January 28, 2004

“Good afternoon Suckers, oops I mean race fans, and welcome to the Daytona 500."

"Today will be the first of the 26 races leading to the 10 race playoff at the end of the glorious season of racing by the 25 teams owned by Hendrixroushdeiganassieverenham Inc.” “Today’s race is sponsored by NEXTEL, the only major sponsor left in NASCAR!”

I envisioned this scenario today while reading that NASCAR is considering a “Template Engine” to go along with their “Template Thingies" that they call cars. Can you hardly wait until we have IROC on a grand scale? We already have shocks given out by NASCAR, how long before we have the whole danged car?

Randy Dorton, “Mr. Enginewrench,” for Hendrix said on Monday that NASCAR is “Looking” at the idea of a template engine for Possible use in the next few years. If it is looking, can doing it be far behind? Has NASCAR ever looked at anything and not done it? This is especially true at NASCAR where making more money, is concerned.

I can just see the future where the rules specify the same bodies, the same engines, the same tires and the same 25 cars racing every week. The only difference will be the decals and the drivers. You notice I said only 25 racers; there might be more if Roush can buy out every Ford team, with the blessing of NASCAR.

The reason for so few is that; why would any savvy advertiser want to sponsor a vehicle in what will most certainly be a dying program. Why would anyone want to see a few cars playing “Follow My Leader” around the California track? Or, for that matter, watch identical cars running anywhere, just look at the overflow crowds IROC attracts now.

But from the other side of the coin, I can see more and more auto makers running with money in hand to run in a series that requires no technical expertise be extended to make a competitive car. Just lay out cash for a spec racer and go to town. There might be more cars out there than I think.

Imagine this race fans, your favorite non-racing car company might just enter a car in the all new NASCAR series. The endless array of new decals on the track boggles the mind.

Can’t you see it now? Just envision Mercedes, BMW, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Audi; all racing against Volkswagen, Subaru, Daewoo, Isuzu, Kia, Honda, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Toyota, and Nissan. All these racing against the American decals, Buick, Chevrolet, Ford, Mercury, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Hummer, Cadillac, and Lincoln.

And you get all this racing glory for the price of the car, engine, and decals. What a bargain!

You can send feedback to Rob at: Insider Racing News

You Can Read Other Articles By Rob

The Changing Face Of NASCAR-Good Or Bad?
A Modest Proposal For NASCAR
The Die-Cast Market: Dead On Arrival?
Rules Are Made To Be Broken
The 2003 NASCAR Songbook
One-Sixteenth Of An Inch, Part Deux
One-Sixteenth Of An Inch