CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- There's a comfort level behind the wheel of your own car, a familiarity that sometimes makes it easier to break the speed limit, blow through a red light or cut off another driver.
That feeling often disappears in a borrowed car. It takes time to adjust to the vehicle, so the driver is a bit more cautious.
Maybe that's how the top talent in NASCAR felt Sunday when the Car of Tomorrow debuted at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The car was big and boxy, some might even say ugly. It looked different from their normal cars and felt nothing like what they were used to. And it turned what's normally a rough-and-tumble race into a rather ho-hum affair.
``I can't stand to drive them,'' race-winner Kyle Busch said after beating Jeff Burton in a last-lap sprint to the finish line. ``I didn't see any highlights out there.''
``The car was terrible,'' he added. ``It's hard to set up and it's hard to drive. I don't remember anyone complaining about the old ones. I told my team before the race that I hoped I could win it so that I could tell everybody how bad it is.''
There was initial skepticism when NASCAR chose Bristol as the first venue for the COT. Because the 0.533-mile oval is so tight, the beating and banging typically begins the moment the green flag flies.
Because teams worried the COT would fall apart on impact, everyone believed the track would be littered with splitters and rear wings.
But as NASCAR closed in on the debut, Bristol actually began to make sense. Since the track routinely produces such thrilling racing, would anyone even notice the COT was out there?
Initially, no. When the race began, everything appeared rather ordinary.
Then Tony Stewart humiliated the field, opening an insurmountable four-second lead as he dominated the first half of the race.
Big, bad Bristol suddenly became a snooze-fest.
There was no swapping of sheet metal, no bump-and-runs and very little banging. Of the 15 cautions, only three were for multicar accidents.
Even Mark Martin, who ended his streak of 621 straight races to watch Bristol from his living room, noticed how calm things were.
``I thought the COT handled poorly enough that the guys actually didn't run over each other because they didn't have good control of their car,'' Martin said. ``It was a cleaner race than what we normally see because the cars were so hard to control, they weren't able to get in there and mix it up.
``It's hard for me to understand how they are ever going to get this car to race well consistently.''
But opinions differed across the garage.
``I may be wrong,'' Burton said, ``but from my point of view, it seemed like just another race at Bristol.''
And noted COT critic Jeff Gordon had softened his stance after a third-place finish.
``There were positives,'' he said. ``We made passes on the outside I was surprised by. I'm still not crazy about this thing, but it's growing on me.''
But Gordon also explained that his main beef with the COT is that it's different from what he's used to. Chevrolet rolled out an Impala SS for the COT, which will be phased into competition over the next year, and Gordon prefers his old Monte Carlo.
``The current car drives better, it's got more downforce, it's got more grip, it has better feel,'' he said. ``So if you compare (the COT) to that car, you're not going to like it.
``But if NASCAR sees the results that they want to see on the race track, then we need to get rid of the Monte Carlo and just go to this thing because you're never going to like it compared to the car that we have.''
NASCAR seemed pleased after the race. Competition director Robin Pemberton praised the way the COT held up in accidents and helped midlevel teams compete.
``Probably 99 percent of the time, you have really good races here. From the tower, I thought it was a good race,'' he said. ``We had a couple of hard impacts, and the car did what it was supposed to do and absorbed energy.''
The COT now goes to Martinsville Speedway, another short track that will make it difficult to determine the car's impact. So it will take at least another month, when the car goes to Phoenix and Darlington Raceway, to understand this new era of NASCAR.
Until then, everyone will just have to try his best to get comfortable with the new car.
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By JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing Writer
April 2, 2007
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- Two races featuring the new Car of Tomorrow -- two thrilling drag races to the finish line.
Both finishes, however, came at the expense of the rough-and-tumble short-track racing that fans desire, leaving many to wonder if this new NASCAR-designed car might have inadvertently robbed drivers of the ability to pull off the beloved bump-and-run pass.
That or Jeff Gordon has gone soft.
Gordon certainly will receive his share of the criticism, particularly after he failed to move teammate Jimmie Johnson out of his way in the closing laps of Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway. Gordon tried lap after lap, finally pushing Johnson slightly aside when the checkered flag was in sight.
But Gordon couldn't get past his door as Johnson beat him to the finish line for his third victory in six races.
Gordon, meanwhile, settled for his third second-place finish this year.
That's not the Jeff Gordon of old, a driver who used his share of bump-and-runs to rack up four championships and 75 victories.
So why didn't Gordon just bash Johnson out of his way and scoot on by for the victory?
The short answer is he tried, hitting Johnson over and over in the final few laps.
