Sterling Marlin shown qualifying at Daytona, Indianapolis and Talladega driving the Morgan McClure car with the Runt Pittman engine. Tony Glover said Larry and Runt like the sound. I like the sound too!!!!
This car in 1995, especially the X-pipe used at Daytona, changed the way NASCAR sounded at super speedways for 20 years. Such an amazing sounding car. Too bad they don't sound like that these days.
5:23 - Long story cut short, Dr Gas out of Salt Lake City made some phone calls and informed the Sterling Marlin team he could add 5 hp to the car. They installed the X-pipe exhaust system and dynoed the car. The results were good! I don’t think they ever said how much hp the exhaust added. No one on the team had heard the car at wide open throttle under load at 193 mph until qualifying. Apparently the team was all giggles when on fhe first lap everyone in the pits stopped what they were doing to watch the #4. The sound was unreal! Sterling Marlins team kept the exhaust a secret for awhile, with a lot of people thinking the heads were modified somehow. Here is a great video explaining the whole situation in great detail. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4EtSA1TocZg.html
These super speedway cars with the X-pipe are the reason why I'm so hell bent on putting together a top end combination for my Corvette's LS7 that will rev out to 8000 rpm. I just want to re-live my 90's childhood as best I can.
I remember Sterling gave an interview for a magazine years back when he was driving for Morgan McClure Motorsports. I think it was after he won the Pepsi 400. He was asked what made the No. 4 Chevy such a special car, his answer was "it can sniff out the draft exceptionally well". So it had an innovative exhaust system, and whatever goodies that Pittman had for the engine, plus the ability to race in the draft so much better that anyone else. That car was the perfect storm.
@@mark6310 that would especially apply to Ray Evernham when he was Gordons crew chief in the late 90s. Half of what's in the NASCAR rule book today was because of Ray Evernham.
As I recall there was an exhaust company (can't remember the name) that came up with a new configuration (what we now know was the X-pipe). They contacted Richard Childress but he wasn't interested. So, they contacted Larry McClure and he agreed to test it out. The engine picked up about 8 horsepower just by bolting the new exhaust on. Larry agreed to run the new exhaust system but insisted he be allowed to run it exclusively through the 1995 season. So, by the time it was made available to other teams for 1996, MMM already had a full year of R&D with it. Basically, this exhaust system mounted on one of Runt's plate engines made a combination that was nearly impossible to beat in 1995 and 96. Here's some results to think about: 1995 Daytona 500 - 1st; Winston 500 (Talladega) - Broke a rocker arm. After repairs, helped Jeff Gordon and others run down, catch, and pass the leaders; Pepsi 400 - 2nd; Diehard 500 (Talladega) - 1st; 1996 Daytona 500 - Burned a piston while leading; Winston Select 500 - 1st. Came from the back to the front 3 times and still led the most laps; Pepsi 400 - 1st. Repeatedly held off all 3 Hendrick cars with no drafting help; Diehard 500 - Car destroyed when clipped by Ernie Irvan while battling side by side with Dale Earnhardt for the lead. Won 4 of the 8 plate races in 95-96. If not for mechanical problems, probably would've won 2 more. Man, it was a great time to be an MMM fan. Sure do miss those days.
Nascar sucks now they don't let the teams do anything like this now.You would never see this today.Teams could use different combinations back then,experiment some.
I know Boyd Butler built the 4 cars exhaust but I always thought they ran a flat crank the cross-over eliminates the 90% pop but not the rumble the 4 cars exhaust buzzed like a 180%(flat) crank engine even in 96 when other teams used Dr gas's headers the other cars rumbled like a 90% (cross)crank V8 should
Okay Art but Pittman could not change the firing order very much when he changed the firing order he also had to change the cam to match it but the firing order must be for a 90% crank engine unless he was running a 180% crank then the firing order is very different. Not saying for sure it was a flat crank engine just saying it damn sure sounded like it even the announcers said the 4 car sounded like an Indy car and Indy cars run flat cranks and almost all 4 cylinder engines ran flat cranks like crotch rockets
Back then, that was a unique sound. Everyone was running straight piped race cars with that aggressive rumble. In the late 90s you would hear that sound more often, especially during the restrictor plate races.
