Post by George Keen on Feb 13, 2011 20:09:44 GMT -4
Hey Geo,
I figure you've already seen this, but I just read an article about fuel injection coming in the 2012 season. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this, on the surface it seems like NASCAR is working really hard to turn into the IROC series and we both know how wildly popular IROC is (check the stands when the camera pans by - looks a lot like qualifying for a Daytona Dash race). It just seems contradictory to me, on one hand N-car wants connect to their fans through brand recognition - they worked for years to control body templates so the fan could always recognize "his/her" car out there (as well as other reasons)... then came the "car of the future" - super, now other than paint and decals they are essentially the same car, ok, the nose and tail are different - barely. Now all of the cars are going to fuel injection... for "fuel economy" c'mon, since when has N-car been seriously concerned about the economy of anything? I mean it's not what the sport is about, at least not to me. The sport is about excess and always has been - excess of speed, excess of danger, excess of driving talent, excess of engineering talent, excess ability to "interpret the rules" and excess of cubic dollars. It's just the way it is and if a person doesn't like it I would respectfully suggest they start watching golf instead, or maybe tennis. And don't get me started on the 5-lug wheel they insist on using, now there's something they should change if they want to see hotter competition with the added benefit of safety - the single nut spindle/hub is safer, in my opinion, and contributes to much faster pit stops and I think the fan could care less if the crew is hitting the wheel 5 times or once.
Ok, maybe I'm a little old school, I mean half the time I still refer to it as "Winston Cup" and it always will be Winston Cup in my heart but man what I would do to see a Super Bird at Talledega (and I don't even like Mopars), or a Torino or a non-homogenized Monte Carlo. Oh and there's also a line in the article about injection being tamper proof (maybe "resistant" would have been better) I remember reading about a Honda team that was adjusting the engine of their F1 car via satellite during a race - pretty hard to do that with a Holley.
Well I guess I've decided, and nope, I don't like the idea of fuel injected, copy cat templated, homogenized racing. I say dump the restrictor plates, give them a wheel base restriction and then focus the rules on safety (carbon fiber/kevlar driver tubs for instance), not making sure everyone has the same spec engine, in the same spec chassis with the same spec body - I think it's time to bring a little "excess" back into the sport that defined it.
That's enough of a rant for a Saturday afternoon, time for me to YouTube the '79 Daytona 500.
I figure you've already seen this, but I just read an article about fuel injection coming in the 2012 season. I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this, on the surface it seems like NASCAR is working really hard to turn into the IROC series and we both know how wildly popular IROC is (check the stands when the camera pans by - looks a lot like qualifying for a Daytona Dash race). It just seems contradictory to me, on one hand N-car wants connect to their fans through brand recognition - they worked for years to control body templates so the fan could always recognize "his/her" car out there (as well as other reasons)... then came the "car of the future" - super, now other than paint and decals they are essentially the same car, ok, the nose and tail are different - barely. Now all of the cars are going to fuel injection... for "fuel economy" c'mon, since when has N-car been seriously concerned about the economy of anything? I mean it's not what the sport is about, at least not to me. The sport is about excess and always has been - excess of speed, excess of danger, excess of driving talent, excess of engineering talent, excess ability to "interpret the rules" and excess of cubic dollars. It's just the way it is and if a person doesn't like it I would respectfully suggest they start watching golf instead, or maybe tennis. And don't get me started on the 5-lug wheel they insist on using, now there's something they should change if they want to see hotter competition with the added benefit of safety - the single nut spindle/hub is safer, in my opinion, and contributes to much faster pit stops and I think the fan could care less if the crew is hitting the wheel 5 times or once.
Ok, maybe I'm a little old school, I mean half the time I still refer to it as "Winston Cup" and it always will be Winston Cup in my heart but man what I would do to see a Super Bird at Talledega (and I don't even like Mopars), or a Torino or a non-homogenized Monte Carlo. Oh and there's also a line in the article about injection being tamper proof (maybe "resistant" would have been better) I remember reading about a Honda team that was adjusting the engine of their F1 car via satellite during a race - pretty hard to do that with a Holley.
Well I guess I've decided, and nope, I don't like the idea of fuel injected, copy cat templated, homogenized racing. I say dump the restrictor plates, give them a wheel base restriction and then focus the rules on safety (carbon fiber/kevlar driver tubs for instance), not making sure everyone has the same spec engine, in the same spec chassis with the same spec body - I think it's time to bring a little "excess" back into the sport that defined it.
That's enough of a rant for a Saturday afternoon, time for me to YouTube the '79 Daytona 500.