Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly and most prominently in the United States and Canada, with Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, Great Britain and Brazil[1] also having forms of stock car auto racing. Traditionally, races are run on oval tracks measuring approximately 0.25 to 2.66 miles (0.4 to 4.3 kilometers). The world's largest governing body for stock car racing is the American NASCAR, and its Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is the premier top level series of professional stock car racing. Top level races typically range between 200 to 600 miles (322 to 966 km) in length. The cars were originally production models (hence, 'stock'), but are now highly modified.
Top level stock cars exceed 200 mph (322 km/h)[2][3][4] at speedway tracks and on superspeedway tracks such as Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.[5][6][6]Contemporary NASCAR-spec top level cars produce maximum power outputs of 860-900 hp[7][8] from their naturally aspirated V8 engines. In October 2007 American race car driver Russ Wicks set a speed record for stock cars in a 2007-season Dodge Charger built to NASCAR specifications by achieving a maximum speed of 244.9 mph (394.1 km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats.[9][10] For the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, power output of the competing cars ranged from 750 to 800 hp (560 to 600 kW).[11][12]
History[edit]
1934 Ford stock car racer. Notice the reinforcement in the front.
Early years[edit]
In the 1920s, moonshine runners during the Prohibition era would often have to outrun the authorities. To do so, they had to upgrade their vehicles—while leaving them looking ordinary, so as not to attract attention. Eventually, runners started getting together with fellow runners and making runs together. They would challenge one another and eventually progressed to organized events in the early 1930s. The main problem racing faced was the lack of a unified set of rules among the different tracks. When Bill France, Sr. saw this problem, he set up a meeting at the Streamline Hotel in order to form an organization that would unify the rules.[citation needed]
When NASCAR was first formed by France in 1948 to regulate stock car racing in the U.S., there was a requirement that any car entered be made entirely of parts available to the general public through automobile dealers. Additionally, the cars had to be models that had sold more than 500 units to the public. This is referred to as 'homologation'. In NASCAR's early years, the cars were so 'stock' that it was commonplace for the drivers to drive themselves to the competitions in the car that they were going to run in the race. While automobile engine technology had remained fairly stagnant in World War II, advanced aircraft piston engine development had provided a great deal of available data, and NASCAR was formed just as some of the improved technology was about to become available in production cars.[citation needed] Until the advent of the Trans-Am Series in 1967, NASCAR homologation cars were the closest thing that the public could buy that was actually very similar to the cars that were winning national races.[citation needed]
The 1949 Oldsmobile Rocket V-8 with a displacement of 303 cu in (5.0 L) is widely recognized as the first postwar modern overhead valve (OHV) engine to become available to the public.[13] The Oldsmobile was an immediate success in 1949 and 1950, and all the automobile manufacturers could not help noticing the higher sales of the Oldsmobile 88 to the buying public.[citation needed] The motto of the day became 'win on Sunday, sell on Monday'. However, in spite of the fact that several competing engines were more advanced, the aerodynamic and low-slung Hudson Hornet managed to win in 1951, 1952, and 1953 with a 308 cu in (5.0 L) inline six-cylinder that used an old-style flathead engine, proving there was more to winning than just a more powerful engine.[citation needed]
At the time, it typically took three years for a new design of car body or engine to end up in production and be available for NASCAR racing.[citation needed] Most cars sold to the public did not have a wide variety of engine choices, and the majority of the buying public at the time was not interested in the large displacement special edition engine options that would soon become popular. However, the end of the Korean War in 1953 started an economic boom, and then car buyers immediately began demanding more powerful engines.[citation needed]
Also in 1953, NASCAR recommended that the drivers add roll bars, but did not require them.[citation needed]
In 1955, Chrysler produced the C-300 with its Chrysler FirePower engine 300 hp (220 kW) 303 cu in (5.0 L) OHV engine, which easily won in 1955 and 1956.[citation needed]
In 1957, several notable events happened. The Automobile Manufacturers Association (AMA) banned manufacturers from using race wins in their advertising and giving direct support to race teams,[14] as they felt it led to reckless street racing. This forced manufacturers to become creative in producing race parts to help racers win. Race teams were often caught trying to use factory produced racing parts that were not really available to the public, though many parts passed muster by being labeled as heavy-duty 'police' parts. Car manufacturers wanted to appear compliant with the ban, but they also wanted to win.[citation needed]
The NASCAR tracks at the time were mainly dirt tracks with modest barriers, and during the 1957 season a Mercury Monterey crashed into the crowd. This killed many spectators, and resulted in a serious overhaul of the safety rules, which in turn prompted the building of larger, more modern tracks.[citation needed] Also in 1957, Chevrolet sold enough of their new fuel injected engines to the public in order to make them available for racing (and Ford began selling superchargers as an option), but Bill France immediately banned fuel injection and superchargers from NASCAR before they could race. However, even without official factory support or the use of fuel injection, Buck Baker won in 1957 driving a small-block V-8 Chevrolet Bel Air.[citation needed]
In 1961, Ford introduced the F1 390 in a low drag Galaxie 'Starliner', but 1960 and '61 championships were won by drivers in 409-powered Chevrolet Impalas.[citation needed]
Pontiac introduced their 'Super Duty' 421 in Catalinas that made use of many aluminum body parts to save weight, and the Pontiacs easily won in 1962.[citation needed]
Heyday[edit]
The desire from fans and manufacturers alike for higher performance cars within the restrictions of homologation meant that carmakers began producing limited production 'special edition' cars based on high production base models. It also became apparent that manufacturers were willing to produce increasingly larger engines to remain competitive (Ford had developed a 483 they hoped to race). Sony vegas pro 32 bit torrent. For the 1963 season NASCAR engines were restricted to using a maximum displacement of 7.0 liters (427 cu.in.) and using only two valves per cylinder.
Also, even with heavy duty special editions sold to the public for homologation purposes, the race car rules were further modified, primarily in the interest of safety. This is because race drivers and their cars during this era were subjected to forces unheard of in street use, and require a far higher level of protection than is normally afforded by truly 'stock' automobile bodies.
In 1963 Ford sold enough of their aerodynamic 'sport-roof' edition Galaxies to the public so it would qualify as stock, and with the heavy-duty FE block bored and stroked to the new limit of 427, the top five finishers were all Fords. Chrysler had bored their 413 to create the 'Max Wedge' 426, but it still could not compete with the Fords. General Motors' headquarters had genuinely tried to adhere to the 1957 ban, but their Chevrolet division had also constantly tried to work around it, because the other manufacturers had openly circumvented the ban. In 1963 GM gave in and openly abandoned compliance, and Chevrolet was allowed to produce the ZO6 427, but it did not immediately enjoy success.
Then, in 1964 the new Chrysler 426 Hemi engine so dominated the series[citation needed] in a Plymouth Belvedere'Sport Fury', the homologation rules were changed so that 1,000 of any engine and car had to be sold to the public to qualify as a stock part, instead of just 500. This made the 426 Hemi unavailable for the 1965 season.
In 1965 Ford adapted two single-overhead-cams to their FE 427 V8 to allow it to run at a higher RPM (called the Ford 427 Cammer). Ford started to sell 'cammers' to the public to homologate it (mostly to dealer-sponsored privateer drag racers), but NASCAR changed the rules to specify that all NASCAR engines must use a single cam-in-block. But even without the cammer, the Ford FE 427 won in 1965.
In 1966 Chrysler sold enough of the 426 Hemis to make it available again, and they put it in their new Dodge Charger which had a low-drag rear window that was radically sloped. It was called a 'fast-back', and because of this David Pearson was the series champion that year with Richard Petty dominating 1967, winning 27 of 48 races (including 10 in a row) in the boxier Plymouth Belvedere.
The 1969 season featured the Torino Cobra or Torino 'Talladega' which had enough aerodynamic body improvements that it gave it a higher speed than the 1968 Torino, with no other changes. The Cobra, featuring extended nose and reshaped rockers, was renamed Talladega part way through the 1969 season when the Boss 429 replaced the 427. Starting in 1963 up till this point, Ford had won six straight Manufacturer Championships, and by the end of the 1969 season Ford would make it seven in a row. Richard Petty was tired of winning races but losing the championship, so after a private viewing of Ford's new Talladega and Boss 429 engine, he signed a lucrative deal with Ford.
Prior to its first race at the Daytona 500, David Pearson's 427 powered Ford Torino Cobra set a new NASCAR record by being the first to exceed 190 mph (310 km/h) when he qualified at 190.029 mph (305.822 km/h). When the race started Donnie Allison's Torino lead the majority of the race (84 laps). Towards the end of the race the Torino of LeeRoy Yarbrough chased down the Dodge of Charlie Glotzbach, who had an 11-second lead. It was the first Daytona 500 won on a last lap pass. Things got worse for Dodge when NASCAR, a few months later, finally allowed Ford to run its hemi-headed Boss 429 engine.
With Ford winning the majority of the races, Dodge was forced to develop a better car of their own. Using the Charger 500 as a basis, they added a pointed nose. This nose was almost a carbon copy of the nose on the 1962 Ford Mustang I prototype. This radical body shape required a wing to remain stable at speeds over 180 mph (290 km/h). They named it the Dodge Daytona after the race they hoped to win. Even though it never won a Daytona 500 race, it was still a significant improvement over its predecessor the Dodge Charger 500.
NASCAR feared that these increasing speeds significantly surpassed the abilities of the tire technology of the day, and it would undoubtedly increase the number of gruesome wrecks that were occurring. As a result, the 1970 Homologation rules were changed so that one car for every two U.S. dealers had to be built for sale to the public to qualify, hoping to delay the use of aero-bodies until tires could improve.
For the 1970 season Dodge raced the 1969 model Daytona, but Plymouth managed to build over 1,920 Plymouth Superbirds, which were similarly equipped to the Daytona. Petty came back to Plymouth in the plus 200 mph (320 km/h) Superbird, and Bobby Isaac won the season championship in a Daytona. NASCAR restricted all 'aero-cars' including the Ford Talladega, Mercury Spoiler II, Charger 500, Dodge Daytona and Plymouth Superbird to a maximum engine displacement of 305 cu in (5.0 L) for 1971. Almost all teams switched to non-aero bodystyles. NASCAR eventually adopted a restrictor plate to limit top speeds for the 7.0L engine as teams switched to small-block 358 cu in (5.9 L) engines.
Fans, drivers, and manufacturers alike demanded a complete revamping of the rules[citation needed]. NASCAR responded in a way that they hoped would make the cars safer and more equal, so the race series would be more a test of the drivers, rather than a test of car technology.
The era drew to a conclusion in the 1970s. 1972 brought so many rule changes, it has prompted many to consider this year as the start of the modern era of NASCAR racing[citation needed]. In addition, R.J. Reynolds (the tobacco conglomerate) took over as the major sponsor of NASCAR racing (changing the name to the 'Winston Cup') and they made a significantly larger financial contribution than previous sponsors. Richard Petty's personal sponsorship with STP also set new, higher standards for financial rewards to driving teams. The sudden infusion of noticeably larger amounts of money changed the entire nature of the sport.
The 1973 oil crisis meant that large displacement special edition homologation cars of all makes were suddenly sitting unsold. Through the balance of the 1970s until 1992, the factory stock sheetmetal over a racing frame meant the cars looked very much like their street version counterparts. It can be said that 1993, with the addition of ground effect wrap-around type spoilers marked the beginning non-stock sheetmetal and from that point forward, stock cars were quickly allowed to differ greatly from anything available to the public. Modern racing 'stock' cars are stock in name only, using a body template that is vaguely modeled after currently available automobiles. The chassis, running gear, and other equipment have almost nothing to do with anything in ordinary automobiles. NASCAR and the auto manufacturers have become aware of this, and for 2013 each brand (Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, and Toyota) have redesigned their racing sheetmetal to more resemble the street models of their cars.
Types of cars[edit]
ASA Late Model Series car on an asphalt track
A stock car, in the original sense of the term, is an automobile that has not been modified from its original factory configuration. Later the term stock car came to mean any production-based automobile used in racing. This term is used to differentiate such a car from a 'race car', a special, custom-built car designed only for racing purposes.
