MOORESVILLE, N.C. — We finally got a look at the Next Gen NASCAR Cup Series cars during the Duels at Daytona in February.
We were very impressed with the sporty look of NASCAR’S newest racing machine. We would compare it to an SCCA Trans-Am or IMSA GTO race car of the past.
Since then, we have had a chance to watch this Next Gen machine race at Auto Club Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Phoenix Raceway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.
One thing we have taken away from these races is the sturdiness of the design. NASCAR’s top stars are well known for trading paint and this car seems to be able to handle it. While there are still some teething issues, which is to be expected with an all-new design, I think NASCAR has a car with great potential.
We are looking forward to seeing how it performs on a road course. The first one on the schedule was the Circuit of The Americas in late March. Other road races will be run at Sonoma Raceway, Road America, Watkins Glen Int’l, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.
• It was great to see packed grandstands at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park during Speedweeks. Dirt-track events of all types are still drawing huge crowds and producing exciting racing.
• Another big crowd attended Joe Skotnicki’s 49th annual RPM Workshop during Speedweeks. SPEED SPORT has been a big supporter of these traditional gatherings of the sport’s top racetrack promoters at both the West Coast event in Reno, Nev., during December and the East Coast get-together in Florida every February.
It was good to see the large participation and to hear the positive comments from those that put on the races that we all attend. Lots of great ideas were exchanged and many discussions were held about the issues challenging racing these days, such as the tire shortage—an issue that doesn’t appear to begetting resolved anytime soon.
During a recent phone conversation with longtime friend and industry expert Irish Saunders, who is the business unit manager of asphalt oval and two-wheel off-road for Hoosier Racing Tires, he had this to say about the tire shortage impacting racing: “I’ve never seen so many tires being built and sold in my 42 years of working in the tire industry. I also don’t see it changing anytime soon either.”
• We are excited to have been selected by FOX Sports as the play-by-play voice for this season’s coverage of the American Flat Track Series, which will be airing on FS1. I’ll be working alongside a very talented team that includes Scottie Deubler, Kristen Beat and Riki Rachtman.
The very popular series is contested by a wide variety of machines including Indian, Harley-Davidson and Yamaha. Some are factory efforts and others are privateers. The tour will see them battling on dirt tracks ranging in size from half miles to miles, as well as TT courses that include a jump as an extra challenge for the competitors.
The 18-race championship, which kicked off at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park in March, will cross the country, giving race fans an opportunity to watch the close, bar-to-bar racing at such legendary venues as the Sacramento and Springfield Miles and short tracks such as Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway and Weedsport (N.Y.) Speedway.
One of the biggest stories during the offseason was the attempt by the American Flat Track officials to bring more parity to the series by closing the gap between the dominant Indian machines and the rest of the field. The Indian teams are now forced to run a small restrictor.
At the season opener on Volusia’s fast half-mile oval, this produced the type of competition the AFT officials we’re hoping to see. A thrilling battle for the win ended with Indian factory rider Briar Bauman claiming the victory. But he had Harley-Davidson-mounted Bronson Bauman and Yamaha’s J.D. Beech right on his exhaust pipe at the checkered flag and sharing the podium with him.
It should make for a thrilling season.