I admit I'm not a huge NASCAR fan, but I watch occassionally. I'm a race fan in general and I like to think of myself as an auto afficionado.
But....what has become of NASCAR? I watched the race Sunday and I couldn't help but be annoyed.
This "Car of Tomorrow" thing is so lame! It was bad enough before to call these things "stock cars" but now they are all the same car? They are essentially spec cars now, apart from different engines. The Ford is no different from the Chevy, Dodge, or Toyota??? What the.....
toyota CoT nascar:
Chevy Cot nascar:
Dodge CoT nascar:
why bother painting them.....*yawn*
Once upon a time the car you watched racing on Sunday could be bought on Monday, or at least one that looked like it. Of course there isn't one single component on a Nascar that is shared with the factory car, but now the "car of tomorrow" isn't even a real car in any sense of the word. It's a generic car!!!! What the heck?
I know it's been years since NASCAR cars were based on production cars, but this is just rediculous. At least before the roof line, rear deck, and hood shape was supposed to be the same dimensions, right? And we could at least pretend there was some corporate auto-maker involvement, that the chevy or ford decal stood for something, that you could at least root for your fav manufacturer if your driver was out of the race. But now?
To top it off, the driver now sits almost in the middle of the car, and the car has a big wing, and a more upright windshield to make the car less areodynamic, thus keeping speeds on super speedways slower.
What???
I though racing was supposed to be fast, and danger came with the territory. I'm all for more competition....but who wants to watch a bunch of same boring looking cars going slower. More interesting to watch cars speed down I-4.
I like racing, because I like cars....I guess that's what seperates me from most NASCAR fans, most of them are in it for the drama and soap opera-ness of it all. Like wrestling.
Whatever....I guess if I want to watch stock car racing like it used to be, I should watch Touring Car Racing, Rally Car, or GT2/GT3 cars...at least those cars look somewhat like a REAL production cars.
Sorry to offend you diehard NASCAR fans, but you've got to admit, the Car of Tomorrow thing is just plain 'ole goofy. I suggest we call it....
NASCAR = North American Same CAR racing.