"The bumps kept getting progressively stronger, and the last few may have set off the air bag in a street car,'' Johnson said. "The last one just moved me clean up the track. ``
When they all failed to move Johnson enough, Gordon knew he was in trouble.
"Without wrecking him, there was no way I was going to get it done. And I didn't get it done,'' he said.
But Johnson wasn't convinced Gordon could have done any more.
"I don't know how he could have hit me any harder,'' Johnson said. "I literally would put my head back against my seat and wait for it.''
The long answer is the Car of Tomorrow hindered Gordon's ability to execute a maneuver that had rarely -- if ever -- failed him before. See last July in Chicago, when he bumped Matt Kenseth out of the way. Or in 1997 and again in 2002 when he used the move on Rusty Wallace at Bristol.
The difference now is in the design of the COT, which debuted two weeks ago at Bristol Motor Speedway. The rear bumpers on the new cars have been lowered, while the front bumper has been raised. When a trailing car hits a car in the back now, the contact is square, and the leading car isn't lifted off the track.
"I think with the new car, it's going to take some learning that it is going to take a little bit different tactics,'' said competition director Robin Pemberton. "When they used to hit nose-to-tail, the front of the car would put the rear wheels up in the air. Now, it won't lift the wheels up.''
That's going to take some getting used to by everyone, including Gordon, who learned the dreaded ``aero push'' might have returned with the COT.
That term is a dirty word in NASCAR, where drivers spent the better part of the past five years complaining that it ruined the races. An effect of a lack of downforce on the front of the car, the aero push guides it to the wall and spoils handling -- particularly in traffic.
The COT was supposed to eliminate the aero push via its adjustable front-end splitter and rear wing, both designed to better control the air flow between cars.
But drivers have struggled with handling in the first two COT events.
"It was a little bit harder to pass,'' Gordon acknowledged. "Yeah, I couldn't drive in as deep (into the corners), but those are all the things you expect with this car. We just got to get used it.''
There's plenty of time for that, as the COT will be raced in 14 more events. NASCAR's watching how it reacts in different situations and won't shy from making necessary adjustments.
The sanctioning body changed height and weight requirements following the first race. After foam padding in Kevin Harvick's car melted Sunday, NASCAR plans to mandate use of a steel plate to protect the foam from heat exposure.
The carbon monoxide leaks that plagued the Bristol race were fixed when NASCAR advised teams to use sturdier -- and heavier -- materials in their exhaust systems.
So expect more adjustments as the season progresses. Some might help and some might hurt. Some might even bring the bump-and-run back into play.
Updated on Monday, Apr 2, 2007 5:07 pm EDT
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CHARLOTTE, NC—Only days after its long-anticipated, much-criticized Car of Tomorrow debuted to overwhelmingly negative reviews at the Bristol Motor Speedway, NASCAR responded to the wishes of competitors and fans alike by introducing the stylishly retro, technologically retrograde NEXTEL Cup Car of Yesterday.
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"This is exactly what everyone from race teams to race fans wanted all along—a real American racecar," said Robby Gordon, standing in front of the Jim Beam '77 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme he will drive for the rest of the season. "To hell with things like spoilers, adjustable suspensions, disc brakes, shoulder belts, all that junk. People want to see us racing the cars they drive every day, and anyone who's seen the parking lot at a NASCAR race will tell you that's what the Car of Yesterday gives them."
Based on tried-and-true NASCAR designs from what many consider the golden age of stock-car racing, the Car Of Yesterday is based on the racing team's choice of four-door body styles: either the '77 Cutlass Supreme, the '79 Chevrolet Caprice Classic, the '78 Dodge Diplomat, the '77 Ford Granada, the '77 Mercury Gran Marquis, or for series newcomers Toyota, the 1989 Corolla. All cars, regardless of body style, must have fully reclining seats, column shifters, vinyl tops, ashtrays, and automatically retracting seatbelts. Adding spoilers and air dams for purposes other than providing advertising space is forbidden, although teams will be allowed to bolt wooden 2-by-8 planks to their front and rear bumpers for the contact-heavy short-track races. Mechanically, all cars will be basically identical, featuring 360-cubic-inch V-8 engines with the air filters reversed, "glass-pack" mufflers, and factory power steering.
"Our primary concern with the Car of Yesterday was safety," said NASCAR competition director Robin Pemberton. "The fans hate that shit. We had to keep that in mind when we went back to the drawing board, so we took away anything that increased grip, improved handling, or prevented a stock car from experiencing a sudden and total loss of control. NASCAR isn't about the cars, it's about the drivers. And the Car of Yesterday keeps the driver involved with the vehicle, whether he's just driving it or, ideally, crashing it."
