NASCAR’s Changes Becoming Common

Now appearing at a Winston Cup track near you--the 2003 Fodgiac. Fodgiac?

That’s the nickname in the garage for the re-designed Pontiac, which in essence is simply a third generation Ford Taurus. Same templates, similar design--only the decals have been changed to protect what product identity these cars have left.

When NASCAR approved the new model for the Grand Prix last year, it gave the Pontiac teams the templates from the Dodge Intrepid as a baseline for the design of the new car. NASCAR defines templates as “devices used to check the body shape and size to ensure compliance with the rules.” They also are supposed to “closely resemble the shape of the factory version of the cars.” But lately, any resemblance to the showroom models is purely incidental.

In 1999, when DaimlerChrysler decided to return Dodge to Winston Cup racing for the first time since 1985, the Ford Taurus was considered the strongest car aerodynamically. There were just 15 months to develop the Dodge for the 2001 Daytona 500, so NASCAR borrowed the Taurus templates to expedite the building process.

By the time Ford offers NASCAR the 2004 Taurus for approval this autumn, that car should prove to be the most aerodynamically efficient machine at the track, especially because it will have been tested and tweaked for more than five years with de facto help from Pontiac and Dodge.

In its search for parity among the manufacturers, NASCAR is moving toward the day when the cars are so close in design that the only things that may distinguish one make from another are the manufacturers’ emblems and headlight decals.

Just line up the four makes of cars without identification--Ford, Dodge, Pontiac and Chevrolet--and see whether you can tell the difference. According to Winston Cup Director John Darby, if all the cars were painted white, sans sponsor decals and numbers, telling them apart would be virtually impossible. “Today we’re not as far away from (common templates) as the outside might appear,” Darby says.

However, common templates would benefit the teams because of the money they would save on testing. NASCAR limits teams to seven tests a year (13 for rookies) on tracks on the Cup schedule, but nothing stops them from taking their cars to other speedways, proving grounds or wind tunnels.

Teams test in an attempt to find out what adjustments on the cars work best at what type of tracks. With common templates, teams wouldn’t have to test as often because all the cars would react the same aerodynamically.