@@King1614 Surely there's more trickery in there, they have to be baffled or something? There are heaps of cars with X Pipes like you describe that sound NOTHING like this.
Look up mark giles Camaro on here. I’ve seen this car in person, he was a fab guy for Morgan McClure during this era. Now he builds muscle cars on a 1992 cup series road course chassis. He puts this exhaust on all of them. It’s literally 2 u shapes pipes welded in the center and cut out in the joined area. It changes the pulse rate on the exhaust and cleans it up. 180* headers do it as well. A 45* v8 isn’t efficient in exhaust, but the new corvettes have a flat plane crankshaft in it that changes firing and cleans up the pulse rate and changes the sound as well. Pretty wild what this guy came up with to gain about 10HP that ultimately led to a revolution in NASCAR. The boom tubes made a difference as well in tuning but the sound itself came from the U-pipes.
@@King1614 yes this does lead to a very smooth 8 cyl sound similar to flat plane crank, 180 degree headers, or an inline 8. Anything to balance the alternating exhaust pulses
The boom tubes had nothing to do with the high pitch sound. Go look at the iroc cars the just had the X pipe and it’s produces it. The boom tubes just amplify the sound that being produced the way it starts small and opens big like a megaphone. The X pipe is the actual sound. Vs H pipe. Just because the path is pretty much straight you can a dirty sound from the cylinder. With out having bends that change the sound. The x pipe you are getting the true sound
@@klk1900 The question is what specifically about THIS X Pipe causes the whine. There are plenty of cars with X Pipes that sound nothing like this. I know it's what causes the sound, but WHAT about this specific system does it? Is it the length, the diameter, the position, is it baffled?
Tony Glover goes into detail about the exhaust on the Dale Jr download. The guy that designed it at doctor has was trying to offer the system to teams but nobody thought it was worth it, Tony was willing to try anything and went for it. They had a 1 year deal to be the sole team with the system... Then the next year, the IROC series got it and one turned over, and was posted on a magazine cover in the air. The next week everyone was running Dr gas
Well, the Next Gen car has an x-pipe, but this exact sound can’t be attained because of strict gear limits implemented at the 2007 Fall Talladega race simply because Toyota whined to NASCAR about grenading their engines, so of course Toyota got its way.
The x pipes . That would probably get you docked 1000 points and 10 race crew chief suspension theses days because innovation is not allowed lol. That car was almost untouchable at the plate tracks in 94 and 95
Dont forget about the tri y headers that even out the exhaust pulses. Just an xpipe and long tube headers will get you this similar sound, but a set of tri y headers AND and an xpipe on a street car and you will get this exact sound. Also please be realistic, these cars are winding almost 10,000rpm.
Pittman discovered something in the intake manifold, and reworked it to perfection. And it was well within the rules. Competition Director Gary Nelson called it a stroke of genius.
@Art Vandelay according to various accounts, during practice and qualifying for the '95 Die Hard 500, Rusty Wallace was chased out of the Morgan McClure garage stall for trying to get a peek at the engine of the No.4 car. Pretty sure it was that race.
@Art Vandelay I heard that Chevrolet had pulled out on Roger as a sponsor in Indy car racing, being that he ran Chevy engines in his Indycars. Don't think he ever forgot that. The next year, (I think '94) his cars had Mercedes Benz engines. (!)
Art Vandelay The high-pitched sound didn’t start until 1995 at Daytona. Prior to that the 4 car sounded like all the others. It was still fast, Runt was still working his magic, and MMM was winning plate races in 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994, but the distinctive sound didn’t start until they started using the Dr. Gas x-pipe exhaust at the 1995 Daytona Speedweeks.
It sort of does to be honest. Flat plane crank V8's whine and wail. Cross plane V8's do not. To make a cross plane V8 wail like an exotic flat plane (F1 / Indy etc) it is pretty accurate comparo to make.
