FOR NASCAR, 2022 CAN'T COME SOON ENOUGH.

By Peter M. DeLorenzo

Detroit. I started to write about NASCAR's continuing downward spiral in Fumes almost a decade ago, with headlines such as: "More Bush League Bullshit From NASCAR." "Fixing NASCAR? It Will Take A Major Upheaval." "Rethinking The NASCAR Way." "Remaking The NASCAR Schedule In An Era Of Reduced Expectations." "NASCAR'S Chief Enablers." I also wrote several columns reimagining the NASCAR schedule, the last of which was titled "The Schedule: 2020" (which was written in August 2015). I've pretty much covered every aspect of NASCAR's issues, with several columns making lengthy recommendations as to what NASCAR should or shouldn't do. Needless to say, I haven't endeared myself to anyone in NASCAR's outposts in Daytona Beach and Charlotte (or with its diehard fan base either). Not that I could be bothered to care.

So, where are we now? NASCAR has an all-new car coming next season, a machine that has characteristics consistent (to a degree) with current IMSA GT cars and also with Australian V8 Supercars. The Next-Gen cars will feature modern, independent rear suspension systems (finally abandoning the rear suspension design pioneered in the mid-60s and still used today); they will have transaxles in the rear and Xtrac sequential gearboxes with a floor-mounted shifter; 18" wheels with low profile tires (another hugely significant change); composite, symmetrical bodies with front and rear clips that can be unbolted from the center sections; a sealed bottom, full under body and even a rear diffuser. It's clear that these changes represent the most significant departure from NASCAR's way of doing things - meaning doing the same things over and over again while hoping for a different outcome - in its long history.

In all of my NASCAR columns over the years, I recommended five specific things: a shortened schedule featuring more road races; no more double visits to the same tracks during the season; center-locking hubs (finally doing away with the five lug nut dance after the rest of the sport went to center-locking hubs more than two decades ago); dry-break refueling (which would do away with the gas cans and go to gravity-feed hoses) and on-board jacking for pit stops. NASCAR moving to 18" wheels and center-locking hubs will prove to be as significant as the addition of the sequential gearbox and transaxle. So, I am glad I hammered that point home relentlessly since 2013.

The powers that be in NASCAR have been working overtime to shake up their schedule, too, adding more road races and taking chances with different tracks, even on dirt. (Sorry, dirt isn't working for NASCAR. At all.) All of these changes are more than a decade late, unfortunately, as NASCAR's downward spiral started in earnest in 2007 and has never pulled out of its tailspin. The networks don't care, at least up to a point, because they're so desperate for content that they keep throwing money at NASCAR to fill up their on-air schedules.

I am going to take you back to that "NASCAR 2020" column, just to see where I ended up vs. what the NASCAR brain trust came up with. So, without further ado then, here's what I envisioned "NASCAR 2020" would look like:

I think it would be a good time to engage in some future-think about what NASCAR might look like in five years, or more accurately, what I think it should look like. It's perfectly reasonable, of course, to expect that we may not see that much change in the ensuing five years, but then again, given the pace of more substantive changes emanating from NASCAR of late - and more important, the willingness to investigate new thinking - I actually believe that the stock car racing entity is on the verge of transforming itself and with a palpable sense of urgency, too, which is something I find refreshing and applaud wholeheartedly.

So, what should NASCAR have looked like in 2020, at least from The Autoextremist perspective?

The Schedule. First of all, I would divide the schedule into three, ten-race modules total (including the All-Star event*). Each of these ten-race modules would be punctuated by a one-week break after the fifth race. Of those 30 events, five of the races would be on natural-terrain road courses (Laguna Seca, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen). Some tracks would lose double date visits, obviously, and other new tracks would be rotated in and out every other year to inject variety, color and interest into the schedule. (*A complete rethink of the all-star event would require the use of Global Rallycross cars representing the manufacturers involved on a specially-constructed course at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.)

The Cars. New rules would be in effect that would move the cars even closer to the production body configurations. Teams would be allowed (depending on the track and a manufacturer's choice) to use any of four engine configurations including 4-cylinder turbo, V6 turbo, normally-aspirated V6 or normally-aspirated V8s (manufacturers would have to notify NASCAR as to which engines at which tracks would be used ahead of the start of the season). Direct-injection and other modern engine components would be allowed. On-board, in-race data collection and on-camera projection of that data (for TV) would be mandatory. In addition, the rules would require the teams to run FIA GT3-specification cars from their respective manufacturers for the road course races, and specially-constructed GRC cars for the All-Star event (as mentioned above). 

The Tracks. A few premier, long-distance races would remain (Daytona 500, Charlotte 600, Daytona 400 and 500-milers at Charlotte and Talladega in the fall), but the rest of the races wouldn't exceed 350 miles.

