at the end of the race.

"We had water in our fuel from the get-go, all day," said Blaney crew chief Tommy Baldwin. "We put [the car] back in the garage and worked on it and didn't know what was going on. We drained it - half water and half fuel.

"There might have been some remnants still in there. I'm guessing we were probably one of the first ones to get fuel - us and the [No.] 11 this morning or something. We're trying to find out the chain of events now."

Posted: 10/29/2007 12:55:00 PM
Comments:
When water in the fuel came to light in Atlanta, one of the first things people may think of is some sort of sabotage. That may be very interesting to wonder about, but of course, it's highly unlikely. Even if there are some unscrupulous people around that would do that if they could, the cars and fuel supply are always in a very secure environment. So sabotage is doubtful. But there is one very real way that water accumulates in fuel. It's condensation. As a pilot, I always top off the fuel tanks after a flight. A big reason for doing that is to prevent condensation from forming in the empty part of the plane's fuel tanks. And it's amazing how much can develop. Obviously, a plane can't just pull over and park if the engine sucks in water and sputters or quits. Aircraft fuel even has additives to prohibit water from accumulating in it. Something that NASCAR and Sunoco might consider. I believe condensation is one possibility for the problem. Building up in both the cars' tanks, and the fuel fillers' bottles.
Posted On: 10/29/2007 12:55:00 PM
But condensation is a direct result of a temperature differential. Warm moist air coming in contact with a cooler surface. On a plane I can understand the possibility, because the fuel would cool substantially at altitude. Brining a plane with cold fuel down to a warm and more humid atmosphere would certainly cause condensation to form. The fuel for these cars should have been relatively consistent for all the teams.
What, were the BMW and Williams boys hanging out at Atlanta and cooling the fuel?
Posted On: 10/29/2007 12:55:00 PM
Interesting, but wouldn't condensation be clear, Darby said, "...It's a brownish-colored water. Typically, if it's just water, it would appear to be more clear."

Maybe, it's pee? Or maybe, coffee?
Posted On: 10/29/2007 12:55:00 PM
"We had water in our fuel from the get-go, all day," said Blaney crew chief Tommy Baldwin. "We put [the car] back in the garage and worked on it and didn't know what was going on. We drained it - half water and half fuel."

Now half water.. half fuel. That seems like an awful lot of water to have accidentally in a fuel cell.
I guess my question would be, does NASCAR take fuel samples at the track to test the fuel?

Doc.
Posted On: 10/29/2007 12:55:00 PM

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