The Car of Yesterday underwent intensive single-car and multi-car tests earlier this week at Daytona, Texas Motor Speedway, and Martinsville, with testing director Brett Bodine and his crew wrecking 34 cars in routine driving. An enthusiastic Bodine reported the new design passed with flying colors.
"I could barely keep the thing out of the wall. It swapped ends, got way loose, and nearly spun out with little to no warning. Sometimes it dove down towards the infield for no reason I ever did figure out, and once coming off the banking at Daytona it rebounded off the suspension stops hard enough to bounce the whole front end in the air," said Bodine, who was pronounced healthy and released from Daytona Beach Memorial Hospital early Wednesday afternoon. "It may be the best all-around NASCAR stocker I've ever driven. I wish they had these cars when I was still racing, but unfortunately, they'd advanced past that point by then."
Drivers were unanimously positive when informed of the Car of Yesterday and praised NASCAR's courage in pursuing a deign philosophy that satisfied fans and racers alike.
"Like I said before, that Car of Tomorrow was crap," said Kyle Busch, who won the March 25 race in which the controversial design debuted. "It kind of stuck to the track in a boring way, and just sort of went where you pointed it. But this car reminds me of the ones I grew up watching—not just on the track, but on the two-lane highway outside of town. Hell, for all I know, this one was there."
NASCAR president Mike Helton is currently working closely with all competing teams, current Nextel Cup drivers, and a network of salvage yards and used-car dealers to make sure every team has enough cars and spares for the Car of Yesterday's debut race, currently scheduled for April 29 at Talladega Superspeedway, the largest tri-oval on the Nextel Cup circuit and one of NASCAR's fastest and most challenging tracks.
"We want to make sure fans have a strong first impression of the Car of Yesterday," said Helton. "And believe me, seeing a few dozen of these all-American road-hugging beauties roaring flat-out into Talladega's Turn One is something they'll be talking about for years."
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CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Dale Earnhardt Jr. has used his clout to get things changed in NASCAR before. His next target is the Car of Tomorrow. A day after struggling with the new-look car at Richmond International Raceway, Earnhardt Jr. called on NASCAR to make it easier to turn and handle.
"It's going to take some time to figure it out, but right now it's about the most frustrating thing I've had to deal with in this sport, and I've had to deal with some pretty frustrating things," Earnhardt said Monday.
Earnhardt met with Nextel Cup director John Darby at a testing session at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Darby said Earnhardt chalked up his remarks to frustration with the car, and Darby indicated NASCAR wasn't considering any changes on behalf of its star driver.
"No, because one of the things you can't do is fall into a position of where every time somebody brings a complaint to us, we have a knee-jerk reaction, then this car will be evolving forever," Darby said.
Junior was running in the top 10 for much of Sunday's race until Jeff Green spun him. He finished 13th, but claims he knew he didn't have a car that would win. Jimmie Johnson's victory gave Hendrick Motorsports four wins in four races with the new car, which is being phased in this season and could be used in every race by 2008.
Earnhardt finished seventh, fifth and 19th in the previous COT races, and while that's not bad, Junior hasn't enjoyed any of them.
"Everyone is struggling with getting the cars to turn. Even when you're running in second or third position, you're just the best of the worst cars out there," Earnhardt said. "Nobody's cars were that fun to drive. You're just trying to be the guy with the least amount of problems when it comes to handling and that seems to get you toward the front."
When Junior has spoken up in the past, people have listened. When he complained about a dip last year at Texas Motor Speedway, it was fixed before he returned last month. The driver he's endorsed to get the final spot into the annual All-Star race always seems to get voted in by the fans.
Speaking before testing began, Earnhardt also chastised RIR for not sealing the track before Sunday's race. But Junior, the sport's most popular driver, is most concerned with using his clout to get NASCAR to take a serious look at how to improve the COT.
The COT was the culmination of a seven-year project to find a safer car that would produce more side-by-side racing and make it easier to pass. With a detachable wing on the back and an adjustable splitter on the front, it was also designed to allow teams to use the same car at all tracks, saving teams money.
"They were open to suggestions on the wing versus the spoiler and all the other things when they were building the car and they implemented those," Earnhardt said.
"Hopefully, they'll be open to some criticism and more suggestions on how to improve it."
Junior isn't alone. Numerous drivers have complained about the way the car handles, but not as forcefully.
"Well, certainly Dale Jr. has a little bit more star power, and Tony Stewart, than I do," Greg Biffle said. "So I have to be careful what I say because I get a little bit more ripped or branded than they probably would.