The degree to which the cars conform to standard model specs has changed over the years and varies from country to country. Today most American stock cars may superficially resemble standard American family sedans, but are in fact purpose-built racing machines built to a strict set of regulations governing the car design ensuring that the chassis, suspension, engine, etc. are architecturally identical on all vehicles. For example, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race vehicles now require fuel injection.The closest European equivalent to stock car racing is probably touring car racing. In the UK and New Zealand there is a racing formula called stock cars but the cars are markedly different from any road car.In Australia there was a formula that was quite similar to NASCAR called AUSCAR.
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The Racecar-Euro Series began in 2009 and was sanctioned by NASCAR as a touring series in 2012, currently operating as the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.
Street stock and pure stock[edit]
'True' stock car racing, which consists of only street vehicles that can be bought by general public, is sometimes now called 'street stock', 'pure stock', 'hobby stock', 'showroom stock', or 'U-car' racing. In 1972, SCCA started its first showroom stock racing series, with a price ceiling on the cars of $3,000. Some modern showroom stock racing allows safety modifications done on showroom stock cars.
Finale notepad 2014. How do I record audio vocal into finale? And if I can do this, would I just hum or can I sign it in with the lyrics?
Super stock[edit]
Super stock classes are similar to street stock, but allow for more modifications to the engine. Power output is usually in the range of 500–550 horsepower (373–410 kilowatts). Tire width is usually limited to 8 in (200 mm).[15]
Some entry level classes are called 'street stock', and are similar to what is often called 'banger racing' in England.
Late models[edit]
A late model car on a dirt track
Late models are usually the highest class of stock cars in local racing.[15] Rules for construction of a late model car vary from region to region and even race track to race track. The most common variations (on paved tracks) include super late models (SLMs), late model stock cars (LMSCs), and limited late models (LLMs). A late model may be a custom built machine, or a heavily modified street car. Individual sanctioning bodies (like NASCAR, ACT, PASS, UARA, CRA, etc.) maintain their own late model rule books, and even individual racetracks can maintain their own rule books, meaning a late model that is legal in one series or at one track may not be legal at another without modifications. The national touring series, the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman Division, originated from local late model races in the east coast of the U.S. This division was later called the 'Busch Series', the 'Nationwide Series', and currently the 'Xfinity Series' as its title sponsor changed.
United States[edit]
Daniel Suárez's 2018 Toyota Camry in the garage at Daytona International Speedway
NASCAR[edit]
NASCAR is currently the highest stock car racing governing body in the world. While NASCAR sanctions multiple series, it has three national championship touring series that are commonly referred to as the 'top 3' series. In addition to the top three series, NASCAR also sanctions many regional and local series.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series[edit]
Tony Stewart at Infineon Raceway (now Sonoma Raceway) in 2005
The most prominent championship in stock car racing is the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, more commonly known as the Cup Series. It is the most popular racing series in the United States, drawing over 6 million spectators in 1997, an average live audience of over 190,000 people for each race.
The most famous event in the series is the Daytona 500,[16] an annual 500-mile (800 km) race at the Daytona International Speedway. The series' second-biggest event is arguably The Brickyard 400, an annual 400-mile (640 km) race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the legendary home of the Indianapolis 500, an open-wheeled race. Together the Cup Series and Xfinity Series drew 8 million spectators in 1997, compared to 4 million for both American open-wheel series (CART and IRL), which merged in 2008 under the IRL banner. In 2002, 17 of the 20 US top sporting events in terms of attendance were stock car races. Only football drew more television viewers that year.
Carl Edwards at Road America in 2010
NASCAR Xfinity Series[edit]
The NASCAR Xfinity Series is the second most prestigious form of stock car racing within the United States. It serves as the primary feeder series to the Cup Series. The Xfinity series leads drivers into the Cup Series much as Formula Two does for Formula One, and Indy Lights for Indy Car. Xfinity Series races are commonly held as a support race to Cup Series events. Many current Cup Series drivers formerly competed in the Xfinity Series before moving on to competing full time in the Cup Series. As of 2018 there are 33 races on the schedule.[17]
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series[edit]
The NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series is the third highest ranking stock car series in the United States. While this series races cars with pickup truck style bodies, it is still considered stock car racing due to being sanctioned by NASCAR and the trucks resemblance to commercially available pickup trucks.
Other series[edit]
Outside of NASCAR, there are a number of other national or regional stock-car sanctioning bodies in the United States. There are a few organizations that cater to these local short tracks. The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), American Speed Association (ASA), Champion Racing Association (CRA), International Motor Contest Association (IMCA), United Auto Racing Association (UARA), and United Speed Alliance Racing (USAR) all sanction their own forms of stock-car racing, on varying types of track, and with various levels of media coverage. The International Race of Champions (IROC) series used stock cars, but is usually perceived as being outside of the usual stock car racing scene because of its 'All-Star' design.
New Zealand[edit]
Stockcar racing began in New Zealand during the 1950s, first race was at Aranui Speedway on November 27, 1954. It was brought to New Zealand after New Zealand Speedway riders witnessed the huge crowds that watched the races in Britain earlier that year. As with the UK, Stockcar racing in New Zealand is a very different form of racing than that of the USA. Stockcar racing is a full contact sport in New Zealand: as the rule book states, 'contact is not only permitted, it is encouraged'[citation needed].Cars are built to an extremely rigid design and feature strong steel guards around almost the entire car. 'Stockcars'” are divided into three classes: Superstocks, Stockcars, Ministocks (Ministocks predominantly being a non-contact youth class).Superstocks are the top class and are typically powered by V8 engines up to 4.1 litres (248 cu in) which can produce over 370 kilowatts (500 hp). The majority of races are of an individual nature however, unique to New Zealand stockcar racing is the team racing format. Typically teams racing consists of two teams of four cars each that work together to win the race. Teams normally protect their 'runners' while attempting to eliminate the opposing team, the races can be decided by a points format or first across the finish line.
The class most resembling the North American form of stockcar racing are known as Saloon cars. Super Saloons are similar to dirt late models with the main differences being the bodies closer resemble production cars, use iron engines up to 7.1 litres (434 cu in) with no rear offset and run much larger sprintcar tyres on the rear.
Australia[edit]
Stock car racing in the NASCAR mould (AUSCAR) had a following in Australia during the mid-late 1980s and through the 1990s, but with the advent of the Supercars Championship, which took up the bulk of the competitors, sponsorship dollars on offer as well as major television time, the Australian Superspeedway series shut down after 2001.
The majority of the NASCAR and AUSCAR racing in Australia took place at the 1.801 km (1.119 mi), high-banked (24°) Calder Park Thunderdome in Melbourne. The Thunderdome, which was opened in 1987 and was built by multi-millionaire tyre retailerBob Jane at a cost of A$54 million, was modelled on a scaled down version of the famous Charlotte Motor Speedway. Other tracks used included the ½ mile (805 metre) Speedway Super Bowl at the Adelaide International Raceway (also owned by Jane, this was the only paved oval track in Australia other than the Thunderdome, though with only 7° banking in the turns it was more of a traditional flat track), as well as road courses such as the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit (where the cars ran as a support category to the Gold Coast IndyCar Grand Prix), Oran Park in Sydney, and the famous Mount Panorama Circuit.
United Kingdom[edit]
Stock, in the sense of cars appearing to be similar to conventional road vehicles, is represented in the UK (and Europe) by touring cars.[citation needed]
The term 'stock cars' in the UK refers to a specialised form of racing that bears little resemblance to any road car.
Stock car racing was brought to Britain in 1954. Taking place on existing greyhound or speedway tracks, the cars were mostly 'stock' cars from the 1930s with locked rear axle differentials and added armour. After the first couple of years 'specials' began to appear eventually making the 'stock' car name something of a misnomer. Since the early days of stock car racing in Britain the sport has developed into many different classes, from the destructive 'Banger' categories to the very sophisticated National Hot Rods. However, the name 'stock car' is usually reserved for that racing class which traces its roots back to these early days in the 1950s, BriSCA F1 Stock Cars, which were previously known as 'The Seniors' or 'Senior Stock Cars'. Despite the physical demands of this full-contact sport, many competitors have been racing for 20 and even 30 years. For the first 10 years of the sport, stock cars were either adapted from road cars, or bore the recognizable bodywork of road cars. By the 1970s, chassis and bodywork had evolved into very specialized forms.
The modern BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars are a highly sophisticated purpose built race car with race-tuned V-8 engines developing 480 kW (650 bhp), quick change axles and gearboxes and biased and staggered chassis and braking set up for constant left turning. However large bumpers were mandatory with contact very much encouraged to remove opponents. The sport can be seen at venues throughout Britain and Mainland Europe. A downsized version of the BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars, the smaller BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars, previously known as 'The Juniors' or 'Junior Stock Cars', are also very popular. these cars are powered by the 2 litre Ford 'Pinto' engine. There are also many other formulas running on the oval tracks throughout a season that starts around March/Easter and continues to October/November.
In the 2008 World Final, held at Ipswich, Andy Smith raced to victory becoming the 2008 BriSCA F1 Stock Car World Champion for the second time in his career, taking the crown from brother Stuart Smith Jnr. 2009 also saw Andy Smith win again this time at Kings Lynns Norfolk Arena. 2010 saw Andy Smith win for a 3rd consecutive time at Coventry, the same venue as his 1st win in 2006. The 2011 World Championship took place at Northampton on September 10 with 2 Paul Harrison the winner of the Gold Roof. The 2012 World Championship held at Skegness was won by 217 Lee Fairhurst. The 2013 World Championship will be held at King's Lynn on Saturday 21 September.
In 2008, Ian Thompson Jr. became the first driver from Northern Ireland to win the Brisca F2 Stock Car World title since 1972 when he took the honours at Bristol in 2008. However, it was in controversial circumstances after first across the line Gordon Moodie (Thomson Jr's brother-in-law) was disqualified from the race after being found with carburetor irregularities at post race scrutineering. This irregularity has since been proven to be a manufacturing fault with the control of the driver but the governing body have refused to reinstate Gordon Moodie as the winner in the record books. In 2009 the World Championship winner was Micky Brennan and in 2010 the World Championship winner was John Fortune. The 2011 World Championship Final took place at Kings Lynns Norfolk Arena on Saturday 17 September with 871 Mark Simpson winner of the Gold Roof. In 2012, the World Championship was won again by 968 Micky Brennan this time held at Barford. The 2013 World Championship weekend will be held over 2 days of racing on 14/15 September at Smeatharpe near Honiton in Devon.
Another open wheeled stock car formula that races in the UK are Spedeworth Superstox. Licensed by Spedeworth, as opposed to BriSCA, Superstox are similar to Formula Two Stock Cars with the main visual difference being a smaller wing on the roof. These cars are also powered by the 2 litre Ford 'Pinto' engine. The 2010 World Championship Final held at Ipswich was won by Colin Aylward. The 2011 World Championship Final was held at Londons Wimbledon Stadium on Sunday 23 October and won by 151 Nick Smith. The 2012 World Championship was again held at Ipswich and won by Scot 177 Stuart Gilchrist. The 2013 World Championship will be held at Lochgelly in Fife, Scotland, with the date tbc.
Another form of UK stock car racing is Saloon Stock Cars, regulated by the Saloon Stock Car Association. This formula is based on heavily armoured Ford Sierra, Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Vectra cars purposely reconstructed for this full contact class. The 2011 World Championship was held at Skegness in August with 677 Eddie Darby the winner of the Gold Roof for the next 12 months. The 2012 World Championship Final was held at Smeatharpe Raceway near Honiton in Devon in August 2012 and again won by 677 Eddie Darby. Other similar Stock Car classes are the 2 Litre Stock Cars licensed by Spedeworth and the 1300 Stock Cars licensed by several different promotors each to slightly differing rules although steps are currently being taken to standardise the specifications in order to make it a national class. The 2012 World Championship was won by 79 Barry Radcliffe at Ipswich. The 2013 World Championship will be held at King's Lynn on Saturday 17 August.
The Stock Car Speed AssociationASCAR or Days of Thunder was a 'NASCAR' style racing series based at Rockingham, United Kingdom, though the series did also race at the Lausitzring in Germany as well.
Other regions[edit]
Brazilian stock car in 2006
Internationally, stock car racing has not enjoyed the same success as within the United States. The NASCAR Pinty's Series enjoys generally strong car-counts using the base of the sport in Canada (the short-oval region of Southern Ontario). Brazil also has a successful stock car racing series, with starting grids of 40 or more cars, and four brands competing: Chevrolet, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen and Peugeot. Brazilian Stock Car also has two developing series. Despite the name, Brazilian stock car competitions are not held on oval tracks, thus they resemble more Touring car racing than Stock car racing[18] the same can be said about Argentina's popular stock series, called Turismo Carretera.[19]Unsuccessful efforts have been made in Australia, South Africa, and Japan as well.