Safety. An intensive research and development program would be undertaken to completely rethink and revise the idea of catch-fencing - what it is, how it works and how it is built. Restrictor-plate racing would be a thing of the past, with a new high-horsepower/low-downforce engine configuration/aero package required for the high-banked superspeedways that would see the drivers having to lift off of the throttle going into the corners. On-board jacking would be mandatory, along with dry-break refueling rigs and center lock wheel hubs. Manual jacking, gas can refueling and multiple lug nuts per wheel would be relegated to the NASCAR history books.

These recommendations are admittedly more general in nature than what I've written in the past, but this column is meant to be a discussion starter, and NASCAR moving forward in a meaningful direction is the ultimate goal. (Suffice to say, nothing I write in this racing column generates more mail - good and bad - than when I deconstruct the NASCAR schedule and rebuild it. It seems to drive everyone crazy, from NASCAR fans to non-fans alike. Here's the schedule I proposed six years ago for "NASCAR 2020" knowing full well that the likelihood of meaningful change was slim.

February
Sprint Unlimited, Budweiser Duel No. 1 and No. 2, Daytona 500
Daytona International Speedway  

March
Las Vegas Motor Speedway 

March
Phoenix International Raceway  

March
Texas Motor Speedway

March
Laguna Seca 

ONE-WEEK BREAK

April
Martinsville Speedway 

April
Bristol Motor Speedway  

April
Richmond International Raceway

May
Talladega Superspeedway 

May
Road Atlanta

SECOND 10-RACE SCHEDULE SEGMENT

May
Sprint All-Star Race (using Global RallyCross cars on a specially-designed course, limited to 20 drivers total), Coca-Cola 600
Charlotte Motor Speedway 

June
Dover International Speedway 

June
Pocono Raceway 

June
Sonoma Raceway  

July
Daytona International Speedway 

ONE-WEEK BREAK

July
Kentucky Speedway 

July
New Hampshire Motor Speedway 

August
Indianapolis Motor Speedway 

August
Watkins Glen International

August
Bristol Motor Speedway

THE TEN-RACE CHASE FOR THE CUP CHAMPIONSHIP

September
Darlington Raceway 

September
Richmond International Raceway 

September
Road America

September
Michigan International Speedway  

October
Martinsville Speedway

October
Kansas Speedway 

October
Talladega Superspeedway   

October
Charlotte Motor Speedway

November
Atlanta Motor Speedway

November
Texas Motor Speedway

First of all, even though this proposed 2020 schedule will be considered "radical" by the NASCAR faithful, Daytona, in February, is where NASCAR needs to be. That tradition should never change. But you can also see that races are moved and second visits to several tracks are dropped altogether. And we finish the year off in Texas, with Homestead-Miami Speedway dropping off the schedule altogether. I've said it hundreds of times before and I will probably say it a hundred times more, but the oversaturation of NASCAR is a real thing. Cutting the schedule back - something that the powers that be at NASCAR say is not achievable and unthinkable - would be a much-needed first step. 

The fact that NASCAR finally scheduled Road America - "America's National Park of Speed" - and it turned out to be a major happening and roaring success, is huge.  So, if it becomes a fixture on the NASCAR calendar in July, then I am all for it. And actually, a 30-race schedule is five races too long. I think the ideal schedule for NASCAR would be no more than 25 races, so I view Dover, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan and the second visits to Bristol, Martinsville. Texas and Talladega to all be expendable. (I told you the NASCAR faithful will be pissed-off.) 

I envision that in spite of these noted positive changes coming for 2022, which can't some soon enough I might add, NASCAR will continue to take three steps forward, and five back indefinitely. That's just how that organization rolls.

And that's the High-Octane Truth for this week.

(Ford Racing Archives)
Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1966. Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, a goggled Fran Hernandez - who ran Lincoln-Mercury's racing programs - and Bud Moore (with crew in the background) pose for the announcement of Ford's Lincoln-Mercury Cougar racing effort for the 1967 Trans-Am series. Jones, Gurney and Peter Revson combined to win four races in '67 and lost to the other Ford factory entry - of Shelby American Mustangs - by two points. Moore returned to the Trans-Am series in 1969 - this time as the lead factory Ford Mustang team - where he pushed Chevrolet's dominant duo of Roger Penske and Mark Donohue (No. 6 Sunoco Camaro) to the wire in one of the most competitive Trans-Am seasons on record. But the 1970 season was when everything came together for Moore and Ford, with Jones (ably assisted by talented teammate George Follmer) capturing a memorable Trans-Am championship in his school bus yellow No. 15 Mustang, defeating Mark Donohue in the Penske Racing AMC Javelin. Moore, a decorated veteran of World War II, who liked to describe himself as "an old country mechanic who loved to make 'em run fast," is in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.