This week, Brian France, the chariman of NASCAR sat down to do an interview to discuss how he plans to improve the races, especially in the 1.5 mile tracks.
“I’m really excited about what our competition group is working on,’’
France said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “We had an important test a
couple of weeks ago (at Charlotte) and an important meeting last
Thursday with the crew chiefs and the drivers.
“I think you’re going to see already good racing get elevated a notch
or two if some of the things that we think are doable can happen. We
have a dedicated group working only on what is the best package we can
come with, in particular, on the mile-and-a-halves that give the most
drivers an opportunity to pass (and) to win.
“Candidly we’re evolving our approach to things. I use the words more
science than art, more fact-based things as we go into testing. We’re
marrying that with our institutional knowledge, what makes the cars
easier to drive, easier to pass. That’s what what NASCAR is all about.
However, that was not the most important piece of news.... Here's what caught a lot of attention...
France did not give a timetable for when a new manufacturer would enter the sport, joining Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota.
“The U.S. is the largest car market in the world,’’ France said.
“We’ll always be a critical market. My sense is at some point we’ll be
welcoming a new manufacturer in and we’ll be happy to do that.’’
This would lead to the speculation that was mentioned in an earlier note with NASCAR doing work already for their gen 7 cars, one of the rumors was they wanted to attract more manufactures and possibly do a V6 Turbo and Carbo Fiber (ala DTM). France realizes this if he wants to get more people at the track, this would be a good way to go. Besides, VW has a factory in Tennessee, Hyundai & Nissan have factories in Alabama & Ohio has had a huge factory... That makes Honda. Its time we get more manufactures in while still keeping GM, Ford & Toyota happy.
Now I would like to take some time on a subject that IMHO bothers me... Pay drivers, these are drivers who through sponsorship get a ride on a race team. The best example of this is one of the greatest motorsports in the world, Formula 1.
The reason why you see a lot more of these pay drivers, its because despite how fantastic F1 is, its also rather expensive to field a team. The best example is that of Pastor Maldanado, a Venezuelan driver who has backing from PDVSA, you see if Pastor didn't have that huge sponsorship, he wouldn't have the Williams ride, now one would think why would be upset, he's talented, knows how to drive... Because guys like Nico Hulkenberg that are talented are not living their F1 dream. The rumor is that Maldonado will take over Kimi's ride because again, he has money.
Sadly another example is the once former great team of Sauber who unfortunately were having money issues, so a group of Russian's help them out, in return an 18 year old would have a guarantee seat.
Last but not least is Toro Rosso (a bit of irony here) when Daniil Kvya beat out Carlos Sainz Jr and Antonio Felix De la Costa for the seat that was Daniel Ricciardo. Rumors swirled that it was because of financial backing but its rather ironic that Toro Rosso a sister team of the world's biggest energy drink needs financial backing....
It just sickens me as a motorsport enthusiast that pay drivers who have either very little or no talent at all managed to take away the ride for drivers that are the future. I hope one day that talent will outshine the almighty dollar, but sadly I don't think that will change for many many many years to come. Sadly, money will always talk. That's just my 2 cents though.
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