Your Auto Racing Information Site!
Change is good? Or is it? It's according to who you talk to.
NASCAR is one of the fastest changing sports in the world today. Their rule book changes on an almost daily basis. There is a whole team of Officials dedicated to nothing but updating the rule book and they are in hog heaven with the new Car of Tomorrow (COT) or as it is now, "The New Car".
NASCAR went public and stated that they wanted to produce a car that was safer, the COT is safer, they wanted one that they could better regulate, this car is definitely regulated. They wanted a car that would provide the teams with more competition and closer racing, that is what they now have. NASCAR also wanted a car that they owned, and they got it with the COT. Now, if you park a Ford and a Chevy side by side with no paint or graphics, there is no difference in the body style, none! This fact fits the Dodges and the newly introduced Toyotas as well. They are all identical in every way. You can't tell them apart, just by looking at them. NASCAR went a step further. They enlisted the help of certain engine builders and auto parts suppliers in making certain power producing parts mandatory in the COT. They now provide the only source for the Carburetors, Intake Manifolds, Heads that are completely assembled and deemed tamper proof, along with the lower end including the crank shaft and rod assemblies. Now if that isn't control, I don't know what is. So, in any engine out there be it a Hendricks Chevy or a Wood Brother's Ford, they are essentially running the exact same engine with exception of the engine oil, trans package, and the battery. That's it. They are identical under the hood as well.
So, if you had the clout and the money, you could introduce a Range Rover into the competition and it would be just like the Chevy's. Can you imagine what that would do to the sport. The next thing you know you have Volts Wagon, Honda, Mercedes, and all of the other international brands in the sport, not to mention all of the drivers who would come along with that. Juan Pablo Montoya is so unique that they still can't figure out what to call him, so they use all of his names. It won't be long before we are going to have to start taking multi-language classes just to report the races in order to pronounce the driver's names, not to mention the international sponsors. It's just getting out of hand.
You have to ask yourself, why did NASCAR grow as large and as fast as it did? There are several factors that are each very well known to NASCAR, however, I think they might have forgotten a few of them over the last couple of years.
James Jones A2Z Auto Racing 2006
