TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Like It Or Not

ADVERTISEMENT

By TONY FABRIZIO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2008

Updated: 02/06/2008 12:12 am

DAYTONA BEACH - Tony Stewart called it "the flying brick." Kyle Busch won the first race with one and said he "couldn't wait to tell everyone how terrible the thing is to drive."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. slammed its looks, saying "it doesn't look racy; it doesn't look exciting."

While some drivers, car owners and crew chiefs praised the safety enhancements, complaints drowned out compliments last year when NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow debuted at 10 tracks.

But a new season begins Saturday night with the non-points Bud Shootout, and criticism of the COT - now simply the "new car" - has died down considerably.

Even the most ardent critics realize that since NASCAR has committed to running the new car everywhere this year, complaining will serve no purpose.

"The good thing is we're at least going to be in it all year," Stewart said at Joe Gibbs Racing headquarters recently. "We're not having to switch back and forth, and I think that's going to make us all feel better about it."

Kevin Harvick, defending champion of the Feb. 17 Daytona 500, agreed.

"Obviously, it's a different beast, but I don't think anybody is worried about what we did in the past. We're all looking to go forward," he said.

Jeff Gordon, once a harsh critic of the new car, has come around considerably since finishing second in the standings to teammate Jimmie Johnson last year. Carl Edwards, once highly frustrated, said he was "pleasantly surprised" after the recent test at Las Vegas.

John Darby, NASCAR's Sprint Cup director, said he expects attitudes to continue to shift.

"If you drive a Corvette and you drive a Ferrari, they're both great sports cars," he said. "But they're characteristically very different, which is one of the struggles we had in '07. When you drove the Ferrari one week and the Corvette the next, you knew there was a difference. Now everybody has the same Ferrari every week."

NASCAR spent years developing the new car at its research and development center in Concord, N.C., aiming to make a safer chassis, create more passing and eliminate the expense for team owners of having to maintain large fleets of track-specific cars.

The result was a car that's two inches taller and four inches wider and boxier in shape to reduce the dependence on aerodynamics. It has a lip, called a splitter, below the front bumper and a wing instead of a spoiler on the back.

Once the car hit the track, drivers complained that it was hard to make turns and that passing was difficult. Crew chiefs decried the tight tolerances and stifling of creativity. Many fans weighed in, too, saying the COT was ugly and that a sport built on the appeal of street cars racing on the track was becoming too homogenized.

Now many competitors are warming up to the car, and even those who aren't are resigned to the fact there's no turning back.

"I don't know, necessarily, that we're warming up to it; it's just that if they drivers want to drive a NASCAR stock car, that's what it looks like now," said Chip Bolin, Matt Kenseth's new crew chief.

"The car of tomorrow is something new, and a sport that is based on tradition is not going to like changing the entire car at once. So you're going to have that 'I don't like the car' syndrome. But when it's the only car you've got to drive, well ... you've got to start working on it."

The new car will be run for the first time this year at Daytona, Indianapolis and Pocono and on intermediate tracks - the most common type tracks on the circuit. Opinions were mixed after preseason testing at Daytona, Las Vegas and California.

Kyle Busch, who won the inaugural COT race at Bristol in March and proclaimed the car stunk, still thinks there is "work to do" with it. He believes NASCAR should loosen the rules to allow teams to raise the splitter and make other changes to give the car more front downforce.

"They just don't turn with the front end," he said. "You're supposed to be able to go down the street and turn your Toyota or Lexus and be able to get around the corner. Well, with these things, you have to make them steer from the back."

Chad Knaus, crew chief for champion Jimmie Johnson, says NASCAR has made some concessions.

"I think there are things that NASCAR ... has maybe identified where some of the tolerances they were holding were a little too constrictive," he said. "They're maybe opening their eyes to some opinions, and I think it'll probably get better as we go."

What everyone agrees on is the car is safer. Among the improvements: energy-absorbing crush zones, a seat location four inches closer to the center to better position the driver for impact, and a larger greenhouse, which allows for quicker escape.

Add the SAFER Barrier soft walls installed at most tracks, the HANS Device restraint system and improved helmets and seats, and NASCAR is far safer than it was in 2000-2001, when Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, Tony Roper and Dale Earnhardt were killed in crashes.

"The main impetus for this car was safety, and I think we have to stay focused on that in some way," said Kyle Petty, Adam's father.

Said Jeff Burton: "Six years ago, the story was NASCAR was lagging behind in safety compared to other forms of the sport. So then NASCAR went and made a tremendous commitment to building a car that was a tremendous amount safer, and they get blasted for that, too. In many ways NASCAR can't win."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT