Defined as “a small tab projecting from the trailing edge of a wing,” the wicker bill has been a topic of conversation this offseason, as both the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and the High Limit Racing series have introduced 1.5-inch wicker bills to be mounted on the rear edge of the top wing center foil for the coming season.
The increase of half an inch is hoped to improve the quality of racing when the country’s two national touring series hit the road this season.
Both reigning World of Outlaws champion David Gravel and 10-time series title winner Donny Schatz had plenty to say about the wicker bill during media sessions ahead of the season, which opens Feb. 5-8 at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park.
“I’ve never been in a place where I was like, ‘Man, a two-inch wicker bill is going to be good for me, or a one-inch wicker bill.’ It’s kind of like just kind of feel the car out and we’ll adjust from there,” said Gravel, who drives Tod Quiring’s Big Game Motorsports entry. “I truly think with what we have going on, I think the one-and-a-half-inch wicker bill is actually going to help our program out a little bit.
“I felt like we were off a little bit at Knoxville this past year. I think the wicker bill definitely had something to do with it. As far as the racing, I don’t think it’s going to change much. I mean, we’re talking about a half-an-inch on our race car.
“There’s so much turbulent air and just a lot of variables. So, I think the one-and-a-half-inch is a perfect middle ground for all the people that wanted the two, and all the people that wanted a one, we’re right in the middle,” Gravel added. “I think it’s going to be a good common ground for everybody. I think it should make more people happier and less of a chance for people to blame a wicker bill rule if the racing is not good.”
Gravel said a wicker bill is not the most important factor in providing good racing.
“Just to go off of that, I think sprint car racing is way more dependent on good race track prep than it is of what wicker bill you have on the race car,” he said. “If we have a good race track, it doesn’t matter what wicker bill you got. I think it’s all on, ‘Did that track do a good job that night, or did Mother Nature play nice that night as well?’”
Schatz was more outspoken about the topic, and had another idea about how to make the racing better.
“I don’t know that it is going to make the racing any better,” Schatz said. “The one thing that we all put on that is the same is the tires. We all put the same tires on, but we all have different cars, we all got different motors. If they want the racing to change, it all starts with the tires.
“There are things that people are doing outside the box with these tires to try to get an advantage and we saw that with some of the things that happened at the Chili Bowl. I hope that those things are being addressed with the series,” he suggested. “There are bigger fish to fry than a half inch on a wicker bill.
“If some guy thinks that a half inch on the wicker bill is going to make the difference. I have some ocean front property here in North Dakota, in fact, I have a lot of it that is for sale, and you are going to make a fortune on it, so please contact me if you are looking for some.”
