April 5, 2007
By Rebecca Gladden

Rebecca Gladden

After its competition debut two weeks ago at Bristol, most pundits couldn't wait to pronounce NASCAR's long-awaited Car of Tomorrow a resounding success.

After all, the car did produce some side-by-side racing, a close finish between Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton and fewer than the record number of cautions previously attained with the pre-COT car.

But in the garage there were concerns, including lingering questions about the splitter's affect on tires, the durability of the rear wing, and possible fuel pump issues such as the one that took Tony Stewart out of the race.

Additionally, as a number of drivers pointed out, the car did not face a real aerodynamic workout on the short track of either Bristol or Martinsville.

Nevertheless, despite Bristol race winner Kyle Busch's assessment of the new vehicle ("they suck"), the majority conclusion was that the COT ran well without any major mishaps.

Not so fast, race fans.

A day or two after Bristol, word spread that Brian Vickers, driving the Toyota Camry version of the Car of Tomorrow, suffered first- and second-degree burns to his feet and bottom along with carbon monoxide inhalation when an exhaust pipe broke under his seat midway through the race.

Matt Kenseth suffered from noxious gas inhalation at Bristol and was ill for most of the following week. Denny Hamlin and others also complained of carbon monoxide inhalation symptoms.

Despite these concerns, the COT raced again at Martinsville. This time it was Kevin Harvick who experienced a serious problem. Foam in the right-side door melted during the race, filling the car with smoke on Lap 425 and forcing Harvick to effect a quick escape from the vehicle. Harvick finished the race in 41st-place, 55 laps down, and fell from spots in the points to 10th.

Needless to say, Harvick was not happy.

"Smoke just started coming out the right side door, so I guess blaming it on something else is probably not the right thing to do. I mean this thing just started burning up, so it's almost turning it into a joke now."

Not exactly a glowing report for the COT.

Melting foam in the passenger door is now believed to be the same thing that sickened Matt Kenseth and other drivers the week before.

Unfortunately there are more questions than there are answers regarding what caused the problem. NASCAR has alleged that some teams did not install the door foam properly or that they used exhaust system materials which were too lightweight, but no single cause or solution has been identified.

Meanwhile, the COT will be used in a two-day test session this week at Richmond.

If this was a consumer car and not a competition racecar, an emergency recall would have already been ordered and lawsuits or threats of them would be making news.

But it isn't a passenger car. It's NASCAR's R&D baby, seven years in the making, and the powers-that-be are still convinced that the car can be used safely, even as the bugs are being worked out.

But at what cost? Burns, carbon monoxide inhalation, smoke, fire … ?

Particularly concerning is a report this week by veteran NASCAR writer Mike Mulhern, who reports that NASCAR is trying to keep a lid on any public criticism of the car. Mulhern writes:

"While out in public, drivers, car owners and team managers may all be putting on a good face about the car of tomorrow; however, behind the scenes there is even more turmoil than ever, and more vigorous complaints. Crews say _ privately _ that NASCAR officials are arm-twisting to keep their complaints about the car of tomorrow from making so many headlines. One team manager, who asked not to be named, listed several significant technical issues that he said crews have presented to NASCAR about the car of tomorrow that he said that NASCAR has so far ignored."

Of course the irony in all this is that one of the primary motives NASCAR gave for developing the Car of Tomorrow - and foisting it on the largely unwilling competitors - was to improve driver safety.

The car does have a larger cockpit and moves drivers away from the left side door, but other serious problems have manifested now two weeks in a row.

After the Cup series takes this weekend off for Easter it moves to Texas Motor Speedway where the COT will not run. The next appearance of the car will be April 18th for a night race in Phoenix.

If NASCAR has not resolved the above concerns by Phoenix - and any other serious safety issues that have been voiced publicly or privately, the Car of Tomorrow should not run. Period.

After Bristol there was talk of stepping up the implementation schedule for the COT, phasing it in fully by next season rather than over three years as was initially planned.

But that was before the incidents at Martinsville confirmed that the ones at Bristol were not merely a fluke.

If the implementation schedule could be sped up, it can conversely be slowed down, and should be.

NASCAR assures us that they are working to resolve problems quickly, particularly the one involving the door foam - a product known as IMAXX which is supplied by Dow Automotive.

Still, commenting on the foam situation, NASCAR technical director Steve Peterson said this: "Racing is a big laboratory. That's why a company like Dow is interested in being involved, because it helps their engineers with conditions that they maybe did not anticipate."

A laboratory? Yes.

With the drivers as lab rats and their health and safety the dependent variable.

If this was a clinical trial for a new drug, it would have been halted immediately until the health of the test subjects could be reasonably assured.

It may be time to do the same with the COT.

Not forever … but at least for now.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.