"But it is a difficult car, to get to what do you want it to do. It's hard to influence the car to do stuff."
But just what needs to be done is uncertain, and not everyone even thinks the car should be tinkered with. Car owner Ray Evernham believes much of the griping stems from Hendrick's dominance.
"What changes would he make? You can't just sit there and (complain) at NASCAR. I say don't make changes — let us figure it out," Evernham said. "I think that Dale Jr. and those guys are probably in the same boat that we are: spread too thin and what used to work doesn't work anymore."
The COT will be used again next weekend at Darlington, a track known to tear up tires. Junior hopes he doesn't tear up the car.
"I'll be just trying to keep it off the fence. I think it'll be hard not to hit the wall," Earnhardt said. "The way these things get tight, it'll be hard and slow, real slow. Very, very frustrating. Really, really, really frustrating."
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"I'm not looking forward to driving the Car of Tomorrow at Darlington. People say the cars are ugly - well, I don't care what they look like but they don't drive as good as they should," Earnhardt said. "In this day and age with all of the knowledge and technology we have, it's ridiculous that these cars are so bad. That's my opinion, which may not mean much, but I hope NASCAR listens to the drivers and teams when we say these cars don't drive worth a damn. I mean, look at all the camber we have to run in the front end to make them turn - it's just ridiculous and there's no reason why they should be that way. It's still a new car so maybe they'll listen and make some changes to make it better.
"This is about as bad of a week as I could imagine: two days testing at Charlotte, then going to Darlington for a weekend and then two more days testing at Dover. Nobody tests at Dover - everyone tries to avoid that as much as they can. But, after that maybe we'll have some clean sailing and give everyone a day off or something. Darlington is just tough, period. It's a tough track because of the shape and the ancient pavement, but it's really tough on the entire team mentally and physically. It's a track that is so punishing to all of us and we're always relieved when we put the car back on the trailer in one piece."...Daily Headlines
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CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Despite complaints about the Car of Tomorrow, most teams want NASCAR to use the car exclusively in 2008.
The COT is being phased into competition, with 16 races scheduled this season. Although the original plan was to use it exclusively in 2009, NASCAR will move it up a year if teams are on board.
Based on feedback he's received after four COT races, Nextel Cup director John Darby said teams are leaning that way.
``NASCAR has not been out in the garage promoting or soliciting the acceleration of 2008, but what we do have is a large group -- and large is a very fair label -- of organizations and owners that have come to us and said `Let's put it all in,' `` Darby said Tuesday. ``There's a lot of it. And although we've heard from a majority of the team owners, we are not complete in that process.''
NASCAR is expected to decide over the next few months whether to move up full implantation of the car it designed. A seven-year project, the COT is a safer car that is also supposed to cut costs and foster better racing.
Many drivers have been critical of its handling and difficulty to drive, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. said the car needs many adjustments before he'll be happy with it.
But in the same breath, NASCAR's biggest star said he wants to be in the COT full-time because flipping back and forth between the old car and the new one is taxing.
``I don't like doing two different cars -- it's one or the other,'' he said. ``I'd go full-time to the COT right now. Why not? We're all struggling with it. We might as well get all the time we can with it week in and week out, even if it drives us all crazy.''
Darby acknowledged that teams prefer the old cars, and are pushing for the COT mainly to simplify their operations.
``It's not because everybody is in love with the car, but everybody knows they hate working on two of them,'' Darby said. ``It's expensive. It's extremely confusing. It's hard for NASCAR, our inspection group, to switch back and forth and try to stay focused on which rule book we are using for what week.
``I think almost everyone wants the COT all-in so we can move on.''
There's one major issue with speeding up implantation, though. The COT isn't scheduled to race on 1.5-mile tracks until 2009, and teams will have zero data on those tracks if its moved up to next season.
So even though Hendrick Motorsports has won all four COT races this season, Jeff Gordon isn't positive he supports moving up the implantation date.
``Without being on a mile-and-a-half track, I don't see how we can just go completely forward with it,'' Gordon said. ``I'm pretty optimistic about the way things are going right now. Obviously we're running good with it. But I still think there are things that need to evolve with this car that are not there yet.''
NASCAR could have mandated the COT be used in next week's Nextel Challenge, an invitation-only all-star event that doesn't count in the season standings. But drivers were mixed on its inclusion in the event.
Gordon and teammate Jimmie Johnson support using it in the $1 million event, but Earnhardt was adamantly against it.
