Busch(or whatever soon) to switch car type?

[broadrun96]

Saw on speedtv.com that NASCAR was looking at switching to pony cars for the "feeder" series. Would be great to see something different between the classes. The article said the manufacturers have been consulted and are on board for the idea, not sure what Toyota would run but listed the usual Mustang, Camaro and Challenger as the body-styles. Could be cool esp if directed more toward the COT type look rather than the current ones.

[johntt]

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/nascar/busch/40293/

You mean this article?

I like the idea of giving it its own identity, usuing coupes rather than saloons.

[ThePenguin]

I think that giving the Busch Series cars their own body style and identity would be a very good thing to help distinguish them from the Cup cars. I also think that they need some kind of restriction on Cup racers also racing in the Busch Series, because almost all of the races in the Busch Series were won by Cup racers. They need do make this change so that the Busch Series can be what it was meant to be, and not another way for Cup drivers to make some easy money.

[Fish_Flake]

Anybody have pictures of the old TRAC templates? This makes me wish muggle not was around lately...

[jonesi]

Originally Posted by Fish_Flake

Anybody have pictures of the old TRAC templates? This makes me wish muggle not was around lately...

Looks like an ALMS vette:
http://www.jayski.com/pages/trac.htm

You might want to go back further and find the prototype of the 'L/R Car' that was proposed in the early? 90s. At the time there hadn't been a new speedway built in decades, so Nascar thought it would have to expand on road courses and wanted a better handling car so the races would be better.

[kingfloopy]

Good idea and one that should have been implemented a while ago. The only problem is that most of the strong independent Busch teams are dead now and if the Cup teams lose interest after the change then the series is still in trouble.

J.D.

[FIRE]

These TRAC cars look like TransAm cars.

[duke_toaster]

TRAC (Stillborn 2003) RIP.

I personally think that a move to Pony Cars would be a good move for Busch, but Toyota don't have a pony car unless they enter a Lexus SC or race a Supra (which hasn't been in production for 5 years). Then again, the FT-HS could be used but it would have to be dehybridised and the bodywork mutilated.

[Fish_Flake]

If NASCAR decides to implement this idea, it would effectively crush whatever plans the SCCA has for reviving the Trans-Am series. I would also anticipate even more road circuits on the Grand National schedule.

For anyone who doesn't know, TRAC was one of Speedway Motorsports Inc.'s threats to create a breakaway series from NASCAR. The COT, the Chase for the Cup, and the Ferko Lawsuit solved the issues that SMI used TRAC as a front for proposal, and the idea died soon afterward.

[broadrun96]

Have to agree with you, this move may not just seperate the look of the cars but also break the race weekends up more often. Could see more Busch and GA weekends together and Cup running standalones or with the local/regional feeder series running on Fri nights. Am thinking it is directed right at trying to limit SCCA or others from taking anymore of the racing dollars, both sponsors and fans. And could bring some GA teams thinking about going ALMS racing around to staying under the NASCAR "umbrella" and running GA and Busch races especially if separated from the "Buschwackers."

[muggle not]

Originally Posted by Fish_Flake

If NASCAR decides to implement this idea, it would effectively crush whatever plans the SCCA has for reviving the Trans-Am series. I would also anticipate even more road circuits on the Grand National schedule.

For anyone who doesn't know, TRAC was one of Speedway Motorsports Inc.'s threats to create a breakaway series from NASCAR. The COT, the Chase for the Cup, and the Ferko Lawsuit solved the issues that SMI used TRAC as a front for proposal, and the idea died soon afterward.

Hey, I haven't been around because I kept getting a pop-up ad on this site that would not let me access anything and i would actually have to exit the internet to get rid of it.

Glad to hear that you remembered the old Trac attempt at putting together a series. I wish it had taken off as it sounded pretty good to me and as you may remember I was in contact with the organizers obtaining information. We were very interested in the concept.

Back to the Nascar "Busch" series. What I am hearing is they will be using the chassis from the current Cup cars since there will be plenty available the next few years. Course I have been wrong before.

