January 30, 2012
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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NASCAR introduced its Car of Tomorrow (COT) into the Sprint Cup Series on a full time basis in 2008.
Many consider the COT to be a mistake. In most areas, that sentiment is true. The only improvements that the COT brought to NASCAR were its safety features.
Both drivers and fans have disliked the COT from the beginning. Critics of the car say that it ruined the racing and in most cases that is true. Take for instance, the recent tandem racing at Daytona and Talladega that officials have been working so hard to fix this off-season.
NASCAR has made a plethora of changes in recent years, in effect shooting itself in the foot and driving away long time fans. When ticket sales and television ratings dropped, officials began "listening" to the fans and implemented changes to fix their mistakes. How many tweaks have been made to The Chase point format over the past few years?
The COT is no different. NASCAR has been tweaking the car since its inception and has been fiercely jealous about any unauthorized changes that the teams made to the cars, fining and suspending several crew chiefs for the infractions.
It was announced recently that NASCAR wanted to bring a little brand identity back to the cars on the track. The COT is a template car and the only thing to differentiate makes or models are the decals on the front. Last Tuesday at the annual Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour, Ford Racing unveiled its new car that will hit the track at Daytona in 2013.
At the press conference at Charlotte, the director of Ford Racing, Jamie Allison, spoke about the history of NASCAR and bringing manufacturer identity back to the sport.
"These great cars were driven by NASCAR’s greatest drivers and I was there down at the Hall of Fame where a couple more got inducted and I think the Hall of Fame is gonna be filled with a lot of great drivers over the years, but today the sun is going to shine a little brighter on these iconic cars. Fairlanes, Galaxies, Torinos, Thunderbirds, Fusion and Mustang in Nationwide," Allison said.
"What was so evident back then is our identity. The fans could tell a Ford from other makes. Along the way in this sport today we still have a fantastic sport, it is the best sport in the world, and last year was one of the best racing seasons. The competition could never be better, so we wanted to reach out to NASCAR and maintain the great competition that goes on the track and bring back a little bit of that lust, the fun, the excitement that fans have for cars and watching those cars race."
NASCAR President, Mike Helton seemed please with the new version of the COT that will debut next season.
"We’ve always understood but we get today, more than ever, loud and clearly that the NASCAR Nation is made up of car enthusiasts and NASCAR fans certainly love to pull for a brand or make of car second only to being able to pull for their favorite driver," Helton was quoted as saying at the press conference. "Today, I think, is a very significant landmark for us to point to as we go down the road and look back 50 years from now on the evolution of NASCAR as we get the opportunity, along with Ford and the other manufacturers involved in the Sprint Cup Series, to introduce and kind of look around the corner to 2013 at what the 2013 Sprint Cup cars will look like and we’re excited about that because it just didn’t happen overnight."
The fact that NASCAR is allowing the manufacturers to showcase a little brand identity is great. But Helton is right. It didn't just happen overnight. It only took officials five years to get around to it fixing something that should never have been changed in the first place.
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