How This Rocket Scientist Made NASCAR Irresistibly Loud in the ‘90s and ‘00s

['Stephen Edelstein', 'Weekend Editor', 'Stephen Has Always Been Passionate About Cars', "Managed To Turn That Passion Into A Career As A Freelance Automotive Journalist. When He'S Not Handling Weekend Coverage For The Drive", 'You Can Find Him Looking For A New Book To Read.', 'Clifford Atiyeh', 'Caleb Jacobs', 'Jerry Perez', 'Aaron Segal', 'Byron Hurd'] The Drive 2026-08-12 02:23:37

And it’s all thanks to a rocket scientist who wanted a career change. How a Rocket Scientist Changed NASCAR: Dr. Gas X-Pipe & The 1995 Daytona 500In racing, it’s best to keep any technical innovations under wraps. But there was no hiding the X-pipe, which made Marlin’s car sound completely different to anything else on track. Morgan-McClure locked Butler into a one-year exclusive deal, but after that the floodgates opened and other teams began using X-pipe exhausts. Their distinctive wail became the soundtrack of NASCAR (and the IROC series as well) until the early 2000s.