I am curious to know what everyone thinks of the COT. After watching the 500 today and from the races last year
do you think this new car is racier then the cars from the past ?

Chris

I think the wing still looks stupid. Other than that the race was about the same.

I think they raced pretty good, better than the cars last year, the wing might look stupid but it seems to keep the cars going forward and not spinning out like the old superbirds, I like the inside of them, they are much roomier, thats big for a wiring/interior guy like me I think they will be fine the drivers say they are harder to drive, Our head body hanger said they lack as much as 700 pounds of downforce from the old car

(keeping opinions to myself)

...former poster

it seemed the COT was easier to save, or was it just me? the BIG ONE didn't happen, and there were only like 4 cars in a wreck at any given time...other than that, the COT raced great. At the end, where most of the excitememnt happens anyway, it seemed to help drivers give each other boosts and also helped others pull ahead.

over all, i am impressed and look forward to the next race...

Didn't see much of a difference in racing. They could stay on the track for more laps with the bigger fuel cell. The BIG ONE never happened, which in my opinion is good. Still all in all it was pretty much the "usual suspects" up front most of the day with a sprinkle of Sam Hornish and Dave Blaney. Overall, it wasn't what I expected with the COT at Daytona.

The bottom groove has whooptie-doos in it like a motocross track and Bob's still blaming it on the car.

Maybe once they mandate something to keep the cars off the bump-stops, that will take care of it.

I didn't see any 3 wide all day packs in the Nationwide race either...

I LIKE the COT, and so do all of the smaller teams.

Mike

Bob,

Not all of us have the same STRONG opinion of this new car. I have seen many BORING races with the old cars.

Like when Dale Jarret lead most laps @ MI a few years ago and others that I can't think of right now.

Bob, I like you but you need to get off of the negative feeling you have for so much of our sport, be it the changes @ Kalamazoo, Berlin, F1, or Cart. I could give a dam what you think to yourself, but you just come across real bad at times on here. Go out your front door, take a deep breath, come back in with a clear head and go back and read some of your own post.

This world changes and we need to adapt. Hell I bet you use a cell phone and a lap top, things that most of us were against just a few short years ago. By the way do you get up and walk to the TV every time you want to change a channel on your dish or cable station or use the mircrowave when in a hurry?

Heck I bet you even refrain from using cruise control and A/C in your car, you need to lighten up and find some fun in all that goes on in this world.

OK, off the soap box , have a great day Bob.

The, Governor / Dan Logan

I don't have a problem with the COT anymore. It is what it is and that is the "Cup Car". Quit calling it the COT and just refer to it as the cup car period.

I do however think that NASCAR needs to do something to allow them to quit running on the bump stops.Everyone of us knows that when you bind up the suspension (or stop it in this case) you are now depending on the tires to act as the suspension. As was seen yesterday and all week long is that it makes for some very twitchy cars. I truly believe that if the cars could use the full range of suspension rather than a bump stop you would see some different racing with this latest rendition of a "Cup Car".

Lets see how they do on a smooth track. By the way, is it me or was Kyle Busch just plain over his head all day yesterday. I give the kid credit for not wrecking but if he had I am sure he would be the biggest boob today and not just a kid with a fast horse and quick reactions.

that race was Gibbs' to lose and it happened. the power thay had over everyone else kept them upfront and they were the ones to beat. If that race would have been 500.5 miles, Stewrat would have won. I was glad to see an underdog win and Kurt Busch finish infront of StewRAT. Hendricks could get to them but not by them. Its great not to see the same guy (or team) win everyweek and dominate. With the bigger restricter plate and more throttle response it made for a much better race. I still hate plate races though, but that was a good one.

I have no problem with the car that is present in 2008 (it is no longer the Car of Tomorrow). I can see where all the racing purist don't care for, the ones that are brand loyal, because they all pretty much look the same. Not a lot of differences between the Toyota's, Dodges, Fords, or Chevy's. That doesn't matter much to me, but I know plenty of people it does matter to. If I want to see obvious branding lines, I'll go to my local short track. I won't look to NASCAR for that anymore. Win on Sunday, buy on Monday is a retired statement now-a-days.