Career paths[edit]
NASCAR stars take various paths to the highest stock car divisions. Some start racing on dirt surfaces but all end up racing on asphalt surfaces as they progress in their career. They frequently start in karting or in cars that are completely stock except for safety modifications. They generally advance through intermediate or advanced local-level divisions. The highest local division, asphalt late model racing, is generally considered a requirement to advance to the next step, regional and national touring series.
Dirt track drivers follow the same general path. Their highest divisions are less well-known national touring late model series such as the World of Outlaws Late Model Series and regional touring series.
Crossover drivers[edit]
Some drivers have entered stock car racing after starting on a very different career path. The most famous might well be Mario Andretti, who is the only driver ever to win the Indianapolis 500 (1969), NASCAR's Daytona 500 (1967), and the Formula One World Championship (1978). Juan Pablo Montoya is the only other driver with wins in all three series, with two Indy 500 wins (2000 and 2015), seven Formula One wins and two Sprint Cup wins (2007 and 2010). A. J. Foyt, with four Indianapolis 500 wins, seven IndyCar championships, and a victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans on his resume, also won the Daytona 500 in 1972. Johnny Rutherford, a three-time winner at Indy, has the rare distinction of winning his first NASCAR start, a qualifying race for the 1963 Daytona 500. Dan Gurney, a leading 1960s Formula One driver and later one of the most successful constructors of Indy cars (as well as being Foyt's co-driver at Le Mans), excelled in NASCAR's road-course events, winning at Riverside five times between 1963 and 1968. A notable crossover oddity is the one-race NASCAR career of the colorful Formula One and sports car driver Innes Ireland: after retiring at the end of the 1966 season, he was invited by NASCAR czar Bill France to compete at Daytona, where he was running in the top ten when his engine blew on the 126th of 200 laps.
Montoya initially surprised the auto racing community by leaving F1, but he was quickly followed by other drivers. Open wheel stars like Sam Hornish Jr., Patrick Carpentier, Dario Franchitti, Jacques Villeneuve, A. J. Allmendinger and Danica Patrick all made the move to the Monster Energy Cup series, with varying degrees of success. Two-time Australian Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose competed in the Monster Energy Cup Series from 2007 to 2014, winning two races.
Other drivers compete often in stock car racing but are well known for their success elsewhere. Ron Fellows and Boris Said are champion road racers and are often brought in by teams solely to compete in NASCAR's road course events, a title known as road course ringers. Robby Gordon was one of NASCAR's few remaining owner-drivers, but he is most famous for his numerous off-road championships and his three Baja 1000 wins.
Tracks[edit]
Stock car races take place predominantly on oval tracks of 3 or 4 turns, with all turns to the left. Oval tracks are classified as short track (less than 1 mile), intermediate or speedway (1 to 2 miles) or superspeedway (over 2 miles). Road courses are any tracks having both left and right turns. Depending on the track, typical race speeds can vary from 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) at Martinsville to over 200 miles per hour (320 km/h) at Talladega. In 1987 Bill Elliott's 212.809 mph (342.483 km/h) qualifying time at Talladega brought about a change at superspeedways (Daytona and Talladega). Such high speeds and Bobby Allison's car going airborne into the catch-fence and injuring fans forced NASCAR to implement power-reducing measures, one of which was the mandated implement of below carburetor restrictor plates. This later became known as restrictor plate racing.
Oval circuits differ from the rough terrain and sharp turns of Rally, and the complicated twists and turns of Formula One tracks that put up to 5 or 6 g of horizontal stress on the driver's body. Stock cars are much heavier than Formula One cars, and as a result they are generally slower. Additionally, they cannot produce the g-forces of an open wheel car. A stock car's weak handling with high power output places more emphasis on car control.[citation needed]
Tactics[edit]
In contrast with most forms of racing, minor car-to-car contact is generally accepted in stock car racing. This may happen in the form of forcing another vehicle out of the way, or pushing a competing vehicle forward for mutual benefit. Stock cars are generally built to be tolerant of superficial damage to bodywork, whereas open wheel designs can experience severe issues with even slight spoiler damage.
See also[edit]Average Nascar Driver Salary
References[edit]
![]() External links[edit]
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(Redirected from Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series)
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) (often shortened to the Cup Series) is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Since 2017, it has been named for its sponsor, Monster Energy, but has been known by other names in the past. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, when the series began leasing its naming rights to the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, it was referred to as the Winston Cup Series. A similar deal was made with Nextel in 2003, and it became the Nextel Cup Series (2004–2007).[1] Sprint acquired Nextel in 2005, and in 2008 the series was renamed the Sprint Cup Series, which lasted until 2016. In December 2016, it was announced that Monster Energy would become the new title sponsor starting in 2017.
The championship is determined by a points system, with points being awarded according to finish placement and number of laps led. The season is divided into two segments. After the first 26 races, 16 drivers, selected primarily on the basis of wins during the first 26 races, are seeded based on their total number of wins. They compete in the last ten races, where the difference in points is greatly minimized. This is called the NASCAR playoffs.[2]
The series holds strong roots in the Southeastern United States, with half of the races in the 36-race season being held in that region. The current[when?] schedule includes tracks from around the United States. Regular season races were previously held in Canada, and exhibition races were held in Japan and Australia. The Daytona 500, the most prestigious race, had a television audience of about 9.17 million U.S. viewers in 2019.[3]
Cup Series cars are unique in automobile racing. The engines are powerful enough to reach speeds of over 200 mph (320 km/h), but their weight coupled with a relatively simple aerodynamic package (based on the body styles of cars currently available for retail sale in the United States) make for poor handling. The bodies and chassis of the cars are strictly regulated to ensure parity, and electronics are traditionally spartan in nature.
History[edit]Strictly Stock and Grand National[edit]
In 1949, NASCAR introduced the Strictly Stock division, after sanctioning Modified and Roadster division races in 1948. Eight races were run on seven dirt ovals and on the Daytona Beach beach/street course.[4]
The first NASCAR 'Strictly Stock' race was held at Charlotte Speedway on June 19, 1949. Jim Roper was declared the winner of that race after Glenn Dunaway was disqualified for having altered the rear springs on his car; the first series champion was Red Byron. The division was renamed 'Grand National' for the 1950 season, reflecting NASCAR's intent to make the sport more professional and prestigious. It retained this name until 1971. The 1949 Strictly Stock season is regarded in NASCAR's record books as the first season of GN/Cup history. Martinsville Speedway is the only track on the 1949 schedule that remains on the current schedule.
Seven-time Winston Cup champion Richard Petty.
Rather than having a fixed schedule of one race per weekend with most entrants appearing at every event, the Grand National schedule has included over sixty events in some years. Often there are two or three races on the same weekend and occasionally two races on the same day in different states.
In the early years, most Grand National races were held on dirt-surfaced short oval tracks that ranged in lap length from under a quarter-mile to over a half-mile, or on dirt fairgrounds ovals usually ranging from a half-mile to a mile in lap length. One hundred ninety-eight of the first 221 Grand National races were run on dirt tracks. Darlington Raceway, opened in 1950, was the first completely paved track on the circuit over one mile (1.6 km) long. In 1959, when Daytona International Speedway was opened, the schedule still had more races on dirt racetracks than on paved ones. In the 1960s as superspeedways were built and old dirt tracks were paved, the number of races run on dirt tracks was reduced.[5]
The last NASCAR race on a dirt track was held on September 30, 1970 at the half-mile State Fairgrounds Speedway in Raleigh, North Carolina. Richard Petty won that race in a Plymouth that had been sold by Petty Enterprises to Don Robertson and rented back by Petty Enterprises for the race.[5]
Winston Cup[edit]
The Winston Cup Series logo from 2000 to 2003.
Between 1971 and 2003, NASCAR's premier series was called the Winston Cup Series. It was sponsored by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company cigarette brand Winston. In 1971, the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act banned television advertising of cigarettes. As a result, tobacco companies began to sponsor sporting events as a way to spend their excess advertising dollars and to circumvent the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act's ban on television advertising. RJR's sponsorship became more controversial in the wake of the 1998 Tobacco Industry Settlement that sharply restricted avenues for tobacco advertising, including sports sponsorships.
The changes that resulted from RJR's involvement in the series as well as from the reduction in schedule from 48 to 31 races per year established 1972 as the beginning of NASCAR's 'modern era'. The season was made shorter, and the points system was modified several times during the next four years. Races on dirt tracks and on oval tracks shorter than 250 miles (400 kilometres) were removed from the schedule, and transferred to the short-lived NASCAR Grand National East Series. NASCAR's founder, Bill France Sr., turned over control of NASCAR to his oldest son, Bill France Jr. In August 1974, France Jr. asked series publicist Bob Latford to design a points system with equal points being awarded for all races regardless of length or prize money.[6] This system ensured that the top drivers would have to compete in all the races in order to become the series champion. This system remained unchanged from 1975 until the Chase for the Championship was instituted in 2004.
Seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt
Since 1982, the Daytona 500 has been the first non-exhibition race of the year.
ABC Sports aired partial or full live telecasts of Grand National races from Talladega, North Wilkesboro, Darlington, Charlotte, and Nashville in 1970. Because these events were perceived as less exciting than many Grand National races, ABC abandoned its live coverage. Races were instead broadcast, delayed and edited, on the ABC sports variety show Wide World of Sports.[7]
In 1979, the Daytona 500 became the first stock car race that was nationally televised from flag to flag on CBS. The leaders going into the last lap, Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison, wrecked on the backstretch while dicing for the lead, allowing Richard Petty to pass them both for the win. Immediately, Yarborough, Allison, and Allison's brother Bobby were engaged in a fistfight on national television. This underlined the drama and emotion of the sport and increased its broadcast marketability. The race coincided with a major snowstorm along the United States' eastern seaboard, successfully introducing the sport to a captive audience.
In 1981, an awards banquet began to be held in New York City on the first Friday evening in December. The first banquets were held in the Waldorf-Astoria's Starlight Room and in 1985 were moved to the much larger Grand Ballroom. But in 2001, the banquet portion was dropped in favor of a simpler awards ceremony. And in 2002, the awards ceremony was moved to the Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center. However, in 2003, the festivities returned to the Waldorf's Grand Ballroom, and the banquet format was reinstated.
In 1985, Winston introduced a new awards program called the Winston Million. From 1985 to 1997, any driver who won three of the four most prestigious races in the series was given one million dollars. The prize was only won twice; Bill Elliott won in 1985, Darrell Waltrip nearly won in 1989, Dale Jarrett nearly won in 1996, and Jeff Gordon won in 1997.[8] The Winston Million was replaced with a similar program, the Winston No Bull Five, in 1998. This program awarded one million dollars to any driver who won a prestigious race after finishing in the top five of the most previous prestigious race.[9]
The series underwent a large boom in popularity in the 1990s.[10] In 1994, NASCAR held the first Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Between 1997 and 1998, the winner's prize money for the Daytona 500 tripled. This coincided with a decline of popularity in American Championship Car Racing.
In 1999, NASCAR made a new agreement with Fox Broadcasting, Turner Broadcasting, and NBC. The contract, signed for eight years for Fox and six years for NBC and Turner, was valued at $2.4 billion.[11]
In 2001, Pixar visited NASCAR tracks as research for the 2006 animated filmCars, which included the voices of NASCAR drivers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Jr.[12] To avoid advertising tobacco in a Disney film, 'Piston Cup' served as Pixar's allusion to the Winston Cup.[13]
Nextel and Sprint[edit]
The Nextel Cup Series logo from 2004 to 2007.
At the end of 2003, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco's sponsorship contract expired, and NASCAR negotiated a contract with Nextel, a telecommunications company. In 2004, the series became known as the Nextel Cup Series.
