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What Others are Saying About the Car of Tomorrow Running Full-Time Schedule in 2008
"I think it does help level
the playing field somewhat for the smaller teams. NASCAR is able to
keep a tighter lid on some of the trick things teams can do, and I
think that will benefit the teams that don't have the depth of
resources some of the bigger teams have. I see it as a positive move
all the way around. First, the car is a safer design, and anything that
can help keep drivers safe is something we should implement as soon as
possible.
“As far as the racing, to me the car puts things back into the drivers’
hands more. With the cars we’re using now, either you hit the setup or
you miss it. If you miss it, there’s not a lot a driver can do to make
up for that. With the car of tomorrow, even if the setup’s not perfect,
a driver can still make things happen and have a good run.”
-Jeff Green, NASCAR Driver, 5/22/07, Associated Press
"While we will probably never
again see the day when a young rookie like Ricky Rudd or Bill Elliot
shows up at a track with a car they built in their home garage, we may
see a return of the successful one-car operation. The end result is
that in a couple years the playing field will be more level. The Car of
Tomorrow will eventually create the most dynamic change in racing in
the long history of NEXTEL Cup. As drivers and crews continue to adapt,
the racing will be more competitive and we will see a significant
increase in side-by-side racing."
-Humpy Wheeler, President of Lowe’s Motor Speedway, 5/22/07, Associated Press
"It will help us tremendously
because we're a start-up organization and it would help us streamline
our efforts. It will save everybody money. It will be more competitive
going forward and I look forward to it being all-in right away.”
-Michael Waltrip, NASCAR Driver, 5/22/07, Associated Press
"NASCAR made the right
decision for the drivers, the teams, the racetracks [promoters] and
most importantly, the fans. I like the car. I'm impressed with how well
it's performed out of the box, and the fact that it's put on good races
is a plus."
-Eddie Gossage, Texas Motor Speedway President, 5/22/07, Ft. Worth Star Telegram
"It's a great move by NASCAR.
I think we've gotten into some headaches with it in the races that we
have run, but we need to race it more and more. We need to learn it and
get into a rhythm. This will obviously do that in 2008. You have to
applaud NASCAR for making this move. I'm all for running this car as
soon as possible every week.”
-Kyle Petty, NASCAR Driver, 5/22/07, NASCAR.com
“From a cost and operations perspective, the move to the Car of
Tomorrow in 2008 will benefit all the teams. Initially, NASCAR took a
conservative approach to the implementation of the Car of Tomorrow, but
I think that one type of car in 2008 will be more efficient for team
operations and should provide good, competitive racing for the fans.”
- Roger Penske, Owner, Penske Racing
“From Joe Gibbs Racing’s
standpoint, it’s clear that this is the road we’re going down with the
Car of Tomorrow. NASCAR and the teams have spent many years developing
it. We’re running it at a number of race tracks this year, and it was
clear that we were running it full-time in the future. It’s very
difficult for teams to run both the Car of Tomorrow and the current car
simultaneously.
“Across the board, most
everyone’s feeling in the sport is that we’ve come out of the box and
have had some good experiences with it, so let’s just implement it
full-time in 2008. We’re on board with that, and for us, it makes a
lot of sense.
“Give NASCAR credit. We
trust them to make good decisions. For the 16 years that we’ve been in
the sport, we’ve seen amazing growth. A lot of that credit is due to
NASCAR and the way they manage the sport and handle it. If we have
problems or issues, we can go to them and address it the right way and
they’ll listen. The encouraging thing for us with this project is that
we’ve gone through a huge transformation within our industry and to be
able to come out of it and advance the Car of Tomorrow’s timetable –
that should make everyone feel good, because it means we’re going in
the right direction.”
- J.D. Gibbs, President, Joe Gibbs Racing
"The Car of Tomorrow will
eventually create the most dynamic change in racing in the long history
of NEXTEL Cup. As drivers and crews continue to adapt, the racing will
be more competitive and we will see a significant increase in
side-by-side racing.
"This car is also going to be safer and
by 2010 potentially save each team $1 million per car annually. We will
get away from dependence on aerodynamics and extremely soft setups.
NASCAR's inspection process will also be much faster and simpler.
"While we will probably never again see the day when a young rookie
like Ricky Rudd or Bill Elliot shows up at a track with a car they
built in their home garage, we may see a return of the successful
one-car operation."
"The end result is that in a couple years the playing field will be more level."
- H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, President and General Manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway
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