[Bob Tanner]

I dislike eating crow but when I think it's necessary I try to put on a smiley face and chew away. This is one of those times.

Any of you who were around last year probably remember that I was extremely vocal about my dislike for the [then] new COT, (or NA$CARmobile.v2, as I called it). One of the milder thing I wrote was in the "Chevie's new COT" thread, dated 11/06/06:

"NASCARmobiles are every bit as popular with me as The Playoff, Guaranteed starting for the top 35, Cup Raiders and Brian France."

The Playoffs, Chosen 35 and Brian France are still at the bottom of my things to like about NA$CAR. However, the new race car has some good points which has, mostly, changed my mind.

First, one of my complaints was that it turned the Cup Series into a version of IROC.

With the old car, they cars were almost all of a single template. They were set to dimensions set down by NASCAR, NOT the mfg's. This has changed somewhat but the fact the the only real difference between the cars was the grill design and the headlight decals remains basically the same. NASCAR has left in enough adjust ability that the cars can be set up very differently.

The front splitter and rear wing were fragile and didn't belong on a stock car. Well, the cars aren't even close to stock. The splitter has been a problem with exactly one car in the COT races so far. The wing..? They had wings on the '69 Charger and Super Bird so there is a precedence for wings.

The high roof line is "ugly." "Ugly" is relative. After I got used to it, the new car look more like a stock car that the old car did, height-wise.

It is definitely safer. The wider distance from the side roll bar to the driver has got to be a plus.

The big thing for me was the car itself. NASCAR had allowed the teams to twist and reshape the "grey areas" of the old car so much that, when you look at one head-on, it looks as though it's going down the track at a angle. It's apparent to me that no longer are the races necessarily won on the track by drivers; they are won in the wind tunnels and fab shops by some aero-geek with a computer and a good CAD program.

And, when I heard that Kevin Harvick , and maybe 15 others, have driven the same car in all the COT races so far, made a believer out of me. Anything that will help the smaller team compete against the mega-team is a winner in my book, even though I fear that it is way too late to save them.

I'm still not a COT-lover. But, if I were to have a choice between the new COT and the old down-force car, I'll take the new one, if for no other reason that the drivers hate it. They say they have to work harder with the new car. That, in itself, is enough to make it like it.

Now, would you please pass that plate of crow?

[BringBackWilkesboro]

I agree again Bob. Crow don't taste so bad with a little hot sauce.

My biggest issue with the COT was the splitter. The Pontiacs of the late 80s and early 90s had a splitter like design on the front end, and there was always somwbody complaining about it making the car tight. The air would get trapped in the space between the "splitter" and the rest of the front end and make it difficult to turn the car. Even with a much more radical indentation on the COT, I just haven't heard those complaints, Kyle Busch being an acception but he's not happy unless he's complaining about something.

No one can debate it's safety. The extra 4 inches between the driver and roll bars has to be a plus. And although it has no manufacture resemblance and a street mod-like wing and splitter, it does look more like a stock car. They bent up the fenders so much on the old car that I'd hardly even consider it a car.

I still haven't seen the improved competition, but it hasn't gotten worse either.

[Racer Duck]

I've been told by racers in the know that the harder a driver has to work to make the car win, the better the driver becomes (kinda like working that muscle between the ears...)

so if today's racers don't like the COT 'cause it makes them work too hard, then they are the same ones that don't like flat tracks - they have to work too hard. who knows, they might have to start spending more time in the gym building their endurance than posing for cameras and frequenting the hot night spots... that'd be a real shame, wouldn't it?

[BringBackWilkesboro]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

I've been told by racers in the know that the harder a driver has to work to make the car win, the better the driver becomes (kinda like working that muscle between the ears...)

so if today's racers don't like the COT 'cause it makes them work too hard, then they are the same ones that don't like flat tracks - they have to work too hard. who knows, they might have to start spending more time in the gym building their endurance than posing for cameras and frequenting the hot night spots... that'd be a real shame, wouldn't it?

Sure would Duck.

I said a while ago that it used to be if you weren't ready to pass out after a race, you didn't do something right. Now, If you ARE worn out, you didn't do something right. A little work is a bit much to ask of alot of these kids. I mean they don't even get under the hood anymore.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by BringBackWilkesboro

Sure would Duck.

I said a while ago that it used to be if you weren't ready to pass out after a race, you didn't do something right. Now, If you ARE worn out, you didn't do something right. A little work is a bit much to ask of alot of these kids. I mean they don't even get under the hood anymore.

yeah, but they at least know where it is .. 'cause that's what blocks their view of the race while in the pits for engine repairs - and they know what the engine is 'cause they seen one sitting in the garage after they blew it in practice.

[LSC9901]

Well I've kind of sat back in silence because the car has proven to be safer and less destructable. Both good things. I do hate the fact that they are now just IROC cars in disguise but the important factor brought up here and in soem previous threads is that the driver has got to drive the car to a victory. It is no longer all about strategy, although it still comes into play. '08 wil be an inteesting season.

Now if they'd just can the chase !!!