The 2006 merger between Sprint and Nextel resulted in the Cup Series being renamed the Sprint Cup, beginning with the 2008 season.[1]
The Sprint Cup trophy was designed by Tiffany & Co. and is silver, with a pair of checkered flags in flight.[14]
By 2009, the popularity boom of the 1990s had ended, and television ratings over the previous ten years had become more or less stagnant. Some long-time fans have criticized the series for losing its traditional appeal because of abandoning venues in the southeastern United States in favor of newer markets. They have also voiced discontent over Toyota's presence in the series. Japanese telecommunications corporation SoftBank acquired Sprint in July 2013. While NASCAR was suspicious of diversity promotion and aware of the negative implications of the redneck image, it also recognized the opportunities to expand the sport.[15] NASCAR CEOBrian France has become a prime target for criticism among fans.[16]
In 2016, NASCAR announced the creation of a charter system, which would guarantee 36 teams entry to all 36 races. Eligibility for a charter would depend on a team's attempts to qualify for every race within the previous three seasons. In conjunction with this rule, NASCAR also reduced the size of the Cup field to 40 cars.[17]
The Sprint Cup Series logo from 2008 to 2016.
Chase for the Cup[edit]
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson.
Along with the change in title sponsorship for the series, the 2004 season also introduced a new system for determining the series champion, influenced by the system used in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series.[18]
Originally known as the Chase for the Nextel Cup (or simply 'The Chase', and later changed to Sprint branding), the ten highest-scoring drivers and teams (plus ties) in the first 26 races of the season became eligible to win the championship by competing in a playoff held within the final ten races. This number was increased to 12 teams in 2007. The Chase participants had their points increased to a level mathematically unattainable by anyone outside this field (roughly 1,800 points ahead of the first driver outside the Chase). From the inaugural Chase in 2004 to the 2006 Chase, the drivers were seeded based on points position at the end of the regular season, with first place starting with 5,050 points and tenth place starting with 5,005. From 2007 to 2010, the points totals of each driver who made the Chase were reset to 5,000 points, plus ten additional points for each race victory during the first 26 races. Points would still be awarded as usual during the affected races. The driver leading in points after the 36th race would be declared the champion.
As part of a major change in the points system that took effect in 2011, the qualifying criteria and the points reset were changed as well. From 2011 to 2013, the ten drivers with the most points automatically qualified for the Chase. They were joined by two 'wild card' qualifiers, specifically the two drivers with the most race wins who were ranked between 11th and 20th in drivers' points. Their base point totals were then reset to 2,000 points, a level more than 1,000 points higher than that of the first driver outside the Chase. (Under the new point system, a race winner can earn a maximum of 48 points, as opposed to 195 in the pre-2011 system.) The ten automatic qualifiers received a bonus of three points for each win during the regular season, while the two wild card qualifiers received no such bonus. As in the past, the race layouts for the remaining ten races were the same, with no changes to the scoring system.[19] On November 20, 2011, Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards ended the season in a first-ever points tie. Stewart's five season wins (all in the Chase) over Edwards' one win (in the third race of the season) gave Stewart the tie-breaker. Hence he was named the winner of the 2011 NASCAR Cup Series Championship.
For 2014, NASCAR announced wide-ranging changes to the Chase format:[2]
To encourage continued competition among all drivers, a number of awards are given to drivers finishing outside the Chase. The highest finishing non-Chase driver (13th place at the end of the season from 2007 to 2013 and potentially anywhere from fifth to 17th place starting in 2014) is awarded a bonus of approximately one million dollars, and was originally given a position on stage at the post-season awards banquet. The awards banquet now focuses solely on the Chase, with all of the series' sponsored and contingency awards moved to a luncheon at Cipriani the day before the banquet.
This playoff system was implemented primarily to make the points race more competitive late in the season, and indirectly, to increase television ratings during the NFL season, which starts around the same time as the Chase begins. The Chase also forces teams to perform at their best during all three stages of the season, the first half of the regular season, the second half of the regular season, and the Chase.[20]
Previously, the champion could have been determined before the last race, or even several races before the end of the season, because it was mathematically impossible for any other driver to gain enough points to overtake the leader.
Monster Energy[edit]
The title sponsorship with Sprint ended after the 2016 season. On December 1, 2016, NASCAR announced it had reached an agreement with Monster Energy to become the new sponsor of NASCAR's premier series.[21] On December 19, 2016, NASCAR announced the new name for the series, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) as well as the new series logo and new NASCAR logo.[22] On April 11, 2018, Monster Energy announced an extension of their sponsorship of the series through the end of the 2019 season.[23]
In 2017, stage racing was introduced. Races were broken up into three stages, four in the case of the Monster Energy Cup Series' longest race, the Coca-Cola 600. A stage consists of normal green flag racing followed by a stoppage on a designated lap signified by the waving of a green and white checkered flag, then a yellow flag. The top-10 finishers in each of the first two stages are awarded bonus championship points, 10 points to the winner, 9 points for the 2nd place car, down to 1 point for the 10th place car. The points earned are added to a driver/owner's regular season points total, while the winner of the stage receives an additional point that is added to their point total, after the reset, if they get into the NASCAR playoffs. The stage lengths vary by track, but the first two stages usually combine to equal about half of the race. The final stage (which still pays out championship points to all drivers) usually equals the other half. Also, a regular season points championship is awarded to the driver who scored the most points in the first 26 races (regular season). This championship does not award any bonus points to the winning driver. Otherwise, the points system and playoff format remained the same.
The current MENCS trophy is in the form of a chalice that stands at three feet tall and weighs 68 lbs. Made of machined aluminum and taking over 300 hours of craftsmanship, the trophy's exterior is decorated with the outlines of all 23 MENCS tracks. The cup portion is said to hold approximately 600 ounces of liquids, or 37 cans of Monster Energy.[24]
Drivers' Championship[edit]
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Drivers' Championship is awarded by the Chairman of NASCAR to the most successful Cup Series driver over a season, as determined by a points system based on race results and victories. First awarded in 1949 to Red Byron,[25] 32 different drivers have won the Championship. The first driver to win multiple Championships was Herb Thomas in 1951 and 1953, while the record for the most Championships, seven, is shared by Richard Petty,[26]Dale Earnhardt[27] and Jimmie Johnson. Johnson has the record for most consecutive Championships; he won five Championships from 2006 to 2010.[28] So far every Champion has originated from the United States.
Owners' Championship[edit]
The Cup Series Owner's Championship operates in the same manner as the Driver's Championship, except that points are awarded to each individual car. If an owner enters more than one car, each car is viewed and scored as a separate entity. The points in the Owners Championship is identical to the Drivers' list, with one minor exception: Drivers who are not eligible to earn points toward the Drivers' title can still earn points toward the Owners' Championship. An example of this occurred in the first race under the current points system, the 2011 Daytona 500. Under another rule newly implemented for the 2011 season, drivers are only allowed to earn drivers' points in one of NASCAR's three national series. Trevor Bayne, who won the race, did not earn any drivers' points because he chose to run for the Nationwide Series championship. However, he earned 47 owner's points for Wood Brothers Racing (43 base points, three bonus points for the win, and one bonus point for leading a lap).
Before a major change to the points system was implemented in 2011, there was a slightly different addition to the system of allocating owner's points. If more than 43 cars attempted to qualify for a race, owner's points were awarded to each car in the following manner: the fastest non-qualifier (in essence, 44th position) received 31 points, three points fewer than the car in th 43rd position. If more than one car did not qualify, owners' points continued to be assigned in the manner described, decreasing by three for each position. Under the post-2010 point system, only cars that actually start in a given race earn owner's points.
There is a separate 'Chase for the Championship' for the owners' points.
A 2005 rule change in NASCAR's three national series, revoked from 2013 onward, affects how the owner's points are used. Through the 2012 season, the top 35 (NASCAR Cup Series) or top 30 (other series) full-time teams in owner points are awarded exemptions for the next race, guaranteeing them a position in that race. These points determine who is in and who is out of the next race and have become crucial since the exemption rule was changed to its current format. At the end of each season, the top 35 contenders in owner's points are also locked into the first five races of the next season.
Beginning in 2013, the rules reverted to a system more similar to the pre-2005 rules. In the NASCAR Cup Series, the first 36 places in the field are determined strictly by qualifying speed. The next six places are awarded on owner points, with the final place reserved for a past Series Champion. If the final exemption is not used because all past Champions are already in the field, it will pass to another car based on the number of owner points.[29]
In some circumstances, a team's owners' points will differ from the corresponding driver's points. In 2005, after owner Jack Roush fired Kurt Busch during the next-to-last race weekend of the season, the No. 97 team finished in eighth place in owner's points, while Busch ended up tenth in driver's points. In 2002, when Sterling Marlin was injured, the No. 40 team finished eighth in owner's points, while Marlin was 18th in driver's points, because of substitute drivers Jamie McMurray and Mike Bliss, who continued to earn owner points for the No. 40. Another example was in the aforementioned 2011 Daytona 500.
Manufacturers' Championship[edit]
A Manufacturer's Championship is awarded each year, although the Driver's Championship is considered more prestigious. In the past, manufacturer's championships were prestigious because of the number of manufacturers involved, and the manufacturer's championship was a major marketing tool. In the Xfinity Series, the championship is known as the Bill France Performance Cup.[30]
Up to the 2013 season, points were scored in a 1960–1990 Formula One system, with the winner's manufacturer scoring nine points, six for the next manufacturer, four for the manufacturer third among makes, three for the fourth, two for the fifth, and one point for the sixth positioned manufacturer. This meant that if Chevrolets placed first through tenth in a given race and a Ford was 11th and a Dodge 12th, Chevrolet earned 9 points, Ford 6 and Dodge 4. Starting in 2014, NASCAR changed the system to mimic the Owner's Championship. Under this system, each manufacturer's best finishing representative effectively earned them the same amount of points as that team earned, including any bonus points from leading a lap or winning the event.[31]
Representation[edit]
In NASCAR's earliest years, there was a diverse array of machinery, with little support from the car companies themselves, but by the mid 1960s, participation was exclusively American manufacturers with factory support. Chrysler, Ford and General Motors were the primary, if not only, competitors for much of NASCAR's history. Plymouth, while somewhat successful in the 1960s with the Hemi, never won a Manufacturers Championship until Ford pulled out of racing in the early 1970s. GM was still using four different brands in NASCAR in 1991, but within three years, Buick and Oldsmobile were gone. Pontiac survived until 2004, leaving only Chevrolet. 2007 saw the first new brand since 1971, when Japanese manufacturer Toyota joined. Chrysler's Dodge brand returned after a 15-year hiatus in 2001, but departed after 2012, leaving just Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota.
Chevrolet has been the most successful manufacturer as of August 2015, with 749 race wins and 38 manufacturers championships. Ford ranks second with 636 victories and 15 manufacturers championships. Dodge is third in wins with 217, Plymouth fourth with 190, and Pontiac fifth with 155. Toyota currently ranks 9th all time, with 74 victories.
Cup cars[edit]
Cup Series cars (often called 'Cup cars') adhere to a front enginerear-wheel-drive design. A roll cage serves as a space framechassis and is covered by a 24-gauge sheet metal body. They have a closed cockpit, fenders, a rear spoiler, and an aerodynamic splitter. Fielding a car for one season usually costs $10–20 million.[32] Each team may build its own cars and engines (per NASCAR's specifications) or purchase cars and engines from other teams.
The cars are powered by EFI V8 engines with compacted graphite iron blocks and pushrod valvetrains actuating two-valves per cylinder, and are limited to 358 cubic inches' (about 5.8 liters) displacement. However, modern technology has allowed power outputs near 900 horsepower (670 kW) in unrestricted form while retaining the conventional basic engine design. In fact, before NASCAR instituted the gear rule, Cup engines were capable of operating more than 10,000 rpm.[33] A NASCAR Cup Series engine with the maximum bore of 4.185 inches (106.3 millimeters) and stroke of 3.25 inches (83 millimeters) at 9,000 rpm has a mean piston speed of 80.44 fps (24.75 m/s). Contemporary Cup engines run 9,800 rpm, 87.59 fps (26.95 m/s), at the road course events, on Pocono Raceway's long front stretch, and at Martinsville Speedway (a .526-mile short-track). At the backbone 1.5- to 2.0-mile tri-oval tracks of NASCAR, the engines produce over 850 hp running 92–9400 rpm for 500 miles, 600 mi for the Coca-Cola 600 Charlotte race.
