Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

The Car of Tomorrow should become the Car of Yesterday

When the Car of Tomorrow was introduced into the Cup Series, there were many skeptics. Fans thought the car’s awkward rear wing and ugly front spoiler made the car look as out of place as a rowboat at a yacht club.

But I disagreed. Despite the car’s looks, which didn’t bother me much, I had high hopes that the car would improve the quality of the racing. I believed the speculation that the car would make passing on the tracks easier as a result of being less aerodynamic due to its boxier shape. These features were supposed to reduce the car’s sensitivity to downforce and, as a result, reduce the parade-lap style of racing we have seen at many of the tracks.

Boy, was I wrong.

Reaction to the new car was swift and overwhelming. Loyal fans reacted with a tsunami of negativity toward the wing and the spoiler. Their chorus of anger was so loud that NASCAR eventually dropped both aspects of the car. And as for the hope that the shape of the car would end the boring, parade-style racing that was turning fans off—well, that was just a pipe dream.

But NASCAR is making changes again. The current car will be adjusted for the 2013 season and hopefully we will see changes that result in a car that is aerodynamically different enough to improve competition on the track.

And now Carl Edwards is speaking out on this issue. After the race in Michigan, Edwards implored NASCAR to make the necessary aerodynamic changes to the 2013 car. “Track position is so important,” Edwards told scenedaily.com. “Sadly, downforce is such a big factor in these cars, and I am really hoping that NASCAR will take the opportunity in 2013 to take downforce away so the fans can see the guys race and not race downforce.”

How could anyone not agree with that? Should track position, which is increasingly determined by good pit stops, play such a dominant role in determining what driver wins a race? Shouldn’t more competition be seen on the track and not in the pits? Shouldn’t drivers be able to compete with a lead car that doesn’t have the advantage of clean air on its downforce-sensitive nose?

Short of shaping the cars like a brick, there probably isn’t a realistic way to minimize downforce to a great extent. But there is room for adjustment and hopefully we will be seeing that in the near future.

Bin Laden in the crosshairs T-shirt

This week's StockcarToon

Purchase your copy of "Nuts for Racing"

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy