January 11, 2010
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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An announcement is expected to come in the near future about whether or not NASCAR officials are going to replace the rear wing on the Car of Tomorrow (COT) with a spoiler.
The new car will have to be tested with such a significant change before any modifications can be made to the current configuration, and it's unlikely that such a drastic change will occur before the 2010 season opener at Daytona.
This decision came after recent meetings about improving the racing product.
"We are currently meeting with drivers and owners to discuss a number of options," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston was quoted as saying in a David Newton article for espn.com. "Going back to the spoiler is one of them under serious consideration. We'll make an announcement in the coming weeks."
The Car of Tomorrow has received nothing but criticism since its inception in NASCAR at Bristol during the spring of 2007. Both drivers and fans alike have claimed that the new car killed the racing.
The only improvement that the COT brought to the track was the increase in driver safety, which was probably needed because the COT has caused some crashes that probably wouldn't have occurred in the old car.
Recent wrecks at Talladega involving cars flipping over have been blamed on the rear wing, although officials claim that the decision to look at replacing the wing with a spoiler has nothing to do with these accidents.
The rear wing on the car was supposed to enable the COT to race without being so dependant on aerodynamics. Whatever its intent, the rear wing hasn't worked and quite frankly, doesn't belong on a stock car.
One of the major criticisms that the COT has received is that it doesn't look anything like the manufacturer's cars that it is suppose to represent. The only manufacturer details on the COT are the decals on the front and the engines under the hood. All the cars are exactly identical, regardless of which make and model they are supposed to be.
In effect, the COT has transformed NASCAR from a sport where drivers actually drove different types of cars to an IROC type of series where drivers race "cookie-cutter" cars that have nothing to do with manufacturer details.
The Car of Tomorrow was a horrible idea and should be scrapped completely. However, that is not going to happen given the amount of money that NASCAR has pumped into the development of the COT.
Now NASCAR is forced to constantly reconfigure the new car because it simply is not working on the track. More time should have been devoted to testing and development before introducing it into the series.
The splitter on the nose of the COT is the next thing NASCAR should look at changing because it has done nothing but cause more accidents by cutting down tires when drivers bump into each other. Of course, one unforeseen useful feature of the splitter is that it does such a good job of cutting the infield grass when cars slide down off the racing surface.
Hopefully, replacing the wing with a spoiler will provide better racing for fans and will make the car easier to drive. Because improving its on the track product is the only thing that is going to help NASCAR's declining ratings.
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