July 17, 2007
By Andrew Brookman

In its first part time year on the track, the Car of Tomorrow (C.O.T.) has brought more than just a splitter and new dimensions. It has come with over 200 penalties and numerous crew suspensions thus far, beginning just prior to the 2007 season start. With all this coming down so fast it seems to feel like a matter of catching up; given some of the new direction in NASCAR, could it be?

One of the big changes that came with the NASCAR Car of Tomorrow (C.O.T.), the splitter has been a fundamental focus point for the teams and media. We have to look at this honestly and not fear its impact. While the previous car had grown on most of us, this year the new car has somewhat turned into a craps shoot. With the exception of Hendricks Motorsports, most teams had a pretty rough debut, and are still looking for that perfect combination.

For some of us fans it isn't un-natural to get on a kick every time the car of yesterday rolls out to race. I hear it almost every time the older model takes to the track, "why on earth did they have to mess around with what works", or some variation of that comment. The truth is both cars are a long way from the originals.

And I'm curious if the C.O.T. has tightened up the field by allowing some of the second tier teams to perfect their standard programs along the road to Car of Tomorrow compliance. Just look at some of the names consistently running in the top 10 and 15 this year. Is it also possible the C.O.T. has re-defined some of the drivers and their discipline? It's certainly something I'd love to ask Clint Bowyer and Jamie McMurray among others. Bowyer on fire and McMurray yielding Ford its first win at Daytona since Greg Biffle in the 2003 Pepsi 400. There is no doubt some of the mid-pack runners are performing better in both the C.O.T. and the car of yesterday.

Any night owl with the “Speed Channel” has seen this splitter device more than once on European tracks. In my opinion NASCAR's All-American approach and desire to please fans likely kept the splitter from debuting for quite some time. The COT was not “pretty” to most fans in its debut, some drivers even snubbed its looks straight up saying "its ugly." This is to be expected though, it's racing and cars have a need to be cool while being tough. For me, the C.O.T.'s boxier dimensions have grown on me; though I will admit there are a few times I've thought a Craftsmen Truck was coming around turn 4.

Prior to this season, NASCAR really hadn’t steered far from the original concepts of the nation in which its powerhouses were born to the road. Looking back on NASCAR's best years you’ll see cars that actually looked like the stock models consumers could once buy. The Chevy “Monte Carlo” really had that appeal last. From there it became a car unto its own. Today aero is even more a fundamental of NASCAR, which is a bit confusing when you consider the C.O.T. is slower than the last design, wider and taller. If you look around at some of the touring car racers you'll see tall dimensions as well. Check out a DTM race and you'll see all sorts of dimensions, splitters and fairings. Look to Australia's V8 Supercar races and you'll see a Ford Falcon puttin' it down very nicely with a slightly taller cabin. These really are some nice cars. I don't expect the C.O.T. will have a problem catching on at all.

Now I'm not quite ready to say that the COT is taken from foreign racing, but I will say the COT is using ideas already at work in international road racing. Because Aerodynamics is an international language, you will see the same principals have been applied elsewhere and often sooner.

This isn't Nurburgring (Germany) these cars are racing. Or could it be someday? And even if it were to be the next American Racing car to tackle arguably the finest European and Australian raceways, who could say that is a bad thing? After all we have heard rumors of NASCAR branching out to Europe and have seen the Busch Series (formerly the Busch Grand National) take their racing to Mexico. August 4th is now dedicated to the inaugural Canadian Busch Series race as well. I can see it all coming together pretty well actually, and it is exciting to be a fan in these times.

Don't fear the splitter. Embrace it, it isn't going anywhere except forward through a two-hundred m.p.h. headwind. In the spirit and pride of American racing cars, the Corvette C5R had been winning it's class and much more in GT class road races when designers modified the car yet again. Designing the C6R embraced many of the assets previosuly proved in road racing when they decided to include a splitter as one of their upgrades.

Though it's settings can be complex, the splitter simply does what it is named for. Splitting. In short it adds a surface for the high pressure airflow on the front end to push down (downforce) while splitting that air from the air flowing underneath the car (when set to proper specs.) By doing this, regardless if the car is indeed taller and wider, air is forced underneath the car at a faster rate, which means less stagnate high pressure air sitting under the car causing what equates to drag.

Believe it or not, with these advancements aero packages can be re-designed to safer standards, even if they are a little more box like. Given this, in my opinion the splitter is perhaps one of the most fruitful additions to the C.O.T. What comes next we will have to wait and see, but it's no wonder NASCAR has so many no-no zones and rules on this car. After a 5 year commitment spawned by the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr., the C.O.T. was already well thought out.

So is the C.O.T. actually the car of tommorow, or a great bringing up to date of the most successful racing dynamics already proven? Which ever it is, stems from what the pro's say, and your own opinion of course. As for me, I believe this car will prove phenominal and more exciting when its full design potential is realized.

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.