"Aero Matching"

[DaveL]

NASCAR is patting itself on the back for making all of the cars the same.

Question: If all of the car makes are the same, what's the point of having car makes?

Is it asking too much on my part for there to be a true stock car racing series contested by cars with stock bodywork and powered by souped up versions of the engines are currently powering today's cars? Why is it wrong for a Chevy to be faster than a Ford? When did seeing who could build a better hot rod become anathema?

[mnkywrch]

The cars don't matter.

The people are watching personalities.

(Even the personalities with no personality. ;) )

[DaveL]

Originally posted by mnkywrch
The cars don't matter.


Which is a shame. This is A-U-T-O-M-O-B-I-L-E racing. The cars SHOULD matter. As much as we should debate the merits of different drivers, arguing the merits of a given car should be an intrinsic part of the sport of Auto Racing.

[JSR]

I like Nascar and watch all of the races. But I don't like the fact that they change the cars from week to week. If Chevy is better then so be it. JMO of course.

[mnkywrch]

Originally posted by DaveL
Which is a shame. This is A-U-T-O-M-O-B-I-L-E racing. The cars SHOULD matter. As much as we should debate the merits of different drivers, arguing the merits of a given car should be an intrinsic part of the sport of Auto Racing.

It is a part of the sport, but it's not a part of the success of NASCAR.

Given that they've stuck with 60's era equipment, it should be no surprise it's secondary to the personalities.

Heck, I watched Car & Track this morning before church. They were going faster in 1971 at Talladega than they do now.

[DaveL]

Originally posted by mnkywrch
Heck, I watched Car & Track this morning before church.

Nothing like a dose of Bud Lindemann to kick off the day :)

I like it when they road test of the big luxo-box land cruisers of the era. "The big Chrysler 440 propelled the New Yorker to 40 mph in 4.3 seconds!" (which is slower than my Dad's Saturn) The images of those huge cars going through the slalom are priceless.

[pchall]

I see something familiar here:

• The cars don't matter.

• The motor racing clearly doesn't matter.

• It's all about the personalities.

So, is this just a brand awareness program or WWF on wheels playing before an audience on the level of ten year olds?

[cart7]

originally posted by DaveL

I like it when they road test of the big luxo-box land cruisers of the era. "The big Chrysler 440 propelled the New Yorker to 40 mph in 4.3 seconds!" (which is slower than my Dad's Saturn) The images of those huge cars going through the slalom are priceless.

Amazing how much faith they had it the latest belt-bias tire technology of the day. Nothing like watching 2 tons rolling over the top of the suspension. :eek:

On Inside WC last year they had one of the WC officials in the hot seat and he stated that the manufacturers weren't too thrilled about going to a common template with nothing but decals to distinguish the makes. He said it wouldn't happen.

[DaveL]

Unfortunately, PC the answer is yes.

When I watch a race from the 80s on ESPN Classic the difference in the makes can be seen a mile away. They were clearly different and despite that, the better teams ran up front regardless of what kind of car it was.

Last night I saw a bunch of cars that look like absolutely nothing that can be seen on the street, each indistinguishable from the next if it weren't for the decals, and "racing" that was nothing more than one lane moving faster than another.

NASCAR has taken the automobile out of automobile racing.

Much ado was made when Dodge showed with all of the speculation about how competitive it would be as if there was some question as to whether or not the differences in the car would have in impact. Anyone observer of NASCAR knew it would be as fast as the others no matter what. More astute observers knew that all they did was take the "Taurus" body and put a different nose on it and change the shape of the rear windows so they would kinda sorta maybe look like an actual Dodge Intrepid.

And I really get upset when the announcers refer to the different "makes" of cars, as if a "Dodge" somehow has different architecture than a "Chevy". And praising the equality as if that is some kind of accomplishment is even more annoying. When you set common templates it's not hard to get all of the cars the same. And this sameness means that if it wasn't for the decals there would be almost no way of knowing which car was which (remember when Pearson's Mercury could easily be distinguished from Petty's Dodge?) which means the "makes" are irrelevent and trivialized.

The reason why aero is so important is because NASCAR has moved farther and farther away from stock bodies and is therefore a problem NASCAR created out of whole cloth. They didn't have this problem in the 1980s when cars with Buick LeSabre bodies raced straight up with cars with Thunderbird bodies.

And when you looked at the LeSabre and Thunderbird with nothing more than a coat of primer on them, the differences between the two were clear to see to even the most novice race fan.

[DaveL]

Originally posted by cart7
On Inside WC last year they had one of the WC officials in the hot seat and he stated that the manufacturers weren't too thrilled about going to a common template with nothing but decals to distinguish the makes. He said it wouldn't happen. [/B]

He was dead wrong. Watching the race last night there was no way knowing what car was which without the decals.

[mnkywrch]

Originally posted by DaveL
Nothing like a dose of Bud Lindemann to kick off the day :)


You know, he's the fashion godfather of Breakfast Club at Purdue University... he just doesn't know it, nor do any of the students realize they look like they raided his closet.

It's yet another "must-catch" show on Speed Channel.

[mnkywrch]

Originally posted by pchall
I see something familiar here:

• The cars don't matter.

• The motor racing clearly doesn't matter.

• It's all about the personalities.

So, is this just a brand awareness program or WWF on wheels playing before an audience on the level of ten year olds?

Despite all that, on occasion, an actual race breaks out. Problem is, it's normally at a place like Bristol or Martinsville.

The take-away for open wheel racing is that yes, you must promote the guys behind the wheel. That's been the big failing of the past 20 years.

[pchall]

Must it always be the NASCAR paradigm?

I like CART.

I like the cars.

I like the engines.

I like the tracks and walking them all day long during Friday and Saturday practice.

I like the kind of motor racing.

I really don't mind it when a driver comes, conquers, and leaves for F1. I've never stood in line for an autograph. I've never bought any driver merch. I only go into the paddock to see vintage cars or to help a friend.

It's not like I had to scrape Juan Montoya's number off the backlight of my truck when he went to Williams or remove the bad boy Calvin pointing at the #3...

What I want from my motorsports experience is apparently quite different from NASCAR and IRL. I prefer it that way.

Don't put your template on my racing. ;)

[Napoleon]

Originally posted by DaveL
Last night I saw a bunch of cars that look like absolutely nothing that can be seen on the street, each indistinguishable from the next if it weren't for the decals, and "racing" that was nothing more than one lane moving faster than another.


Which is why I watched for 3 laps then flipped on the Patriot.

I quite watching more then one or two races a year when they speced the cars.