The front suspension is a double wishbone design, while the rear suspension is a two-linklive axle design utilizing trailing arms. Brake rotors must be made of magnetic cast iron or steel and may not exceed 12.72 inches (32.3 centimeters) in diameter.[34] The only aerodynamic components on the vehicles are the front splitter, spoiler, NACA ducts in the windows only, and side skirts. The use of rear diffusers, vortex generators, canards, wheel well vents, hood vents, and undertrays is strictly prohibited. While the cars may reach speeds of about 200 mph (320 km/h) on certain tracks, Russ Wicks drove a stock car built to NASCAR's specifications 244.9 mph (394.1 km/h) during a speed record attempt at the Bonneville Salt Flats in October 2007.[35]
NASCAR Cup Series engines carry a Freescale-provided electronic control unit, but traction control and anti-lock brakes are prohibited. Live telemetry is used only for television broadcasts, but the data can be recorded from the ECU to the computer if the car is in the garage and not on the track.
Cup cars are required to have at least 1 working windshield wiper installed on the car for the 2 road courses (Sonoma and Watkins Glen), as part of the road racing rules package.
Evolution of Cup cars[edit]1949–1980[edit]
A Studebaker driven by Dick Linder in the 1951 Daytona Beach Road Course race.[36]
When the series was formed under the name, strictly stock, the cars were just that, production vehicles with no modifications allowed. The term stock car implied that the vehicles racing were unmodified street cars. Drivers would race with factory installed bench seats and AM radios still in the cars. To prevent broken glass from getting on the race track, windows would be rolled down, external lights would be removed or taped over, and wing mirrors would be removed. The 1957 fuel injected 150 model Chevrolet (known as 'the black widow') was the first car to be outlawed by NASCAR. The 1957 Chevrolet won the most races, with 59 wins, more than any car to ever race in the cup series.[citation needed] Before the mid-1960s, cars were typically based on full sized cars such as the Chevrolet Bel Air and Ford Galaxie. Beginning in 1966, mid-size cars including the Ford Fairlane and Plymouth Belvedere were adopted and soon became the norm.
Richard Petty's Plymouth Superbird
NASCAR once enforced a homologation rule that at various times stated that at least 500 cars had to be produced, or as many as one car for every make's dealership in the nation had to be sold to the general public to allow it to be raced. Eventually, cars were made expressly for NASCAR competition, including the Ford Torino Talladega, which had a rounded nose, and the Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird which had a rear wing raised above roof level and a shark shaped nose-cap which enabled race speeds of exactly 200 mph. The Ford-based Mercury Spoiler powered by a Ford Boss 429 engine was timed at 199.6 mph. Beginning in 1971, NASCAR rewrote the rules to effectively force the Ford and Chrysler specialty cars out of competition by limiting them to 305ci (5.0L). The cars affected by this rule include the Ford Talladega, Mercury Spoiler II, Dodge Charger 500, Dodge Charger Daytona and the Plymouth Superbird. This rule was so effective in limiting performance that only one car that season ever attempted to run in this configuration.
In 1971, NASCAR handicapped the larger engines with a restrictor plate. By 1972, NASCAR phased in a rule to lower the maximum engine displacement from 429 cubic inches (7.0 liters) to its present 358 cubic inches (5.8 liters). The transition was not complete until 1974 and coincided with American manufacturers ending factory support of racing and the 1973 oil crisis.
1981–2007[edit]
The pit road at Richmond International Raceway in 1985.
The downsizing of American cars in the late 1970s presented a challenge for NASCAR. Rules mandated a minimum wheelbase of 115 inches (2,900 mm), but after 1979, none of the models approved for competition met the standard, as mid-sized cars now typically had wheelbases between 105 and 112 inches. After retaining the older models (1977 for the GM makes, and 1979 for Ford and Dodge) through 1980, for the 1981 season the wheelbase requirement was reduced to 110 inches (2,800 mm), which the newer model cars could be stretched to meet without affecting their appearance. The Buick Regal with its swept-back 'shovel' nose initially dominated competition, followed by the rounded, aerodynamic 1983 Ford Thunderbird. The Chevrolet Monte Carlo and Pontiac Grand Prix adopted bubble back windows to stay competitive. Amid its financial woes, and after dropping its poor performing (both on the race track and for consumer sales) Dodge Mirada and Chrysler Cordoba in 1983, Chrysler Corporation left NASCAR entirely at the end of the 1985 season.
1987 marked a milestone for NASCAR Cup Series cars. During Winston 500 qualifying, Bill Elliott established a world stock-car record when he posted a speed of 212.809 mph (342 km/h). Then the unfortunate happened; during the 22nd lap of the race, driver Bobby Allison suffered a flat tire in the middle of Talladega Superspeedway's tri-oval. Allison's car hit the catch fence and tore a hole in the fence approximately 100 feet (30 m) long. Several spectators were injured in the accident, including one woman who lost an eye.[37] In the aftermath of the crash, NASCAR mandated the use of a restrictor plate at Talladega Superspeedway and Daytona International Speedway to reduce speeds.
By 1989, GM had switched its mid-sized models to V6 engines and front-wheel-drive, but the NASCAR racers only kept the body shape, with the old V8 rear-wheel-drive running gear, rendering obsolete the 'stock' nature of the cars. When the Ford Thunderbird was retired after 1997, without Ford having any two-door intermediate bodies, the four-door Ford Taurus body was used (although NASCAR racers actually have no opening doors).
The green flag at Infineon Raceway (now Sonoma Raceway) in 2005
While the manufacturers and models of automobiles used in racing were named for production cars (Dodge Charger R/T, Chevrolet Impala SS, Toyota Camry, and the Ford Fusion), the similarities between NASCAR Cup Series cars and actual production cars were limited to a small amount of shaping and painting of the nose, headlight and tail light decals, and grill areas. Until 2003, the hood, roof, and decklid were still required to be identical to their stock counterparts.
Matt Kenseth's 2007 Ford Fusion at Texas Motor Speedway.
It was in this time that NASCAR engaged in the practice of mandating rule changes during the season if one particular car model became overly dominant. This often led to claims that some teams would attempt sandbagging to receive more favorable handicaps.
Because of the notorious manner of the Ford Taurus race car and how the manufacturer turned the car into an 'offset' car (the car was notoriously asymmetrical in race trim because of its oval shape), NASCAR ended this practice to put more emphasis on parity and based new body rules in 2003, similar to short track racing, where offset cars had become a burden for race officials, resulting in the 'Approved Body Configuration' design.[clarification needed]
Car of Tomorrow (2007–2012)[edit]
Jimmie Johnson's 2009 COT in the Garage at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In 2007, NASCAR introduced a radically new vehicle specification known as the 'Car of Tomorrow' (CoT). The CoT made its debut at Bristol Motor Speedway in March 2007. Initially, it was only used at 16 selected events.[38] While NASCAR had originally planned to wait until the start of the 2009 season to use the CoT in every race, the date was changed to the start of the 2008 season. Many drivers still had complaints about the CoT, but this new timeline was intended to help teams save money by giving them only one car specification to work on.
The design of the CoT has focused on cost control, parity, and driver safety.[38] The car's width was increased by 4 inches (10 centimeters), the bumpers were re-designed to render bump and run tactics less effective, and the height of the car has increased by 2 inches (5 centimeters) to accommodate taller drivers and increase aerodynamic drag. The driver's seat was moved closer to the center of the car. The change most notable to fans was the addition of a rear wing replacing the familiar spoiler. The wings could be adjusted between 0 and 16 degrees and used with multiple configurations of end plates.
The new rules eliminate the asymmetrical bodies on cars, which had run rampant since the 1998 Taurus release. However, almost all advantages of using one car over another have been nullified. NASCAR requires all CoTs to conform to common body templates, regardless of make and model.
The rear wing remained a controversial feature for several years. Its appearance was often criticized, and it was accused of forcing cars to become airborne in high-speed spins such as the one experienced by Carl Edwards during the 2009 Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. In 2010 NASCAR decided to replace the wing with the original spoiler. The switch began with the 2010 Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.[39]
Jimmie Johnson leads a pack of cars three-wide multiple rows back in the 2015 Daytona 500.
In 2011, NASCAR altered the nose of the car once more, with the splitter being reduced in size and the braces being replaced by a solid front valence.[40]
A major engine change occurred in 2012 with NASCAR's introduction of fuel injection technology. Initially NASCAR indicated that it would transition to fuel injection midway through the 2011 season but decided before that season to put off the change until 2012.[41]
Generation 6 car (2013–present)[edit]
In 2013, manufacturers were given increased leeway for branding their NASCAR Cup Series cars, creating the Generation Six race car. These changes were made so the cars would resemble their street counterparts more closely, as was done in the Xfinity Series in 2011.[42]
All NASCAR Cup Series cars began utilizing a digital dash sold by McLaren in 2016.[43] This dash includes sixteen customizable preset screens,[44] allowing the driver to monitor all the previous info with several additional elements such as lap time and engine diagnostics, for a total of twenty-four data elements. Information can be displayed as a gauge, numeral, bar graph or LED.[45]
A Generation 6 Chevrolet SS Cup Series vehicle.
Setup[edit]
The automobiles' suspension, brakes, and aerodynamic components are also selected to tailor the cars to different racetracks. A car that understeers is said to be 'tight', or 'pushing', causing the car to keep going up the track with the wheel turned all the way left, while one that oversteers is said to be 'loose' or 'free', causing the back end of the car to slide around, which can result in the car spinning out if the driver is not careful. The adjustment of front and rear aerodynamic downforce, spring rates, track bar geometry, brake proportioning, the wedge (also known as cross-weight), changing the camber angle, and changing the air pressure in the tires can all change the distribution of forces among the tires during cornering to correct for handling problems. Recently, coil bind setups have become popular among teams.
These characteristics are also affected by tire stagger (tires of different circumference at different positions on the car, the right rear having the most influence in left turns) and rubber compounds used in tire construction. These settings are determined by NASCAR and Goodyear engineers and may not be adjusted by individual teams.
Changing weather conditions may also affect a car's handling. In a long race, it is sometimes advantageous to prepare a car to handle well at the end of an event while surrendering the advantage of speed at the start. Rain forces a race to be halted immediately because there is no current provision for rain tires. While rain tires were developed for the series in the late 1990s, NASCAR abandoned them because there were not enough road courses on the schedule to justify the cost of making more tires to replace them as they aged. MENCS cars have used these tires in practice sessions, but only the Xfinity Series has used them under actual race conditions. There was, however, one case of a NASCAR Cup Series race being held in the rain. In 1956 a race at Road America was held in rain; Tim Flock won the race.[46]
Specifications[edit]
A typical NASCAR Cup Series engine.
Cup tracks[edit]
Presently, the MENCS is held mainly in eastern states, with only six tracks located west of the Mississippi River. NASCAR Cup Series races are not conducted on standardized tracks; the 2017 season included 21 oval tracks and 3 road courses. The lap length of the oval tracks vary from .526 miles (0.847 km) at Martinsville Speedway to 2.66 miles (4.28 km) at Talladega Superspeedway. The majority of the oval tracks are paved with asphalt, while 3 tracks are wholly or partially paved with concrete. Although the series historically raced on dirt tracks, it has not done so since 1970.[48]
A satellite view of Charlotte Motor Speedway, a typical NASCAR track with a D-oval configuration. The infield roval also hosts a Cup Series event, with the inaugural event in 2018.
While some tracks are true ovals, such as Bristol Motor Speedway, over half the tracks currently in Cup competition are a form of tri-oval. Other configurations include Darlington Raceway's characteristic uneven 'egg' shape, the triangular Pocono Raceway, and the rectangle of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
While NASCAR is known for primarily running counter-clockwise on oval tracks, Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International are complex road courses which are raced clockwise. The series' first road course event was held in 1954, at Linden Airport in New Jersey. Since 1963, the series has raced on at least one road course every year.
Courses have a wide range of banking in the corners. New Hampshire Motor Speedway, with 7 degrees of banking, has the flattest corners, while the steepest banking is Talladega Superspeedway's 33 degrees. Tracks also vary in amount of banking on the straightaways, from entirely flat on many courses to 9 degrees at Dover International Speedway.
Bill Elliott's Melling Racing car that set the record for the fastest lap in a stock car – 212.809 mph (342.483 km/h), 44.998 seconds at Talladega Superspeedway.