``That's a terrible idea, actually,'' he said. ``That's a lot of money and I don't want the Car of Tomorrow to throw a monkey wrench in there.''
Toyota officials are calling the loudest for the COT in 2008 because focusing on only one program could alleviate many of the struggles the manufacturer is experiencing. Its teams are struggling to make races this season, Toyota's first in the Nextel Cup Series.
``I am 100 percent for it,'' said Michael Waltrip, who is running a three-car team this season. ``It will help us tremendously because we're a startup organization and it would help us streamline our efforts. It will save everybody money, it will be more competitive going forward and I look forward to it being all-in right away.
``Anybody who says they don't want it, it's because they are protecting their gold mine. These guys have so many years and so much experience on these old cars, they don't want it to go away. They have an advantage.''
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I'm enjoying the racin with the new car.
However I would like to see the front splitter raised 1" like the truck series.
That would allow more front end travel .
Allowing the car to turn better in the center of the corner.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by racedevil
I'm enjoying the racin with the new car.
However I would like to see the front splitter raised 1" like the truck series.
That would allow more front end travel .
Allowing the car to turn better in the center of the corner.
Just my thoughts!
More travel but less downforce.
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That thing's been ridden harder than the coin-op pony in front of K-Mart!
By MIKE HARRIS
AP Auto Racing Writer
June 24, 2007
SONOMA, Calif. (AP) -- NASCAR is determined to take any guesswork out of its new Car of Tomorrow.
With a new system of templates and sensors to measure the parameters of the taller, wider and reputedly safer car, NASCAR chairman Brian France said the sanctioning organization wants to leave no doubt that it will come down hard on infractions.
"We have to lay down the law,'' France said Sunday at Infineon Raceway, where the Nextel Cup cars raced in the Toyota/Save Mart 350.
That doesn't bode well for the teams of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, who were parked for Friday's practice and qualifying after NASCAR inspectors found front fenders on their COT Chevrolets had been illegally modified.
The two Hendrick Motorsports drivers were allowed to practice Saturday and race Sunday, starting from the rear of the field, but it is expected that NASCAR will follow up in the next few days with more severe penalties, possibly including the loss of drivers and owner points, six-figure fines and suspensions for the crew chiefs.
Asked if NASCAR is taking all the creativity away from the teams, France said, "There will always be room for imagination and ingenuity in the sport. But we don't want this thing to revolve around technology. It's important to keep it in the hands of the drivers.''
Gordon drove a great strategic race Sunday and wound up seventh. He leads Denny Hamlin, who finished 10th, by 271 points. Johnson was 17th and remained third in the standings, 366 points behind his teammate.
"It was a great run,'' Gordon said "I thought (crew chief) Steve Letarte and everyone on our team just called this race perfectly to come from that far back to a top 10. We played the (pit) strategy the best way we possibly could and we had some cautions fall our way, which was some good fortune for us to gain some spots.''
Johnson, the reigning Cup champion, wasn't as happy.
"I think I was in the wrong gear on pit road and that ended up costing us track position, which ended up costing us from getting up in the top 10,'' he said. "I think we had the speed. We just, unfortunately, didn't get up as high in the finishing order as we wanted.''
Looking ahead to the probable penalties from NASCAR, Gordon said, "What happened to us on Friday was huge. I think it had a trickle-down affect through this garage area that they are coming down hard on this type of infraction. All of us are blown away and we don't know what's coming next.
'We are at the mercy of NASCAR and I hope they are light on us, but who knows.''
COT ON TRACK: Sunday's race is the road-course debut of the Car of Tomorrow and the drivers were generally pleased with the result.
Third-place finisher Jeff Burton said he wasn't surprised that the new car, which had only six previous Cup starts, all on ovals, did a good job at Infineon Raceway. But he noted there's still a lot of development work to do.
"You know, it has its problems, there's no question,'' he said. "It's not a perfect car. But this car is proving to be pretty resilient. All of the problems (are) because it's a brand new piece. But, all in all, especially considering how new it is, it''s pretty tough.''
My car was really pretty good,'' said Greg Biffle, who finished fifth. "But it was a lot different.
"The (COT) is a lot more top heavy and it's a little harder to get slowed down because it wants to pick the inside up all the time, whichever one it is depending on the way you're turning. So you need to be real careful about not skidding the tire.
"It really, really looked like it was very hard to pass here today,'' Biffle said.
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Last edited by mrsmopar12 : 06-26-2007 at 02:50 PM.
Reason: spacing err or
A bump, but no run, as drivers adjust to new car
Earnhardt Jr., others lobby for changes to COT
splitter
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