[muggle not]

Some of the proposed costs to obtain a franchise in the Trac Series before it went kaput:

Read about Trac here:
http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...ht=trac+series

[johntt]

Autoextremist.com has an interesting perspective on the idea:

FUMES by Peter M. De Lorenzo

NASCAR gets it half right.
Detroit. According to published reports and rumors that have been swirling for a while now, NASCAR, in a desperate move to inject some relevance back into its soon-to-be-sponsor-less Busch "AAA" support racing series, will announce by the end of the year that the series will feature all-new cars in 2009 - "pony" cars to be exact - the Chevrolet Camaro, Dodge Challenger, Ford Mustang and a pony car player to be named later from Toyota. This falls nicely in line with the rumblings that the Detroit manufacturers are going to resurrect the now-defunct Trans-Am series with factory-supported pony car teams in 2009, but that's another story.
The only problem when NASCAR makes this move, of course, is that these new race cars will immediately remind everyone that the Sprint Cup cars (formerly known as the "Car of Tomorrow") look like the bloated clown cars that they well and truly are. If the powers that be in NASCAR were smart, they would make plans for those pony cars to become the Sprint Cup cars for 2009 instead. But then again, we are talking about the geniuses down at Daytona Beach, so we shouldn't expect too much rational thought in one sitting.
Shifting to pony cars for the Sprint Cup in 2009 would make too much sense, and something making sense is a concept that NASCAR is capable of grasping only intermittently, apparently. I can only imagine what the manufacturers would do if they could actually make a physical connection between the cars that run in the Sprint Cup and the cars they're actually trying to sell in showrooms across America. Hell, they'd probably even pour more money into the France family racing circus - as if they needed to.
Every single one of the "CoT" developments could be easily incorporated into the production-based body shell structures of the new pony cars coming in '09, and they might even look like proper race cars for a change by the time they're done with them, which would be refreshing, to say the least. And while we're at it, I would dictate stock body dimensions, too, so that the four competitors wouldn't all look alike, and we could actually differentiate between the cars as they went by.
Let us hope that somehow, some way the NASCAR brain trust arrives at this idea all on their own. After all, if we're going to be subjected to the NASCAR marketing juggernaut for the foreseeable future - what with damn near every road racer in the world clamoring for a ride in the series - at least give us some interesting cars to look at as we lament open-wheel racing's slow fade...

[johntt]

http://www.scenedaily.com/stories/20..._daily273.html

Update - likely to be CoT, same wheelbase but with a smaller front splitter and a spoiler instead of a wing. We can assume the engines will be detuned a bit. No word on badging.

[ThePenguin]

I was hoping for a more unique style of car, but oh well. I wonder if the new sponsor had anything to do with it, even though we don't know their name or if its official yet.

[Mystery]

As someone who is clearly ignorant of such matters could someone please briefly explain what a "pony car" is. (A small Ferrari??)

[johntt]

Originally Posted by Mystery

As someone who is clearly ignorant of such matters could someone please briefly explain what a "pony car" is. (A small Ferrari??)

A 'pony car' is a term for american muscle cars such as the Ford Mustang/Dodge Charger/Chevrolet Camaro

[Foster]

Big V8 in a two door 4 seater coupe

[jonesi]

Originally Posted by johntt

A 'pony car' is a term for american muscle cars such as the Ford Mustang/Dodge Charger/Chevrolet Camaro

Also Pontiac Firebird/TransAm and AMC shortened wheel base Javalin called AMX. Most people reminisce about the huge V8s in the limited editions, but the majority of them had unimpressive sixes or small block V8s. Suspension & brakes weren't that impressive either, but they looked great.

[muggle not]

Originally Posted by jonesi

Also Pontiac Firebird/TransAm and AMC shortened wheel base Javalin called AMX. Most people reminisce about the huge V8s in the limited editions, but the majority of them had unimpressive sixes or small block V8s. Suspension & brakes weren't that impressive either, but they looked great.

And they were great fun to drive. What I wouldn't give to have back my 1969 Pontiac Custom S Convertible. I bought it new and it was a fun car to drive and as stated, really looked great.

[broadrun96]

Most of the pony cars had the larger small block engines of each manufacturer within a medium wheelbased car, which was then different from the longwheel based 4 door or true 2+2 cars that had the biggest engine they could find under the hood, as in the GTO, Chevelle, Cudas/Darts, Olds 442, Ford Fairlane/Torino. The Mustang could somewhat cross both lines with the larger Boss or GT500 KR but just don't have the classic size of a muscle car.
Im hoping for some of the COT design ideas in the Nationwide series and have more road races with GA. Could be a cool series and supposedly Chevy and Dodge have both been pushing the idea behind the scenes, makes sense with their new cars on the way. It would be hard for the tie-in to sell cars for Dodge though, supposedly the Challenger will be a limited edition, Vette priced car not a mainstreamed multi-engined platform like the Camaro will be.