The NASCAR of today is nothing like the stock car racing of forty years ago, and the Car of Tomorrow only makes matters worse. NASCAR has been getting less entertaining to watch, and the sport has been shedding millions of dollars as well as thousands of fans. You used to actually be able to go out and buy the very same car you saw on the track, but it hasn’t been that way for some time.
But according to
Peter De Lorenzo of the AutoExtremist, NASCAR could be shifting back to its roots, and rather soon at that.
Picture: Associated Press
In a three part series on AutoExtremist, De Lorenzo tackles NASCAR’s plummeting ratings and the ambiguous automobiles dubbed the Car of Tomorrow. These vehicles bare no resemblance to any actual production models, though they are incredibly safe and equally matched. The idea was to have NASCAR display the prowess of individual drivers rather than cars. But this has backfired and become, well, boring.
According to his inside sources, De Lorenzo says the leadership at NASCAR realizes this. They plan to move the sport back to its roots by forcing competitors to field production-based cars in their production layouts. That means no more Chevy Malibus swapping paint with Ford Fusions. Instead, expect Camaros, Mustangs, and Challengers to hit the field, along with whatever Toyota can conjure up to compete. Furthermore, De Lorenzo says that NASCAR will be promoting bio-fuels, likely E85 ethanol, which has the added benefit of allowing higher compression. He expects these changes to occur around 2012, albeit slowly.
It almost sounds too good to be true. For many Americans, it would be a reason to tune back into NASCAR, and could even invite some fresh competition from Japan or Europe (Nissan 370Z? BMW M3?). We can’t wait to see if this is true, though De Lorenzo seems pretty confident.
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