For those who bash NASCAR's technology (a must read for open wheel-only fans)

[Joe Fan]

As much as the "F1/CART-only" crowd loves to bash NASCAR for its relatively low technology and as much as they claim that NASCAR is a "lower formulae", have they ever stopped to think that any open wheel series is conceptually based on late 1800's technology? I mean come on think about it. The first passenger cars ever produced were open wheel cars in the late 1800's which gradually were phased out design-wise to the more modern closed wheel, enclosed driver compartment production models by the 1940's. Open wheel race cars with open cockpits are a recipe for accidents and driver fatalties and probably should have slowly disappeared over time.

Why should we keep accepting drivers like Gonzalo Rodriguez and Greg Moore being killed because the open cockpit of these cars provide little protection to the heads of the drivers when the car turns over or lands upside down? Critics can badmouth high speed ovals but Gonzalo was killed on a road course and CART officials confirmed that Greg Moore's head never hit the infield wall in his fatal crash at California, so any situation where a Champ car overturns at high speed would allow the same scenario. And note that at this year's Le Mans race, a driver whose car flipped up in the air at a very high rate of speed, landed in some trees and the driver walked away unharmed. Come on, we are entering the 21st century why are these series so popular and still using a basic late 1800's design concept? Personally, I don't like seeing drivers getting their head rammed into the ground and their arms flailling out of the car in accidents. Are we such a sick and twisted society to fanatically continue to patronize these series that have cars with open cockpits without demanding major safety reforms? And to think that we are supposed to be entering the space age and that we should be a more advanced civilization after 100 years.

And I also hear critics say that NASCAR is an artificially competitive, contrived series. What series is more artificial and contrived really? I would have to say just about any open wheel series because what is the likelihood of me being able to buy and own a car with a V10 or V12 engine, without fenders, with an open driver compartment and with a huge wing mounted on the back of the car? (And by the way, wings are a late 1960's invention that disappeared from production model cars in the early 70's--see they are still clinging to outdated 1960's technology just like NASCAR.) At least NASCAR uses V8 engines and has mounted 5-6 inch spoilers on their deck lids. Something that you can still buy off the showroom floor today and at least NASCAR stock cars resemble their production model counterparts.

Another point I would like to bring up is how much of the cutting edge technology used in F1 aerodynamics can really be applied to modern cars? It seems to me that the $150-200 million dollars that the top F1 teams spend each year is a waste since F1 offers very little useful technology in the real world unless the speed limits are raised to 200mph. I would say that NASCAR makes greater strides in this area as experimentation on stock car aerodynamics can and is being applied to modern cars today to improve fuel mileage and to cut down on wind noise in the driver compartment.

I really feel deep down that open wheel cars are really lower formulae even though I know that it is not actually the case. Open wheel series should be training ground for closed wheel series. Why? Because it is easier to find the proper apex of a turn in an open wheel car than in a closed wheel car. A case in point was with arguably the greatest F1 driver of all-time, Juan Manuel Fangio, who complained about not being able to see the turns in his streamlined version of the W196C Mercedes-Benz car (the one that looked like a sports car) as he subsequently hit a number of oil drums that marked the course. Training-wise, open wheel cars serve a good learning tool for drivers when move up to race enclosed wheel, enclosed cockpit cars where they can't see their front wheels. It also teaches young drivers how to make clean passes because when two open wheel cars enter a corner, one has to lift sooner than in an enclosed wheel car to avoid potential wheel contact that could put both cars in the wall. Once they master this type of racing, then they can move up to enclosed wheel cars where fender to fender, door slamming passes are made and involve more car control skill. I mean really does anyone like to hear Paul Tracy and Michael Andretti whine about eachother all the time after wrecks when one tries to outbrake the other? I don't.

So why is there all this fascination with open wheel cars? In the U.S., NASCAR has leapfrogged over all open wheel series here for a multitude of reasons (more exciting on track product, the IRL-CART split, no recent spectator fatalities, etc.) but I would bet mainly it was due to the cars having more modern designs that fans can actually relate to. Why hasn't stock cars, rally cars, sports cars or touring cars done the same on the other side of the Atlantic?

Don't you think it is time for the "open wheel only" fans to shed the late 1800's technology and join the more civilized and advanced motorsports world of enclosed wheel racing? Just a thought.



[This message has been edited by Joe Fan (edited 24 December 1999).]