Race speeds vary widely depending on the track. The fastest track is Talladega Superspeedway, where the record average speed is 188.354 mph (303.126 km/h) and the record qualifying lap is 212.809 mph (342.483 km/h), set by Bill Elliott in 1987. The record stands unlikely to be broken, as restrictor plates were made mandatory at superspeedways in 1988 to reduce speeds.[49] The slowest tracks are Sonoma Raceway, a road course with a record average speed of only 83.6 mph (134.5 km/h) and a record qualifying lap of 99.3 mph (159.8 km/h), and Martinsville Speedway, a short, nearly flat 'paper clip' oval, with a record average speed of 82.2 mph (132.3 km/h) and a record qualifying lap of 99.9 mph (160.8 km/h). The average speed of a race is determined by dividing the winner's race time (from the waving of the green flag to the waving of the checkered flag, including laps spent under caution) by the distance of the race. Time elapsed during red flag periods is not included in the calculation of the average speed.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=NASCAR_Cup_Series&oldid=898934043'
(Redirected from Sprint Cup Series)
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) (often shortened to the Cup Series) is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Since 2017, it has been named for its sponsor, Monster Energy, but has been known by other names in the past. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, when the series began leasing its naming rights to the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, it was referred to as the Winston Cup Series. A similar deal was made with Nextel in 2003, and it became the Nextel Cup Series (2004–2007).[1] Sprint acquired Nextel in 2005, and in 2008 the series was renamed the Sprint Cup Series, which lasted until 2016. In December 2016, it was announced that Monster Energy would become the new title sponsor starting in 2017.
The championship is determined by a points system, with points being awarded according to finish placement and number of laps led. The season is divided into two segments. After the first 26 races, 16 drivers, selected primarily on the basis of wins during the first 26 races, are seeded based on their total number of wins. They compete in the last ten races, where the difference in points is greatly minimized. This is called the NASCAR playoffs.[2]
The series holds strong roots in the Southeastern United States, with half of the races in the 36-race season being held in that region. The current[when?] schedule includes tracks from around the United States. Regular season races were previously held in Canada, and exhibition races were held in Japan and Australia. The Daytona 500, the most prestigious race, had a television audience of about 9.17 million U.S. viewers in 2019.[3]
Cup Series cars are unique in automobile racing. The engines are powerful enough to reach speeds of over 200 mph (320 km/h), but their weight coupled with a relatively simple aerodynamic package (based on the body styles of cars currently available for retail sale in the United States) make for poor handling. The bodies and chassis of the cars are strictly regulated to ensure parity, and electronics are traditionally spartan in nature.
History[edit]Strictly Stock and Grand National[edit]
In 1949, NASCAR introduced the Strictly Stock division, after sanctioning Modified and Roadster division races in 1948. Eight races were run on seven dirt ovals and on the Daytona Beach beach/street course.[4]
The first NASCAR 'Strictly Stock' race was held at Charlotte Speedway on June 19, 1949. Jim Roper was declared the winner of that race after Glenn Dunaway was disqualified for having altered the rear springs on his car; the first series champion was Red Byron. The division was renamed 'Grand National' for the 1950 season, reflecting NASCAR's intent to make the sport more professional and prestigious. It retained this name until 1971. The 1949 Strictly Stock season is regarded in NASCAR's record books as the first season of GN/Cup history. Martinsville Speedway is the only track on the 1949 schedule that remains on the current schedule.
Seven-time Winston Cup champion Richard Petty.
Rather than having a fixed schedule of one race per weekend with most entrants appearing at every event, the Grand National schedule has included over sixty events in some years. Often there are two or three races on the same weekend and occasionally two races on the same day in different states.
In the early years, most Grand National races were held on dirt-surfaced short oval tracks that ranged in lap length from under a quarter-mile to over a half-mile, or on dirt fairgrounds ovals usually ranging from a half-mile to a mile in lap length. One hundred ninety-eight of the first 221 Grand National races were run on dirt tracks. Darlington Raceway, opened in 1950, was the first completely paved track on the circuit over one mile (1.6 km) long. In 1959, when Daytona International Speedway was opened, the schedule still had more races on dirt racetracks than on paved ones. In the 1960s as superspeedways were built and old dirt tracks were paved, the number of races run on dirt tracks was reduced.[5]
The last NASCAR race on a dirt track was held on September 30, 1970 at the half-mile State Fairgrounds Speedway in Raleigh, North Carolina. Richard Petty won that race in a Plymouth that had been sold by Petty Enterprises to Don Robertson and rented back by Petty Enterprises for the race.[5]
Winston Cup[edit]
The Winston Cup Series logo from 2000 to 2003.
Between 1971 and 2003, NASCAR's premier series was called the Winston Cup Series. It was sponsored by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company cigarette brand Winston. In 1971, the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act banned television advertising of cigarettes. As a result, tobacco companies began to sponsor sporting events as a way to spend their excess advertising dollars and to circumvent the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act's ban on television advertising. RJR's sponsorship became more controversial in the wake of the 1998 Tobacco Industry Settlement that sharply restricted avenues for tobacco advertising, including sports sponsorships.
The changes that resulted from RJR's involvement in the series as well as from the reduction in schedule from 48 to 31 races per year established 1972 as the beginning of NASCAR's 'modern era'. The season was made shorter, and the points system was modified several times during the next four years. Races on dirt tracks and on oval tracks shorter than 250 miles (400 kilometres) were removed from the schedule, and transferred to the short-lived NASCAR Grand National East Series. NASCAR's founder, Bill France Sr., turned over control of NASCAR to his oldest son, Bill France Jr. In August 1974, France Jr. asked series publicist Bob Latford to design a points system with equal points being awarded for all races regardless of length or prize money.[6] This system ensured that the top drivers would have to compete in all the races in order to become the series champion. This system remained unchanged from 1975 until the Chase for the Championship was instituted in 2004.
Seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt
Since 1982, the Daytona 500 has been the first non-exhibition race of the year.
ABC Sports aired partial or full live telecasts of Grand National races from Talladega, North Wilkesboro, Darlington, Charlotte, and Nashville in 1970. Because these events were perceived as less exciting than many Grand National races, ABC abandoned its live coverage. Races were instead broadcast, delayed and edited, on the ABC sports variety show Wide World of Sports.[7]
In 1979, the Daytona 500 became the first stock car race that was nationally televised from flag to flag on CBS. The leaders going into the last lap, Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison, wrecked on the backstretch while dicing for the lead, allowing Richard Petty to pass them both for the win. Immediately, Yarborough, Allison, and Allison's brother Bobby were engaged in a fistfight on national television. This underlined the drama and emotion of the sport and increased its broadcast marketability. The race coincided with a major snowstorm along the United States' eastern seaboard, successfully introducing the sport to a captive audience.
In 1981, an awards banquet began to be held in New York City on the first Friday evening in December. The first banquets were held in the Waldorf-Astoria's Starlight Room and in 1985 were moved to the much larger Grand Ballroom. But in 2001, the banquet portion was dropped in favor of a simpler awards ceremony. And in 2002, the awards ceremony was moved to the Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center. However, in 2003, the festivities returned to the Waldorf's Grand Ballroom, and the banquet format was reinstated.
In 1985, Winston introduced a new awards program called the Winston Million. From 1985 to 1997, any driver who won three of the four most prestigious races in the series was given one million dollars. The prize was only won twice; Bill Elliott won in 1985, Darrell Waltrip nearly won in 1989, Dale Jarrett nearly won in 1996, and Jeff Gordon won in 1997.[8] The Winston Million was replaced with a similar program, the Winston No Bull Five, in 1998. This program awarded one million dollars to any driver who won a prestigious race after finishing in the top five of the most previous prestigious race.[9]
The series underwent a large boom in popularity in the 1990s.[10] In 1994, NASCAR held the first Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Between 1997 and 1998, the winner's prize money for the Daytona 500 tripled. This coincided with a decline of popularity in American Championship Car Racing.
In 1999, NASCAR made a new agreement with Fox Broadcasting, Turner Broadcasting, and NBC. The contract, signed for eight years for Fox and six years for NBC and Turner, was valued at $2.4 billion.[11]
In 2001, Pixar visited NASCAR tracks as research for the 2006 animated filmCars, which included the voices of NASCAR drivers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Jr.[12] To avoid advertising tobacco in a Disney film, 'Piston Cup' served as Pixar's allusion to the Winston Cup.[13]
Nextel and Sprint[edit]
The Nextel Cup Series logo from 2004 to 2007.
At the end of 2003, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco's sponsorship contract expired, and NASCAR negotiated a contract with Nextel, a telecommunications company. In 2004, the series became known as the Nextel Cup Series.
The 2006 merger between Sprint and Nextel resulted in the Cup Series being renamed the Sprint Cup, beginning with the 2008 season.[1]
The Sprint Cup trophy was designed by Tiffany & Co. and is silver, with a pair of checkered flags in flight.[14]
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By 2009, the popularity boom of the 1990s had ended, and television ratings over the previous ten years had become more or less stagnant. Some long-time fans have criticized the series for losing its traditional appeal because of abandoning venues in the southeastern United States in favor of newer markets. They have also voiced discontent over Toyota's presence in the series. Japanese telecommunications corporation SoftBank acquired Sprint in July 2013. While NASCAR was suspicious of diversity promotion and aware of the negative implications of the redneck image, it also recognized the opportunities to expand the sport.[15] NASCAR CEOBrian France has become a prime target for criticism among fans.[16]
In 2016, NASCAR announced the creation of a charter system, which would guarantee 36 teams entry to all 36 races. Eligibility for a charter would depend on a team's attempts to qualify for every race within the previous three seasons. In conjunction with this rule, NASCAR also reduced the size of the Cup field to 40 cars.[17]
The Sprint Cup Series logo from 2008 to 2016.
Chase for the Cup[edit]
Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson.
Along with the change in title sponsorship for the series, the 2004 season also introduced a new system for determining the series champion, influenced by the system used in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series.[18]
Originally known as the Chase for the Nextel Cup (or simply 'The Chase', and later changed to Sprint branding), the ten highest-scoring drivers and teams (plus ties) in the first 26 races of the season became eligible to win the championship by competing in a playoff held within the final ten races. This number was increased to 12 teams in 2007. The Chase participants had their points increased to a level mathematically unattainable by anyone outside this field (roughly 1,800 points ahead of the first driver outside the Chase). From the inaugural Chase in 2004 to the 2006 Chase, the drivers were seeded based on points position at the end of the regular season, with first place starting with 5,050 points and tenth place starting with 5,005. From 2007 to 2010, the points totals of each driver who made the Chase were reset to 5,000 points, plus ten additional points for each race victory during the first 26 races. Points would still be awarded as usual during the affected races. The driver leading in points after the 36th race would be declared the champion.
As part of a major change in the points system that took effect in 2011, the qualifying criteria and the points reset were changed as well. From 2011 to 2013, the ten drivers with the most points automatically qualified for the Chase. They were joined by two 'wild card' qualifiers, specifically the two drivers with the most race wins who were ranked between 11th and 20th in drivers' points. Their base point totals were then reset to 2,000 points, a level more than 1,000 points higher than that of the first driver outside the Chase. (Under the new point system, a race winner can earn a maximum of 48 points, as opposed to 195 in the pre-2011 system.) The ten automatic qualifiers received a bonus of three points for each win during the regular season, while the two wild card qualifiers received no such bonus. As in the past, the race layouts for the remaining ten races were the same, with no changes to the scoring system.[19] On November 20, 2011, Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards ended the season in a first-ever points tie. Stewart's five season wins (all in the Chase) over Edwards' one win (in the third race of the season) gave Stewart the tie-breaker. Hence he was named the winner of the 2011 NASCAR Cup Series Championship.
For 2014, NASCAR announced wide-ranging changes to the Chase format:[2]
To encourage continued competition among all drivers, a number of awards are given to drivers finishing outside the Chase. The highest finishing non-Chase driver (13th place at the end of the season from 2007 to 2013 and potentially anywhere from fifth to 17th place starting in 2014) is awarded a bonus of approximately one million dollars, and was originally given a position on stage at the post-season awards banquet. The awards banquet now focuses solely on the Chase, with all of the series' sponsored and contingency awards moved to a luncheon at Cipriani the day before the banquet.
This playoff system was implemented primarily to make the points race more competitive late in the season, and indirectly, to increase television ratings during the NFL season, which starts around the same time as the Chase begins. The Chase also forces teams to perform at their best during all three stages of the season, the first half of the regular season, the second half of the regular season, and the Chase.[20]
Previously, the champion could have been determined before the last race, or even several races before the end of the season, because it was mathematically impossible for any other driver to gain enough points to overtake the leader.
