On NASCAR’s “Car of Tomorrow”

There’s been a lot of grumbling about the Car of Tomorrow, but judging by the number of them built and tested at Michigan earlier this week the moaning phase is over. Get used to standardized cars for all makes with front splitters and rear wings, where the distinguishing characteristics are a manufacturer’s decal and engine.

I, for one, would rather turn back the clock to the good ol’ days. When Junior Johnson unloaded at Bristol Motor Speedway in the 1970’s and 1980’s, for instance, one never knew what concoction of sheet metal would roll out of his truck. Johnson’s cars of yore would only vaguely resemble something at the dealership, but his one-of-a-kind entries would be transcendent in their cheated up glory.

“It’s all been tamed now,” said Johnson of the current state of NASCAR in Pete Daniel’s outstanding book about cultural changes in the South. (Lost Revolutions/The University of North Carolina Press).

But will the NASCAR of Tomorrow be better?

Well, it will be safer — and who can argue with that? This writer always praised the all-out pursuit of safety from a technical point of view in Formula 1 after the death of Ayrton Senna. Only a clod would then come back to criticize NASCAR for doing likewise after the death of Dale Earnhardt.

Will the racing be any better? Well, if IROC is any clue, then we may lose our voices and be waving our trousers over our heads if the rear wings and front splitters provide much needed aerodynamic relief on the cookie-cutter tracks and biggest ovals.

Is there a secret agenda by NASCAR to control competition more easily? Of course.

The much-vaunted level playing field — will it actually arrive? Yes, and please stand by for the docking of the Titanic in New York. The teams with the best and deepest group of engineers and consulting engineering firms will make the most of the remaining variables of suspension and splitter/wing settings. These are the same teams that always spend more money, win more races and usually get what they deserve in terms of results.

Do we have to like this Car of Tomorrow state of affairs? Hell no. But if the world stayed the same, how could we ever stand around the infield campfire holding nothing but beer, a conversation and sweet memories of the days long gone?

Besides, this isn’t the first time this sort of thing has happened. Nothing in the history of NASCAR “showroom stock” racing ever quite measured up to hauling the mail (if not whiskey) in one of the modified Fords, Chevys and Dodges in the late 1940’s. Completely hot-rodded after a decade of existence, these cars had gigantic wheels and tires, leaf springs, high-waisted rocker panels and run-what-ya-brung under the hood. Oh, baby.

Driving one the those lovelies in a short track race that resembled bumper cars at high speed, perhaps with an extra tank of fuel in the back seat for longer races to save one pit stop (which assumed no major conflagration in a crash), now there was a real driving challenge. And a sight to behold at speed. Now available in slow motion at vintage car shows everywhere.

There are times that the only decent progress is a dwindling supply in the cooler in the dead of night.

Wednesday, September 13th, 2006 Filed under NASCAR |