Hendrick against the Car of Tomorrow
Quote selected text Published October 31st, 2007 in NASCAR News
Rick Hendrick didn’t take NASCAR seriously when officials first talked about building the Car of Tomorrow.
Had he, the owner of Hendrick Motorsports would have tried harder to convince the governing body to improve the current car instead of constructing a new one.
“I made a huge mistake by not trying to lobby a little bit earlier, I guess,” Hendrick said during Monday’s COT test at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “I’ve always been against it, and I haven’t changed.
“What we had put on a really good race [Sunday]. We could have modified the car we had if we didn’t have any safety problems.”
Monday’s test was the first step toward implementing the COT into mile-and-a-half tracks next season. Although the cars have gotten decent reviews on short tracks — 1.366 miles at Darlington and under — and the fall race at Talladega Superspeedway, Hendrick believes the 1.5-mile tracks will create a different set of problems.
“I don’t think we’re through with the Car of Tomorrow,” he said. “When they put them all out here together they’re going to have to do a lot of changes and a lot of body work, and a lot of aero work is going to have to go on.
“I don’t think you’re going to be able to run these things stock like we’re looking at right now.”
More at ESPN.com
Bookmark to:
- Car of Tomorrow slated for road-course debut
- Hendrick re-ups with Chevy
- Max Papis tests Hendrick COT at VIR
- Hendrick drops plans to appeal Sonoma penalties
- Hendrick ready to leave the No 25 behind
Not really a Hendrick fan but I agree with him
wrote:
I agree with this statement that the work on the car of tomorrow is not done. 1-1/2 mile tracks are a lot different that short tracks in areo problems. The car has proven to be very safe and durable on the short tracks but needs work on Atlanta Daytona size tracks to prevent the in-line racing we have seen so far.
Safer is better and problems with any completely new car such as this will take some time to conquer.
Truth is the car they ran last year and most of this year is pretty damn safe. We’ve seen some horrific wrecks, and drivers hit the wall extremely hard, only to walk away just fine. I’m all for safety but it seems like they had a good grasp of it already before the COT. The safer barriers have had a great impact on the safety of drivers, and maybe the COT really wasn’t needed.
I’m not making any opinion on this subject until I see what the COT actually will do on a mile 1/2 track.
the COT chassis was needed. I beleave that we should keep the new chassis but fit the olderer body styles onto them. Issue Done. The COT is an example of when you try to fix a problem that isnt there. “IF it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
COT safety in factory stock cars STOCK CAR RACING AGAIN PLEASE!!!!!!
I agree with Dark Knight, the present cars are a result of years of safety improvements.
I just wish Hendrick would have voiced his dislike for this (IROC) car way before now. Every time a driver has said something bad about the COT he has been called to the carpet by NASCAR and a gag order issued. I wonder if they will do it to Hendrick? I heard him talking the other day about how MUCH this car has cost him, and how NASCAR said it would save money down the road. The money they will loose with the current cars will be tremendous.
Now there’s talk of the Busch (Nationwide) Series going COT in 2009. I really don’t think they can afford that kind of change without going under. It won’t matter anyway, with the fans leaving the sport in droves and the falling TV ratings, NASCAR is in serious trouble. They better start listening to the fans and slow down with so many major changes.