As a further insight...if No part of the POS is from the manufacturer....Why all the effort to look like a car made by brand X ?
That just proves the point..those that are so involved know not what they are in fact watching....To brag about a ford or Chevy or dodge or toy Winn.........did not LOL !!!

You need to understand the evolution of the sport.

Up until the 70's, they did, in fact, drive factory cars with roll cages.

Over the past 40 years, the rules have modified the cars over time so that now they are running spec cars. The previous generation of cars did have to be shaped like the production car they were supposed to be. They bought (hand-made, NASCAR-specific) body panels from GM, Ford, Chrysler, and Toyota.

There is a "GM", "Ford", "Chrysler", and "Toyota" engine. With the exception of the Toyota engine, each is directly descended from a design from each manufacturer in use in the 60's. Even though now the engines are made 100% in-house by each team, they still maintain the bore and firing order from a long-obsolete production engine.

Once again, over a period of 40 years, stock cars have evolved into spec cars. There are still the vestiges of stock production cars, but everyone understands what they are really watching.

True, i did enjoy the 'stock cars '.....
not the Nasty cars

When they left the "stock car' and went to nasty car detroit lost out
They were no longer going to school at the track
We did not have a brand flavor any more
Maybe i am just old but i enjoyed the personalities of yesteryear.
The new guys are such arrogant bastards

Note that Rolex, etc. do the same for 'spec' racing.

RX8, Camaro, whatever that last pontiac thing was, vette, etc etc etc

You know where you can see actual, stock cars race?

ALMS and Roles. ;)

I think the Corvette brand has benefitted tremendously from racing. The Corvette was a two-seat cruiser with a big engine before they started racing it. Now it's a true competitor. Seeing Porsche and Corvette battle it out for the championship last year in ALMS was some of the best racing I've ever seen.

I'm surprised at you guys....
AFAIK, cheesecake has always been a part of racing.

http://johnshotrods.com/69_Linda.jpg

http://www.beyondhollywood.com/galle...y-nascar-1.jpg

http://images.paraorkut.com/img/pics...girls-2308.gif

I am much more disappointed at Carrol.
He was once a relevant personality in motorsports. Now he is as much a whore as the Kardashian girl.

Something I don't understand: What was the motivating factor behind implementing the Car of Tommorow? Safety? Fairness? Equality? Reduced expenditure?

And why does the Nationwide Series still run the "older" bodystyle (non-COT)? Is safety/equality/reduced expenditure not as much of an issue in their series?

Excellent question.

Safety was the stated objective. The program was begun in response to Dale E's death. I think all of the other factors you mentioned also played a role. Did you know that prior to the COTM, teams had separate short track, long track, and road course cars? They would adjust the wheel base and cooling capacity for each kind of track. Now, each team must run the same car at each event.

As for Nationwide, they will eventually be adopting the COTM as well, but they have been given a reprieve as many of the teams don't have the funding to switch over just yet.

I wonder if they can spell fuel injection in Tennessee

Well, actually, the GM, Ford, and MOPAR motors have no more in common with their companies' respective small blocks of old than the Toyota motor has with any of their production motors. The purpose-built NASCAR motors of today share no more than a design concept - pushrod V-8 - with anything those companies have ever produced for the road. They are no longer production based in the least. Special block and head castings, cranks, everything - nothing interchanges with standard small blocks from any manufacturer.

And talk about "spec" motors - NASCAR has gone as far as to specify which cylinder mbank is staggered forward (the right side) and what the firing order has to be. No other series goes to that level of detail in their rules. It's not just with the motors, either. That level of detail is called out in every aspect of the car.

Thank you Jeff, there must have been another change in the rules with COTM regarding engines that I had not noticed.

I know that when Toyota entered the series, they were allowed to chose their firing order and a few other details. It sounds like the motors are essentially identical now.

carburetor's no gimme, either

OK, another thing I don't understand: I've been to CART, ALMS, Grand Am, etc. events, as well as plenty of vintage races. I've been to one NASCAR event (at California Speedway).

The only time I've ever been prohibited from bringing in stuff was at the NASCAR event. I was limited to one camera bag and one diaper bag (for the kids). No glass bottles or frozen reusable ice packs of any kind. The guys at the gate were very nice about it, but explained that disallowing glass bottles, for example, was to prevent dangerous fights amongst spectators and stuff being thrown on the track. WTF? At what kind of event do the spectators routinely break into fisticuffs and/or throw stuff onto the track? Am I crazy? Who's the d1ckhead who's gonna try to tag the Reynard/250 GTO/935/Panoz with an empty?

Ironically, the first concession booth we came across once we were in was the one selling 16 oz Miller Lites...in glass bottles.

that is not a NASCAR rule...that is a venue/promotor rule. when was the last time you brought in glass to a stick and ball stadium?

bet you could find plenty of glass bottles in the motorhome lot at most Nascar races.

;)http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1267483866.jpg

Add me to the list.

wow havent you guys been on the net for the last 5 years?