I just don't see the benefits. It seems like a plow through the air.
A design like Fred's would still direct the air around the car but be more aerodynamic. I suppose it depends on the race application too. A short track vs. a long track.
These cars lift dramatically at the front over 100 mph, the inset grille is a terrible aerodynamic design. That’s why the Charger 500 ditched it.
And it’s why the T/A and AAR cars got the large front spoilers, and it’s why the guys that vintage race these cars usually go even bigger on the front spoiler than the T/A and AAR cars did (ie, that challenger in my last post).
The basic principle is the less air that goes under the car the better. There’s always a trade off between downforce and drag, but because these cars lift at the front so much pretty much everyone that does high speed road courses runs a massive front spoiler.
The speed is the determining factor on whether you need one, like for AutoX the spoiler/wing stuff usually doesn’t help because the speed is usually sub 50 mph. But for a road course if you get up toward 100 the front spoiler on most muscle cars gets pretty darn big.