Stock-car racing is one of the biggest spectator sports in the country, partly because, unlike Indy-type and Grand Prix racing, motorists can identify with the cars they see on the track. They look like the cars they drive.
But what they see and what they’ve got are two different things.
The NASCAR racers may look stock, but they are far from it. They have an engine that puts out 750 horsepower and makes the car capable of 200 miles per hour.
The NASCAR racers run on 110-octane fuel, and they don’t have mufflers or any impediment to exhaust flow. That’s why they’re so loud.
They’re rear-wheel-drive and they don’t have doors; the drivers get in through the driver’s side window. They don’t have air bags, but they do have a tubular cage to provide protection in a crash, along with five-point seat belts.
“The hood, the roof panel and maybe the trunk lid are all that are still stock,” said Buz McKim, head archivist at the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. “The rest is fabricated, within limits set by NASCAR.”
That’s why only the Big Three take part in the Winston Cup Series, the NASCAR series with highest visibility. A Winston Cup team needs access to a lot of money.
What does it cost? “We’ll spend whatever it takes,” said Lou Patane, vice president of Motorsports Operations and Mopar Performance Parts at DaimlerChrysler.
Rick Oleshak, a spokesman for NASCAR, says it costs an average of about $10 million to campaign a Winston Cup car for a year.
“But the payoff makes it worth the effort and expense,” Oleshak said.
“Demographic studies show the fans who come out to the races are extremely loyal to advertisers who support the cars. If a car is sponsored by Tide, the fans will buy Tide detergent.”
And if they see their car on the track, that’s powerful advertising. The old saying “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” came out of NASCAR racing in the 1950s and ’60s.
Loyalty to NASCAR sponsors runs higher than in any other sport, NASCAR studies show.
“Racing is all about building and strengthening relationships with owners and future owners of your products,” says Jim Julow, vice president of Dodge Division.
So although Winston Cup racers are quite different from stock cars, the effort is made to use the same styling cues, such as grille and taillights, and overall shape of the car.
Oleshak said there are three series in NASCAR racing and that the highest profile is the Winston Cup Series.
He said eligible cars at present are the Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Prix and Ford Taurus.
The Dodge Intrepid will join the field at the Daytona 500 race in 2001 after a 15-year absence by Chrysler.
(Chrysler’s departure coincided with the arrival of Lee Iacocca as head of the carmaker. Daimler-Benz brought it back to factory sponsorship of NASCAR because of its experience in European Grand Prix racing and the value to sales of winning on the track.)
A NASCAR stock car, he said, has a 358-cubic-inch engine, which puts out 750 horsepower and has a top speed of about 200 m.p.h. Maximum compression allowed is 12:1. One four-barrel Holley carburetor is specified.
The racer has a four-speed manual transmission. It runs on 110-octane fuel and has a 22-gallon tank. It weighs 3,400 pounds, not including the driver.
Inside the body, it has a rectangular steel tubing integral roll cage to protect the driver in an accident. The car is 200.7 inches long, 72.5 inches wide and a minimum of 51 inches high.
For comparison, a stock Pontiac Grand Prix GTP (Winston Cup cars are all intermediates) has a 240-horsepower V-8 with 8.5:1 compression ratio and an automatic transmission. It is 54.7 inches high and weighs 3,455 pounds.
All NASCAR racers are the same.
The only differences are the styling cues to identify the car, the skill of the driver and the efficiency of the pit crew.
McKim said that when NASCAR racing began in 1948, all the cars had to be stock.
“In 1955, `Fireball’ Roberts was disqualified because of grinding marks in his engine, which indicated some modification had been made,” said McKim.
Gradually, the rules changed to meet problems that arose.
The first deviations from stock were allowed in 1951-52, when Hudson Hornets were flipping over when they broke a rear axle, because of the shape of the wheel cutout on the Hornet. Wheel modification was then allowed.
More changes came, McKim said, when the high-speed Daytona Speedway opened in 1959.
Many were for safety considerations. “Tire technology took off and drove the move to higher speeds,” he said.
“The 1966 Dodge Charger was allowed to put a small spoiler on the rear of the car to keep it from becoming airborne at high speeds,” McKim said.
Seat belts were always mandatory, but the five-point belts were developed out of experience with high-speed accidents.
And in 1965, the fuel cell, a fuel tank with a foam liner to prevent explosions, was introduced.
“It has been a constant evolution,” McKim said. Many of the features developed in racing have made their way onto production vehicles–run-flat tires, disc brakes, aerodynamic bodies.
“Most of the aerodynamic developments have been attempts to keep the cars on the ground. But fuel economy is also very important to racing.
“If you can eliminate a fuel stop, that’s a big factor,” McKim said.
Stock car racing led to development by Detroit’s Big Three of some awesome performance equipment, such as the Chrysler Hemi engine and the big-block V-8s that powered the muscle car era in the 1960s and ’70s.
RACING FORM
Here’s how a NASCAR racer and a stock Grand Prix GTP stack up. Note that all NASCARS are built to the same specifications.
Grand Prix NASCAR
Engine 3.8-liter, 358-cubic-inch V-8
supercharged V-6
(231 cubic-inch)
Horsepower 240 750
Top speed 118 m.p.h. 200 m.p.h.
Maximum compression 8.5:1 12:1
Fuel system Sequential-port One four-barrel
fuel injected Holley carburetor
Transmission 4-speed automatic 4-speed manual
Fuel required 92 octane 110 octane
Tank capacity 17 gallons 22 gallons
Weight 3,455 pounds 3,400 pounds
Safety Air bag; three-point Rectangular steel tubing
seat belts integral roll cage;
five-point seat belts
Length 196.5 inches 200.7 inches
Width 72.7 inches 72.5 inches
Height 54.7 inches 51 inches (minimum)
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