Success is sometimes measured in inches.

After winning the Pontiac 400 in Richmond, Virginia, several years ago, stock car driver Mark Martin discovered that the spacer between the carburetor and the intake manifold was one-half-inch too long according to NASCAR rules. He was fined $40,000 and penalized 46 points in the season standings. Something that small seemed very significant for Mark.

In his book The Range of Human Capacities, Dr. David Wechsler says that if Cleopatra's nose had b…