The Fast and The Furious - Did you see the movie? Did you like it? If you were a car fanatic, you had to. So did a whole new generation of potential NASCAR race fans.
As early as 2000 NASCAR was starting to think about a uni-template car. Dodge came back into the NASCAR series that year. The discussions regarding the Dodge body that would be approved sparked the uni-template discussion.
After Dale Earnhardt died at Daytona in 2001, NASCAR knew it had to focus on safety. This safety consciousness led to the design of a new NASCAR race car and the uni-body became part of the total package.
In the 2001 movie, The Fast and The Furious, we saw the height of cool in automobiles. The cars in the film were a hit in any language. That is huge when movies make their bucks on rentals worldwide.
The Fast and The Furious was released in June 2001 and became a surprise hit. NASCAR took notice. Is it any surprise then that the uni-body car began to resemble the vehicles from the film?
The COT looks fast and furious. This is huge as NASCAR attempts to grow the sport by marketing itself to a new generation of potential NASCAR fans. I think the COT is a hit in any language as well. I think NASCAR has its future right.
For those fans affectionately known as Hendrick Haters, this has not been a banner year. So how good are the Hendrick cars? In a season dominated by Chevrolet, Hendrick's top three are clearly the class of the field. Hendrick has five wins in eight races, including a sweep of the COT starts, and looks to be unstoppable
How much longer before the buzz from the Ford and / or Dodge camps becomes a full-throat roar, wanting a change here or a tweak there to help even the competition? The Ford camp remains all Roush all the time. The Dodge folks must be wondering if they'll catch a break before it's too late.
Regan Smith did what he could to show he deserves to be in the U. S. Army No. 01 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS currently being driven by Mark Martin on the Nextel cup circuit. Martin will drive the 01 at Las Vegas and Atlanta. But Smith is scheduled to debut the Car of Tommorrow (COT) version of the 01 in Bristol. Smith turned in a strong performance in Saturday's NASCAR Busch Series race at California Speedway, posting a ninth-place finish in the Stater Brothers 300. The result catapulted the 23-year-old Ginn Racing driver from 26th to ninth in the Busch point standings.
"This was a solid performance for our Ginn Resorts team," said Smith, who finished ahead of 13 of the 21 Nextel Cup drivers competing in the 150-lap, 300-mile event. "Doug (Randolph, crew chief) did an awesome job calling the race and I can't say enough about our pit stops-- they were awesome." "Awesome," sounds like Martin.
Smith qualified 26th and raced his way into the top 10 by Lap 50. While Randolph made adjustments to the car to compensate for changing track and weather conditions, Smith drove patiently and methodically, staying in or near the top-10 for the majority of the race.
Matt Kenseth dominated the Auto Club 300 for his first Busch Series win of the season. The next stop on the Busch Series schedule will be next Sunday (March 4) in Mexico City. The road course event at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez will be televised live on ESPN2, beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Interesting commentary from Mark Martin today concerning the Car of Tomorrow. He says the teams are going to have a lot of problems with the splitter on the COT. Martin says he does not think the 4” clearance on the splitter will make it onto pit road at Bristol and that the splitters may get damaged or torn off. He also says only Childress has a good COT program at this point and that everybody else is playing catch up. Mark Martin says the Ginn Racing COT program is behind where it should be.
Before MB2 sold to Bobby Ginn they had tried to forge an alliance with DEI on the development of the COT, but that effort failed.
I (rhendryx) asked previously if anybody knew why Sterling Marlin was shaking his head in a disapproving manner on stage during a question and answer session at the test session. Sterling did not get a chance to respond to the question, but by his expressions, it was obvious he was not happy about the COT. It may be because Ginn is behind on COT development. It may also be that he agrees with Mark Martin that the 4” ground clearance of the splitter is going to be an issue.
Mark Martin comments heard on Sirius NASCAR interview February 8, 2007.
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