Monster Energy[edit]
The title sponsorship with Sprint ended after the 2016 season. On December 1, 2016, NASCAR announced it had reached an agreement with Monster Energy to become the new sponsor of NASCAR's premier series.[21] On December 19, 2016, NASCAR announced the new name for the series, Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) as well as the new series logo and new NASCAR logo.[22] On April 11, 2018, Monster Energy announced an extension of their sponsorship of the series through the end of the 2019 season.[23]
In 2017, stage racing was introduced. Races were broken up into three stages, four in the case of the Monster Energy Cup Series' longest race, the Coca-Cola 600. A stage consists of normal green flag racing followed by a stoppage on a designated lap signified by the waving of a green and white checkered flag, then a yellow flag. The top-10 finishers in each of the first two stages are awarded bonus championship points, 10 points to the winner, 9 points for the 2nd place car, down to 1 point for the 10th place car. The points earned are added to a driver/owner's regular season points total, while the winner of the stage receives an additional point that is added to their point total, after the reset, if they get into the NASCAR playoffs. The stage lengths vary by track, but the first two stages usually combine to equal about half of the race. The final stage (which still pays out championship points to all drivers) usually equals the other half. Also, a regular season points championship is awarded to the driver who scored the most points in the first 26 races (regular season). This championship does not award any bonus points to the winning driver. Otherwise, the points system and playoff format remained the same.
The current MENCS trophy is in the form of a chalice that stands at three feet tall and weighs 68 lbs. Made of machined aluminum and taking over 300 hours of craftsmanship, the trophy's exterior is decorated with the outlines of all 23 MENCS tracks. The cup portion is said to hold approximately 600 ounces of liquids, or 37 cans of Monster Energy.[24]
Drivers' Championship[edit]
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Drivers' Championship is awarded by the Chairman of NASCAR to the most successful Cup Series driver over a season, as determined by a points system based on race results and victories. First awarded in 1949 to Red Byron,[25] 32 different drivers have won the Championship. The first driver to win multiple Championships was Herb Thomas in 1951 and 1953, while the record for the most Championships, seven, is shared by Richard Petty,[26]Dale Earnhardt[27] and Jimmie Johnson. Johnson has the record for most consecutive Championships; he won five Championships from 2006 to 2010.[28] So far every Champion has originated from the United States.
Owners' Championship[edit]
The Cup Series Owner's Championship operates in the same manner as the Driver's Championship, except that points are awarded to each individual car. If an owner enters more than one car, each car is viewed and scored as a separate entity. The points in the Owners Championship is identical to the Drivers' list, with one minor exception: Drivers who are not eligible to earn points toward the Drivers' title can still earn points toward the Owners' Championship. An example of this occurred in the first race under the current points system, the 2011 Daytona 500. Under another rule newly implemented for the 2011 season, drivers are only allowed to earn drivers' points in one of NASCAR's three national series. Trevor Bayne, who won the race, did not earn any drivers' points because he chose to run for the Nationwide Series championship. However, he earned 47 owner's points for Wood Brothers Racing (43 base points, three bonus points for the win, and one bonus point for leading a lap).
Before a major change to the points system was implemented in 2011, there was a slightly different addition to the system of allocating owner's points. If more than 43 cars attempted to qualify for a race, owner's points were awarded to each car in the following manner: the fastest non-qualifier (in essence, 44th position) received 31 points, three points fewer than the car in th 43rd position. If more than one car did not qualify, owners' points continued to be assigned in the manner described, decreasing by three for each position. Under the post-2010 point system, only cars that actually start in a given race earn owner's points.
There is a separate 'Chase for the Championship' for the owners' points.
A 2005 rule change in NASCAR's three national series, revoked from 2013 onward, affects how the owner's points are used. Through the 2012 season, the top 35 (NASCAR Cup Series) or top 30 (other series) full-time teams in owner points are awarded exemptions for the next race, guaranteeing them a position in that race. These points determine who is in and who is out of the next race and have become crucial since the exemption rule was changed to its current format. At the end of each season, the top 35 contenders in owner's points are also locked into the first five races of the next season.
Beginning in 2013, the rules reverted to a system more similar to the pre-2005 rules. In the NASCAR Cup Series, the first 36 places in the field are determined strictly by qualifying speed. The next six places are awarded on owner points, with the final place reserved for a past Series Champion. If the final exemption is not used because all past Champions are already in the field, it will pass to another car based on the number of owner points.[29]
In some circumstances, a team's owners' points will differ from the corresponding driver's points. In 2005, after owner Jack Roush fired Kurt Busch during the next-to-last race weekend of the season, the No. 97 team finished in eighth place in owner's points, while Busch ended up tenth in driver's points. In 2002, when Sterling Marlin was injured, the No. 40 team finished eighth in owner's points, while Marlin was 18th in driver's points, because of substitute drivers Jamie McMurray and Mike Bliss, who continued to earn owner points for the No. 40. Another example was in the aforementioned 2011 Daytona 500.
Manufacturers' Championship[edit]
A Manufacturer's Championship is awarded each year, although the Driver's Championship is considered more prestigious. In the past, manufacturer's championships were prestigious because of the number of manufacturers involved, and the manufacturer's championship was a major marketing tool. In the Xfinity Series, the championship is known as the Bill France Performance Cup.[30]
Up to the 2013 season, points were scored in a 1960–1990 Formula One system, with the winner's manufacturer scoring nine points, six for the next manufacturer, four for the manufacturer third among makes, three for the fourth, two for the fifth, and one point for the sixth positioned manufacturer. This meant that if Chevrolets placed first through tenth in a given race and a Ford was 11th and a Dodge 12th, Chevrolet earned 9 points, Ford 6 and Dodge 4. Starting in 2014, NASCAR changed the system to mimic the Owner's Championship. Under this system, each manufacturer's best finishing representative effectively earned them the same amount of points as that team earned, including any bonus points from leading a lap or winning the event.[31]
Representation[edit]
In NASCAR's earliest years, there was a diverse array of machinery, with little support from the car companies themselves, but by the mid 1960s, participation was exclusively American manufacturers with factory support. Chrysler, Ford and General Motors were the primary, if not only, competitors for much of NASCAR's history. Plymouth, while somewhat successful in the 1960s with the Hemi, never won a Manufacturers Championship until Ford pulled out of racing in the early 1970s. GM was still using four different brands in NASCAR in 1991, but within three years, Buick and Oldsmobile were gone. Pontiac survived until 2004, leaving only Chevrolet. 2007 saw the first new brand since 1971, when Japanese manufacturer Toyota joined. Chrysler's Dodge brand returned after a 15-year hiatus in 2001, but departed after 2012, leaving just Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota.
Chevrolet has been the most successful manufacturer as of August 2015, with 749 race wins and 38 manufacturers championships. Ford ranks second with 636 victories and 15 manufacturers championships. Dodge is third in wins with 217, Plymouth fourth with 190, and Pontiac fifth with 155. Toyota currently ranks 9th all time, with 74 victories.
Cup cars[edit]
Cup Series cars (often called 'Cup cars') adhere to a front enginerear-wheel-drive design. A roll cage serves as a space framechassis and is covered by a 24-gauge sheet metal body. They have a closed cockpit, fenders, a rear spoiler, and an aerodynamic splitter. Fielding a car for one season usually costs $10–20 million.[32] Each team may build its own cars and engines (per NASCAR's specifications) or purchase cars and engines from other teams.
The cars are powered by EFI V8 engines with compacted graphite iron blocks and pushrod valvetrains actuating two-valves per cylinder, and are limited to 358 cubic inches' (about 5.8 liters) displacement. However, modern technology has allowed power outputs near 900 horsepower (670 kW) in unrestricted form while retaining the conventional basic engine design. In fact, before NASCAR instituted the gear rule, Cup engines were capable of operating more than 10,000 rpm.[33] A NASCAR Cup Series engine with the maximum bore of 4.185 inches (106.3 millimeters) and stroke of 3.25 inches (83 millimeters) at 9,000 rpm has a mean piston speed of 80.44 fps (24.75 m/s). Contemporary Cup engines run 9,800 rpm, 87.59 fps (26.95 m/s), at the road course events, on Pocono Raceway's long front stretch, and at Martinsville Speedway (a .526-mile short-track). At the backbone 1.5- to 2.0-mile tri-oval tracks of NASCAR, the engines produce over 850 hp running 92–9400 rpm for 500 miles, 600 mi for the Coca-Cola 600 Charlotte race.
The front suspension is a double wishbone design, while the rear suspension is a two-linklive axle design utilizing trailing arms. Brake rotors must be made of magnetic cast iron or steel and may not exceed 12.72 inches (32.3 centimeters) in diameter.[34] The only aerodynamic components on the vehicles are the front splitter, spoiler, NACA ducts in the windows only, and side skirts. The use of rear diffusers, vortex generators, canards, wheel well vents, hood vents, and undertrays is strictly prohibited. While the cars may reach speeds of about 200 mph (320 km/h) on certain tracks, Russ Wicks drove a stock car built to NASCAR's specifications 244.9 mph (394.1 km/h) during a speed record attempt at the Bonneville Salt Flats in October 2007.[35]
NASCAR Cup Series engines carry a Freescale-provided electronic control unit, but traction control and anti-lock brakes are prohibited. Live telemetry is used only for television broadcasts, but the data can be recorded from the ECU to the computer if the car is in the garage and not on the track.
Cup cars are required to have at least 1 working windshield wiper installed on the car for the 2 road courses (Sonoma and Watkins Glen), as part of the road racing rules package.
Evolution of Cup cars[edit]1949–1980[edit]
A Studebaker driven by Dick Linder in the 1951 Daytona Beach Road Course race.[36]
When the series was formed under the name, strictly stock, the cars were just that, production vehicles with no modifications allowed. The term stock car implied that the vehicles racing were unmodified street cars. Drivers would race with factory installed bench seats and AM radios still in the cars. To prevent broken glass from getting on the race track, windows would be rolled down, external lights would be removed or taped over, and wing mirrors would be removed. The 1957 fuel injected 150 model Chevrolet (known as 'the black widow') was the first car to be outlawed by NASCAR. The 1957 Chevrolet won the most races, with 59 wins, more than any car to ever race in the cup series.[citation needed] Before the mid-1960s, cars were typically based on full sized cars such as the Chevrolet Bel Air and Ford Galaxie. Beginning in 1966, mid-size cars including the Ford Fairlane and Plymouth Belvedere were adopted and soon became the norm.
Richard Petty's Plymouth Superbird
NASCAR once enforced a homologation rule that at various times stated that at least 500 cars had to be produced, or as many as one car for every make's dealership in the nation had to be sold to the general public to allow it to be raced. Eventually, cars were made expressly for NASCAR competition, including the Ford Torino Talladega, which had a rounded nose, and the Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird which had a rear wing raised above roof level and a shark shaped nose-cap which enabled race speeds of exactly 200 mph. The Ford-based Mercury Spoiler powered by a Ford Boss 429 engine was timed at 199.6 mph. Beginning in 1971, NASCAR rewrote the rules to effectively force the Ford and Chrysler specialty cars out of competition by limiting them to 305ci (5.0L). The cars affected by this rule include the Ford Talladega, Mercury Spoiler II, Dodge Charger 500, Dodge Charger Daytona and the Plymouth Superbird. This rule was so effective in limiting performance that only one car that season ever attempted to run in this configuration.
In 1971, NASCAR handicapped the larger engines with a restrictor plate. By 1972, NASCAR phased in a rule to lower the maximum engine displacement from 429 cubic inches (7.0 liters) to its present 358 cubic inches (5.8 liters). The transition was not complete until 1974 and coincided with American manufacturers ending factory support of racing and the 1973 oil crisis.
1981–2007[edit]
The pit road at Richmond International Raceway in 1985.
The downsizing of American cars in the late 1970s presented a challenge for NASCAR. Rules mandated a minimum wheelbase of 115 inches (2,900 mm), but after 1979, none of the models approved for competition met the standard, as mid-sized cars now typically had wheelbases between 105 and 112 inches. After retaining the older models (1977 for the GM makes, and 1979 for Ford and Dodge) through 1980, for the 1981 season the wheelbase requirement was reduced to 110 inches (2,800 mm), which the newer model cars could be stretched to meet without affecting their appearance. The Buick Regal with its swept-back 'shovel' nose initially dominated competition, followed by the rounded, aerodynamic 1983 Ford Thunderbird. The Chevrolet Monte Carlo and Pontiac Grand Prix adopted bubble back windows to stay competitive. Amid its financial woes, and after dropping its poor performing (both on the race track and for consumer sales) Dodge Mirada and Chrysler Cordoba in 1983, Chrysler Corporation left NASCAR entirely at the end of the 1985 season.