The problem still lies within the restrictor plates. Yesterday, we had guys SUNDAY driving until there are 50 miles left, like they were on PARADE. Then, when did all the cautions happen?? When they are all bunched up. I liked that a group of cars that were indeed faster could pull away from a group that wasn't. Isn't that racing?? Not 43 cars running together because of motor RESTRICTIONS. Cars running 3 abreast, 14 rows deep is not the norm. It is dangerous, and totally forced by NASCAR. Someone is going to get hurt. Oh wait, some already have, and some HEROS have even died!!!

Get used to it folks, the COT is here to stay.

I am still not happy about the COT. The first 150 laps of the 500 yesterday was pretty boring. Except for the commercials.

NASCAR is NA Stock Car AR and the COT is even further from that than before. All the cars are the same shape and size. At least before the different models still had the basic shape of the car that you could go to the dealership and buy on the lot. Not so with the COT. It is all stickers, which is a poor substitution.
I still think all the new safety features and the splitter and wing could have been incorporated into the old cars and still maintained some of the actual model body shape so they would at least somewhat resemble the 'stock cars'.

The COT is just another way for NASCAR top brass to control everything and everyone while using safety as an excuse. Brian France is a jerk plain and simple.

But......nevertheless, I am still a NASCAR junkie!

You know...I was gonna come on here today and say something about not paying attention to my rant about the race, and how my REAL complaint is how the sport seems to ignore everything pre-2001 (Richard Petty listed in the Media Guide as a "seven-time Sprint Cup Champion...what kind of service did he get in the '60's?) and how "core fans" like myself feel like we don't matter anymore.

50 years of history and it's nothing but an afterthought. A rediculous series of period montages with Mike Joy in bad clothes talking over the great moments. A gathering of past winners virtually ignored until the command, and then all we hear is DW who kept the mic in front of his own mouth.

Not sure they ever mentioned Richard Petty waving the green, but when DW did the 150's, they were on him in the flagstand for the first two laps. The broadcasters are now bigger than the event.

As for the note towards me...seeing the past between us Dan, I would have thought that better for a PM than an open post.

As for my feelings towards the local tracks you mentioned...I'm signing off here to go back to work on several PAGES of ideas to try and promote the tracks and bring in fans...which the management of BOTH tracks asked me to send them.

I'll keep all future OPINIONS to myself.

can you still order the "Winston Cup Scene" and what is it called now?

Up until the mid-80's, it was known as the "Grand National Scene".

-Maurice

Actually Granny, they have been using common templates on Cup and Busch cars (I Just can't say Nationwide yet) that means the bodies were identical except for some very small differences on the nose, thats it so you have been looking at the same size and shape for quite a few years, the thing here is Nascar is the Engine that drives our sport, like it or hate it thats the way it is, down here all the tracks are Nascar sanctioned and at my home track Hickory, there are 5 or 6 Big teams fielding late models and LLMs every year, we eat sleep and drink racing here and I LOVE IT, our season at Hickory starts in a month and I can't wait, one of the big reasons they went to the COT was to cut down on the number of cars a team had to have, and the proof of that was JJ racing a car built for Martinsville at Daytona, how competetive do you think a short track car in the old form would have been at Daytona? it will in the long run save money

I still do not like the looks of the car at all and think it takes alot away from the origin of the sport and is a joke from the manufactors stand point. I do like that it was designed safer for the drivers...(wish that would have been done of before Dale's accident.) Anyhow the 500 reminded me of the 1989 500. By that I mean they were able to break away in small packs as well as be in a group like we are used to seeing. It seems like the drafts are stronger and provide more of the old slingshot move. The finishes seem to be closer with the COT. However, NASCAR doesn't let the race get what some call "boring" anymore. A derbis caution is still very predictable to make for good TV. It's hard to compare winston cup cars/races to Nextel/sprint cup cars/races because it seems like the races today are made for TV (The "debris" cautions) ratings and less about how the race would have played out as opposed to TV covering the race boring race or exciting however it may play out.

[quote name='BobKoorsen' date='Feb 18 2008, 01:10 PM' post='115900']how my REAL complaint is how the sport seems to ignore everything pre-2001 (Richard Petty listed in the Media Guide as a "seven-time Sprint Cup Champion...what kind of service did he get in the '60's?) and how "core fans" like myself feel like we don't matter anymore.
50 years of history and it's nothing but an afterthought.


