Rule Change Could Bring True Manufacturer Competition
                            (and Funding) Back to NASCAR

By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

So GM and Chrysler have cut back funding in the midst of their respective bankruptcies (We saw it coming a mile or ten away).

NASCAR is now considering other foreign automakers as possible NASCAR entrants. (That one's been coming down the pike ever since Toyota hit the track). Two big stories that have nothing and everything to do with each other.

GM and Chrysler Group, LLC both have to cut back funding to save their hinies, or at least delay their demise. NASCAR has to consider other entrants to save theirs. It's bad all over and the NASCAR you've grown to love (or despise) isn't going to stay the way it is much longer.

My uneducated prediction?

Chrysler Group (the newest foreign automaker at the track) will sit out the 2010 season. If the company survives through 2011, they may return -- but only to the Cup and Nationwide Series IF they can find a team willing to work with them again. Soon after Honda or Nissan will enter the Camping World Series and the face of NASCAR will be changed again.

 There's really no way to prevent more foreign owned brands from moving in. While NASCAR knows there will be more backlash, they also know that race fans love racing, and while there are some staunch hold outs still decrying the appearance of Camry in Cup, for the most part Toyota seems to be off the hook. Even Jack Roush has been making many public anti-Toyota remarks this season. Given that fact, there's no reason for NASCAR to worry about the sport falling apart if Honda or Nissan take to the track. So if it's inevitable, why not make a rule change that will open up the sport, but that will also make it a true manufacturers competition. Kill the carb and kill the push rod V8. Yep -- I just angered the majority of readers.

 I understand that big block engines are tradition. They harken back to the days of drivers racing revenuers instead of each other. But there are many other NASCAR traditions that have fallen by the wayside, like tobacco sponsors, a Petty on the track and an Earnhardt in victory lane; and it's time the current V8 engine went the same way.

I don't suggest this easily. The throaty sound those cars make the roar of Detroit Iron.. it's what racing has been all these years. But with things the way they are, it's time to change the rule book a little, and here's why.

 There is nothing stock about NASCAR anymore -- there hasn't been for quite some time. We've all accepted it and we've all continued to follow it. Win Sunday, sell Monday is pretty much a tag line and nothing more. Switching from the current engine to stock engines would change that, and I think that's what they should do.

I'm no engineer, so I'm sure there are some technological and mechanical hurdles that would have to be overcome, but tweaking an Impala engine to push from the rear instead of pull from the front can't be that hard, can it?

Here's my suggestion in a lugnut shell:

Start running the true, off the line, manufactured engines in all three series. The engine that drives that Toyota Camry on the street would be the same one that would run it on the track. Same for the Impala and Fusion and Charger. The immediate impact would be an advantage for GM and Chrysler as they are the only two on the track that offer V8's in their on track models. Ford could switch from Fusion to Mustang and bring a V8 to the party, leaving Toyota the only manufacturer two cylinders down. Once the stock engines are dropped in, creative engineering can take over with the rest of the drive train. The fastest car would actually reflect a bit of showroom reality. If the Charger engines keep blowing up, it says something about their reliability. If they run race after race and never fail, you know there is some quality there.

  The same could work in the truck series. Silverado, Tundra, F-series and Ram all come with big engines. Race them. To me this would go a long way for truck marketing. If an engine rolling off the line from a powertrain plant can push the limits of racing, it oughtta pull the trailers and haul the loads pretty well too. Yes, I know there is a difference between racing and "real" truck work, but at least there'd be some reality on the track.

You could even go so far as to restructure the series- Nationwide would be 6-cylinder class and Cup could be 8. The problem of course would be that Toyota doesn't have a V8 car in North American production. While leaving them out of the top series might be appealing to some, like it or not they are a major player in the sport right now. If they dropped out I doubt the other 3 manufacturers could support the teams Toyota would have to leave behind.

By using real manufacturers engines, it would open the sport to other manufacturers -- but they would have to rely on manufacturing quality and not R&D dollars to truly complete.

  There are many factors and variables in my theory that I'm sure I'm not including. That's why I'm a writer and not a car chief or team owner or NASCAR exec. I'd be interested in hearing what you all have to say on the matter.

 Follow Brian on Twitter: @DebrisCaution

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