1987 marked a milestone for NASCAR Cup Series cars. During Winston 500 qualifying, Bill Elliott established a world stock-car record when he posted a speed of 212.809 mph (342 km/h). Then the unfortunate happened; during the 22nd lap of the race, driver Bobby Allison suffered a flat tire in the middle of Talladega Superspeedway's tri-oval. Allison's car hit the catch fence and tore a hole in the fence approximately 100 feet (30 m) long. Several spectators were injured in the accident, including one woman who lost an eye.[37] In the aftermath of the crash, NASCAR mandated the use of a restrictor plate at Talladega Superspeedway and Daytona International Speedway to reduce speeds.
By 1989, GM had switched its mid-sized models to V6 engines and front-wheel-drive, but the NASCAR racers only kept the body shape, with the old V8 rear-wheel-drive running gear, rendering obsolete the 'stock' nature of the cars. When the Ford Thunderbird was retired after 1997, without Ford having any two-door intermediate bodies, the four-door Ford Taurus body was used (although NASCAR racers actually have no opening doors).
The green flag at Infineon Raceway (now Sonoma Raceway) in 2005
While the manufacturers and models of automobiles used in racing were named for production cars (Dodge Charger R/T, Chevrolet Impala SS, Toyota Camry, and the Ford Fusion), the similarities between NASCAR Cup Series cars and actual production cars were limited to a small amount of shaping and painting of the nose, headlight and tail light decals, and grill areas. Until 2003, the hood, roof, and decklid were still required to be identical to their stock counterparts.
Matt Kenseth's 2007 Ford Fusion at Texas Motor Speedway.
It was in this time that NASCAR engaged in the practice of mandating rule changes during the season if one particular car model became overly dominant. This often led to claims that some teams would attempt sandbagging to receive more favorable handicaps.
Because of the notorious manner of the Ford Taurus race car and how the manufacturer turned the car into an 'offset' car (the car was notoriously asymmetrical in race trim because of its oval shape), NASCAR ended this practice to put more emphasis on parity and based new body rules in 2003, similar to short track racing, where offset cars had become a burden for race officials, resulting in the 'Approved Body Configuration' design.[clarification needed]
Car of Tomorrow (2007–2012)[edit]
Jimmie Johnson's 2009 COT in the Garage at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In 2007, NASCAR introduced a radically new vehicle specification known as the 'Car of Tomorrow' (CoT). The CoT made its debut at Bristol Motor Speedway in March 2007. Initially, it was only used at 16 selected events.[38] While NASCAR had originally planned to wait until the start of the 2009 season to use the CoT in every race, the date was changed to the start of the 2008 season. Many drivers still had complaints about the CoT, but this new timeline was intended to help teams save money by giving them only one car specification to work on.
The design of the CoT has focused on cost control, parity, and driver safety.[38] The car's width was increased by 4 inches (10 centimeters), the bumpers were re-designed to render bump and run tactics less effective, and the height of the car has increased by 2 inches (5 centimeters) to accommodate taller drivers and increase aerodynamic drag. The driver's seat was moved closer to the center of the car. The change most notable to fans was the addition of a rear wing replacing the familiar spoiler. The wings could be adjusted between 0 and 16 degrees and used with multiple configurations of end plates.
The new rules eliminate the asymmetrical bodies on cars, which had run rampant since the 1998 Taurus release. However, almost all advantages of using one car over another have been nullified. NASCAR requires all CoTs to conform to common body templates, regardless of make and model.
The rear wing remained a controversial feature for several years. Its appearance was often criticized, and it was accused of forcing cars to become airborne in high-speed spins such as the one experienced by Carl Edwards during the 2009 Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. In 2010 NASCAR decided to replace the wing with the original spoiler. The switch began with the 2010 Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.[39]
Jimmie Johnson leads a pack of cars three-wide multiple rows back in the 2015 Daytona 500.
In 2011, NASCAR altered the nose of the car once more, with the splitter being reduced in size and the braces being replaced by a solid front valence.[40]
A major engine change occurred in 2012 with NASCAR's introduction of fuel injection technology. Initially NASCAR indicated that it would transition to fuel injection midway through the 2011 season but decided before that season to put off the change until 2012.[41]
Generation 6 car (2013–present)[edit]
In 2013, manufacturers were given increased leeway for branding their NASCAR Cup Series cars, creating the Generation Six race car. These changes were made so the cars would resemble their street counterparts more closely, as was done in the Xfinity Series in 2011.[42]
All NASCAR Cup Series cars began utilizing a digital dash sold by McLaren in 2016.[43] This dash includes sixteen customizable preset screens,[44] allowing the driver to monitor all the previous info with several additional elements such as lap time and engine diagnostics, for a total of twenty-four data elements. Information can be displayed as a gauge, numeral, bar graph or LED.[45]
A Generation 6 Chevrolet SS Cup Series vehicle.
Setup[edit]
The automobiles' suspension, brakes, and aerodynamic components are also selected to tailor the cars to different racetracks. A car that understeers is said to be 'tight', or 'pushing', causing the car to keep going up the track with the wheel turned all the way left, while one that oversteers is said to be 'loose' or 'free', causing the back end of the car to slide around, which can result in the car spinning out if the driver is not careful. The adjustment of front and rear aerodynamic downforce, spring rates, track bar geometry, brake proportioning, the wedge (also known as cross-weight), changing the camber angle, and changing the air pressure in the tires can all change the distribution of forces among the tires during cornering to correct for handling problems. Recently, coil bind setups have become popular among teams.
These characteristics are also affected by tire stagger (tires of different circumference at different positions on the car, the right rear having the most influence in left turns) and rubber compounds used in tire construction. These settings are determined by NASCAR and Goodyear engineers and may not be adjusted by individual teams.
Changing weather conditions may also affect a car's handling. In a long race, it is sometimes advantageous to prepare a car to handle well at the end of an event while surrendering the advantage of speed at the start. Rain forces a race to be halted immediately because there is no current provision for rain tires. While rain tires were developed for the series in the late 1990s, NASCAR abandoned them because there were not enough road courses on the schedule to justify the cost of making more tires to replace them as they aged. MENCS cars have used these tires in practice sessions, but only the Xfinity Series has used them under actual race conditions. There was, however, one case of a NASCAR Cup Series race being held in the rain. In 1956 a race at Road America was held in rain; Tim Flock won the race.[46]
Specifications[edit]
A typical NASCAR Cup Series engine.
Cup tracks[edit]
Presently, the MENCS is held mainly in eastern states, with only six tracks located west of the Mississippi River. NASCAR Cup Series races are not conducted on standardized tracks; the 2017 season included 21 oval tracks and 3 road courses. The lap length of the oval tracks vary from .526 miles (0.847 km) at Martinsville Speedway to 2.66 miles (4.28 km) at Talladega Superspeedway. The majority of the oval tracks are paved with asphalt, while 3 tracks are wholly or partially paved with concrete. Although the series historically raced on dirt tracks, it has not done so since 1970.[48]
A satellite view of Charlotte Motor Speedway, a typical NASCAR track with a D-oval configuration. The infield roval also hosts a Cup Series event, with the inaugural event in 2018.
While some tracks are true ovals, such as Bristol Motor Speedway, over half the tracks currently in Cup competition are a form of tri-oval. Other configurations include Darlington Raceway's characteristic uneven 'egg' shape, the triangular Pocono Raceway, and the rectangle of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
While NASCAR is known for primarily running counter-clockwise on oval tracks, Sonoma Raceway and Watkins Glen International are complex road courses which are raced clockwise. The series' first road course event was held in 1954, at Linden Airport in New Jersey. Since 1963, the series has raced on at least one road course every year.
Courses have a wide range of banking in the corners. New Hampshire Motor Speedway, with 7 degrees of banking, has the flattest corners, while the steepest banking is Talladega Superspeedway's 33 degrees. Tracks also vary in amount of banking on the straightaways, from entirely flat on many courses to 9 degrees at Dover International Speedway.
Bill Elliott's Melling Racing car that set the record for the fastest lap in a stock car – 212.809 mph (342.483 km/h), 44.998 seconds at Talladega Superspeedway.
Race speeds vary widely depending on the track. The fastest track is Talladega Superspeedway, where the record average speed is 188.354 mph (303.126 km/h) and the record qualifying lap is 212.809 mph (342.483 km/h), set by Bill Elliott in 1987. The record stands unlikely to be broken, as restrictor plates were made mandatory at superspeedways in 1988 to reduce speeds.[49] The slowest tracks are Sonoma Raceway, a road course with a record average speed of only 83.6 mph (134.5 km/h) and a record qualifying lap of 99.3 mph (159.8 km/h), and Martinsville Speedway, a short, nearly flat 'paper clip' oval, with a record average speed of 82.2 mph (132.3 km/h) and a record qualifying lap of 99.9 mph (160.8 km/h). The average speed of a race is determined by dividing the winner's race time (from the waving of the green flag to the waving of the checkered flag, including laps spent under caution) by the distance of the race. Time elapsed during red flag periods is not included in the calculation of the average speed.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=NASCAR_Cup_Series&oldid=898934043'
It used to be common lore that a Formula 1 driver was a little, lightweight, horse racing jockey sort of guy. Think Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart or Alain Prost.
Then, however, as the car rules changed and car weights and sizes changed the driver height and weight ceased to matter much anymore. Suddenly, it was all right to be tall like Gerhard Berger, Alexander Wurz, Mark Webber, and even Michael Schumacher was only slightly shorter than these 6 footers. Ayrton Senna was taller than Prost and still beat him. David Coulthard was another 6-footer or more and won lots of races.
KERS Induces Return of the Lightweight Drivers:
But suddenly, a rule change in 2009 led to a return of the advantage given to the short, lightweight drivers: The FIA created a new technological element, known as the Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems, or KERS, without changing another essential factor in the car's makeup. KERS is designed to save energy on braking and reuse it in short power bursts rather than drawing purely on fuel. Sure, but what does that have to do with driver height and weight?
The problem was that the rules of car weights from the pre-KERS time were not changed. That is to say, a Formula 1 car must weigh no more than 605 kilograms, or 1334 pounds, with the driver aboard during a race. Those are the rules. If the car and driver weigh more than that, they are disqualified from the race or race results. That created problems in 2009 because a KERS system weighed some 30 kilograms.
The significance of this is that for a driver to get the most out of his car, a team creates a car with weight to spare. The extra weight is filled up with ballast. The ballast is placed in relevant parts of the car when a driver sets up the car to perform best on each individual circuit. In 2009, therefore, the taller, heavier drivers ended up being at a disadvantage compared to their lighter colleagues - particularly at teams where two drivers of drastically different heights and weights used the same kind of car chassis. So it was that the very short and light Nick Heidfeld had an advantage over the taller and heavier Robert Kubica at the BMW Sauber team.
Top Model F1 Driver Weight Syndrome:
This weight problem led to a situation not seen in the series before. Suddenly, over the winter, almost all of the drivers went on diets and worked out in a way to try to lose as much weight as possible. Nico Rosberg, the Williams driver, dropped from 72 kilograms to 66 kilograms. Kubica dropped from 78 to 72 last year - as he was already too heavy - and then this year dropped to 70 kilograms. Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari lost 3.5 kilos, Fernando Alonso lost 5 kilos, and even Heidfeld lost some weight going down by 2.5 kilos to weigh only 59 kilos. Jarno Trulli and Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel dropped to 64, 67 and 62.5 kilos. Webber, however, refused to lose weight, and he has been consistently slower than his teammate Vettel.
An Unforeseen Consequence of the Lightweight F1 Driver Syndrome:
Like the top models, F1 drivers found themselves not always in the best of health thanks to their weight loss. During the extreme heat and physical strain of some of the Formula 1 races, a driver can lose up to 5 kilos of weight. At the hottest early race of the season in 2009, Alonso also found himself in another very difficult situation: His water bottle broke and he had nothing to drink throughout the race. Having lost 5 kilos over the winter, then a further 5 kilos or so during the race, and without anything to drink, the Spanish driver collapsed after the race in a state of dehydration.
It is no surprise that the FIA has agreed to increase the minimum car weight in 2010 from 605 kilos to 620 kilos.
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