I have to agree with you on some things here. I think the "core fan" is being driven out. And I think it's been coming but the squeeze has been put on since 2001. In 1997 I was at the brickyard 400 that Ricky Rudd won. When we were leaving someone asked who had won the race and a member of my family said Ricky Rudd and the Guy had no clue who he was! Granted Rudd didn't have the media attention of a Dale Earnhardt or Rusty Wallace but he was well into his consecutive year win streak and his consecutive start streak. Any "core fan" would have at least known who Ricky Rudd was in 1997. It was apparent then that a new group of fan was coming and that is needed to grow but it has taken over. The championship format has been altered add excitement thus altering 50 years of achivement, history, and core fans. We have common cars instead of the street like models of tradition. Mysterious derbis cautions when the excitement level drops. Limits on car ownership. And punishment for drivers showing their emotions and telling it like it is (I know they said they are going to let the personalities show more this year) I mean so what if Jeff Gordon ties the record or gets an 8th championship it is not the same as Richard and Dale and can't be compared. That is a shame like him or hate him Gordon is good and it would have been great to see if he could have tied or broke the record under the old system. I don't understand why they have felt the need to mess up a system that got them to this level of popularity? It became popular for what it was why mess it up? I still watch but believe that it is more about ratings and $ now then it is the about the racing.

I like the COT races they seem close/competitive. I hate the looks of them...looks like the a stock car and a F1 car had a one night stand.

Yea, Bruce.....I know they had the templates before too but it just seems so much worse now. They have just gone TOO IROC-like with the COT's for my liking unless they want to switch to an IROC style. Let the true driver talent win the race, but since IROC is folding I guess that would not work in NASCAR either for sponsors.

I am still not convinced about the cost factor. They want us to believe it is going to be cheaper but it sure seems as if every time you turn around they are discovering another area of hidden costs that they did not factor in. Like with this chassis stamping from the R & D Center business. They have to go there to get inspected and stamped and if they were badly damaged then just scrap em and build new cause repairing probably won't pass inspection. I think in the long run it is going to cost the same if not more than the old cars.

There are some good things about the COT. I just don't think they needed to make a whole new car and force everyone to switch to use those most of those good things. It is more about control and power than it is about safety.

Just my personal opinion. I have been wrong before, so it would not be a first, and not be the last, for sure.

Granny I guess you missed my point a Common template means the same templates are used for every brand, they are all the same size and shape, there was no difference, I can tell you that the COT chassis are different but any team will scrap a chassis if it can't be brought back to Perfect dimensions, before COT and after Nascar has nothing to do with that, im not sure about your Iroc comment I can tell you that Teams can do anything they want with the suspension points on a COT car that is why the same teams are winning and the same teams are losing as before, It truely is no different than Local racing in that respect, the teams that are on top of their game will win, Us going to The COT Type car for next year is going to be painful and will probably cause some teams to fold, we just changed from Dodge to Chevy this winter and went to 2 teams we have honestly built 12 brand new race cars since Christmas and have about 8 more in the works, it has been a Very trying few months many long days and few Sundays off, But I ain't complaining, it still beats fixing a broken watermain in January at 5 below in MI.

Bruce,

Did you work for me in Cheboygan Michigan in your past life or something?

At least the guy in the hole stayed somewhat warm, that and the backhoe operator and dump truck driver.

have a good day,

schinde

I do understand the templates......I did not miss your point.

I must say Bruce, I respect your loyalty. And you definitely have a better job now than fixing busted water pipes in below freezing temps.

Only time will tell for sure how things will pan out with the COT for the teams. Hopefully in about 5 yrs someone will have the insight to do an open-minded fact-based analysis article on what the COT was supposed to be, and do, and work, and how things actually turned out in reality.
Once it has had more time and the big picture could be seen it would be much easier to tell if I was way off base on this one or not. It will be interesting for me to watch and see. I like to monitor and analyze myself on things like this to see later down the road if my initial instincts were good or way off base. Not sure that it helps to keep me sharp, as they say, but it helps keep me busy mentally in a variety.

Have A Good One!