Did you love the Kurt Busch win while he was in the garage waiting out the rain? No? Of course you didn’t - because that kind of win sucks.

Did you ever say to yourself “Wow! That was a GREAT race, even though my favorite driver just lost because he didn’t have enough gas.”?? I know that fuel-mileage races can be exciting, but that is usually when your driver gambles - and wins in a Casey-Mears-Coca-Cola-600-style fashion. But when they lose, you feel kind of empty - no pun intended. Further, the fastest car never wins this kind of race.

Were you cheering wildly the last time a driver, any driver, won under a caution flag? What part of the word ‘racing’ applies to that?

Last…would you think to yourself that it’s just tough luck when a smaller team cannot afford the gas necessary to keep them competitive week after week? And that’s just the cost of getting the team to and from the different events. Gas is free for the racing cars at NASCAR-sanctioned tests, practices and races in the top 3 divisions (through a deal with Sunoco). But filling up those RVs, SUVs, jets, haulers and generators at current prices simply proves too costly for some teams.

And lets’ not get started on how people feel about the Sunoco deal with NASCAR potentially affecting the national supply and, in turn, the average Joe’s gas prices and access to fuel. NASCAR did shorten races in the 1970s as a result (remember taking the enormous station wagon to the pump only on certain days because of the gas shortage and long lines?) but has no plans to do it again.

Maybe there’s a solution to the boredom and gas suck that seems to be consuming NASCAR. You know what I’m talking about: drivers racing not to lose a spot in the standings rather than to win, races that last forever and are consumed by commercials, drivers coasting to conserve fuel, the same old teams and faces in Victory Lane week after week after week and drivers simply being priced out of the sport due to fuel costs.

Unless someone talks to the board upstairs, there’s nothing to be done about the weather (or various cautions that result from crashes for that matter). And some years individual teams will have superior cars, that is true. But it’s time to get creative. It’s time to really think outside the box and take a stab at fixing one thing. It’s time to add more intrigue to the sport.

It’s time for the NASCAR hybrid!!

Why not have a hybrid car? Think about it. BMW AG claims to be developing hybrid technology for Formula One to be rolled out next year. Why not NASCAR?

NASCAR already has budding Toyota teams. The relationship is there.

Plus, isn’t the name ‘Prius’ a whole lot more threatening than ‘Camry’? Well maybe not, but stick with me here.

The hybrid has serious pluses - starting with a massive kick on acceleration from cruising speed. Trust me on this - there is a New Jersey police officer that had a long discussion with me about this very subject earlier this year. Wouldn’t it be thrilling to see your favorite driver bust a move past the competition from out of nowhere when everybody else is hitting the pits for a splash-’n-go?

And, energy and power are regenerated when you brake, when you idle and when you are cruising at speed. Imagine all the power-saving techniques the drivers would use. Drafting would take on more importance than ever.
As a result…you would never know when any one driver would be in need of a pit because of more complex fuel saving strategies. Especially on the road courses. The breaking and accelerating techniques would be different and possibly improved.

And the races would be shorter. Yes, given the 13-second pit (and about 12 pits per race), the races would not be that much shorter, but think about what you could do on a Sunday afternoon with some extra time?

It’s got to start somewhere.

As the saying goes - if you ain’t cheatin’ you ain’t tryin’. With NASCAR officials crawling all over the cars like ants, it may be impossible to simply retrofit the esteemed CoT with a NASCAR-ready hybrid engine - but still I dream. Wouldn’t it be exciting to see a stealth hybrid in the field? The driver pits half the time that the competition must and wins the race hands down with a confused audience wondering how he pulled it off?

Then someone over the loudspeaker announces, in a “Sir, that’s not regular coffee you are enjoying - it’s Folger’s decaffeinated coffee” kind of way that the winning car is a hybrid.

I can guarantee that this will not be the reaction:

I say, roll it out and start now before the mainstream audience says ‘check please’. It’s time for NASCAR to be a leader and not a follower. Leading in innovation and not following the dollar, that is. The sport will only gain depth, complexity and interest - something it has been lacking of late.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 5:28 pm and is filed under Fantoo Blog Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.