National Hot Rod Association

Wing adjustments aren't made as often as changes to the fuel system, clutch program, timing map, or supercharger overdrive are, but they're another of the endless tuning variables available to Top Fuel crew chiefs. "Usually we run two degrees [from horizontal] – the max," says Brian Corradi, crew chief of the Toyota-supported Matco Tools dragster driven by Antron Brown. "That's the most allowed by NHRA, and that's what almost everybody out here has on for every run."

NHRA mandated the two-degree limit years ago because anything more than two degrees can stress rear slicks enough to create catastrophic tire failures. Front wings can have as much as six degrees, but most teams run about four. Any less than that, and the front end starts to climb, potentially leading to a blowover; much more, and cars dart to the right or left with even minor steering input.

When a rear wing comes off, usually because of a blown tire, the results can be disastrous, but, thanks to recent safety initiatives from NHRA, that’s not always the case.

"It used to be that when a wing came off, the driver was done," says John Stewart, crew chief for Morgan Lucas' Toyota-supported Geico Powersports dragster and a onetime Top Fuel driver himself. "There was nothing he could do at that point; he was just along for the ride. Now, the parachute automatically comes out whenever the wing comes off, which straightens out the car almost before the driver knows what happened."

Wind-tunnel data on rear-wing downforce is sketchy and little is available, but dragsters are thought to have between 8,000 and 10,000 pounds when they cross the finish line at 320 mph.

"Nobody ever goes into the wind tunnel with a dragster, because you really can't use any of the information you get," says Stewart, one of the few Top Fuel tuners who have wind-tunnel experience. Fifteen years ago, when he ran Bob Vandergriff's Atlanta-based JerZees car, they took it to the Lockheed wind tunnel in Georgia.

"It was pretty much a waste of time," Stewart says. ”Everything that worked in the wind tunnel didn't work on the track, and we got rid of most of the things we came up with after just one race. The problem is that in a wind tunnel, there's no way to account for tire growth. The wing isn't at the same angle when the car is sitting on the starting line as it is when the car's standing up on the tire at half-track or at the finish line because the tires grow so much during a run."

Front wings generate about half as much downforce as rear wings (about 4,000 pounds) but are just as important. "Mud flaps," the aerodynamic enhancements just in front of the engine on both sides of the car, provide additional downforce but aren't very adjustable.

Teams strive to maintain the right balance between front and rear wing application. "Sometimes, to get more downforce on the rear without breaking the rules [by having more than two degrees of wing angle], you just take some out of the front," Stewart says.

"Whatever you do with the rear, you usually have to compensate by doing something with the front, too," says Corradi. "The only place you can really crank it up is Denver."

The Mile-High Nationals in Denver, contested 5,800 feet above sea level at Bandimere Speedway, is the only one of 23 events on the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series at which teams are allowed to run more than 2 degrees of rear wing angle.

"In Denver, where the barometer is usually 24-something, instead of somewhere between 29.0 and 29.4, like it is almost everywhere else, the air is so thin that you need a whole lot more wing to get the same downforce," Corradi says. "You have to put more front wing on it up there, too – it's all a balance."

The aerodynamic enemy of all racecars is drag, and few vehicles in all of motorsports generate more drag than Top Fuel dragsters.

"There's a ton, most of it from the rear tires," Corradi says. "Look at the size of those things. A dragster isn't the most aerodynamic thing in the world; Funny Cars are much better at cutting through the wind and have so much more downforce than dragsters do, just because of the body. With a Top Fueler, all you have for downforce are the wings, and the design probably isn't that great in the first place, to be honest. If NASA ever decided to build a dragster, they'd probably stop right after they started and say, 'Never mind.' "

So what would happen if a team ever wanted to get rid of the front and rear wings, the mud flaps, and all the body panels and field a car that was nothing but exposed tubing – something akin to the slingshot dragsters of the '60s and early '70s? Just how slow would such a car be?

"Sloooooow," Stewart says. "You'd have to take so much power out of the car to get it to go down the track, it wouldn't be funny. I don't even want to think about it. [Five-time Top Fuel world champion] Joe Amato tried something like that in the late '80s, just to see if saving all the weight might offset losing the downforce. It was a disaster. He didn't make it 300 feet before the car was completely out of control, and he never tried it again. As long as there are Top Fuel cars, there are going to be wings on the front and back of them."