iNSIDE SCOOP: More Changes Coming

When Brian France goes out and starts talking about what’s coming down the pike, you know it’s pretty well decided that’s what NASCAR is going to do.

This time, it’s engines, specifically reducing horsepower under the 850-900 they currently produce. 

“We're going to make that happen, and that's part of the overall rules packages that we design that hopefully control costs, hopefully make the racing better," France told media yesterday. "The engine is an integral part of that. We also have to be in step as much as possible with the car manufacturers and where they're going with technology and different things. It all has to come together, and that's the next significant part of the rules package. ... The engine will get a significant change.”

OK, fine. They’ve changed everything else, so it’s a logical assumption that the engine would be next. The engine is a 358-cubic-inch model that has been virtually untouched for about 20-25 years, save the odd cosmetic change here and there. 

My question to you is: how many cars these days are powered by engines that are 358ci and above?

The answer is, not many. Even the 6.0-liter header-busters in some of your modern-day muscle cars are only around 366ci, and they suck gas. Believe me, I know.

France spent a lot of time meeting with the three current manufacturers involved in NASCAR this week. Manufacturers, as a rule, want to race what they sell, and that is significantly less than 6.0-liter engines.

Ford wants a 5.0-liter engine, which figures, because 305ci is what Ford is best at. Not picking on Ford; they do a great job, and they’ve usually done it with less displacement than GM. But 305ci is a bunch less than 358 and more in line with what today’s cars have under the hood.

As a muscle-car geek from the jump, I am always in favor of the Bigger Hammer Theory, i.e. if it can’t pull tree stumps out of the ground, you’re not doing it right. But you have to understand that I’m part of the last car-crazy NASCAR generation. I’ll walk a mile to get close to a real live Hemi engine or a Ford 427 or a genuine first-edition small-block Chevy; it makes my day. The folks NASCAR needs to step in and replace people like me ask, “what’s a Hemi?”

 Throw in NASCAR’s desire to be all things Green, and you have the rest of the story. 

“I'm not going to say (for) '15, but we are certainly sizing that up,” France said. “It's very important for us to get that right." 

What we’re seeing is the first shot in the war that will “modernize” NASCAR racing in terms of horsepower. Toyota doesn’t build any (or, at least, not many) cars with a big ol’ honking 6-liter eight-banger pumping out 430-plus HP. Chevrolet and Ford do, but they’re rare. 

What I think they’re going to do—and this is supposition, by the way—is do something that the old American Speed Association did back in 2000: crate engines.

Rex Robbins and his merry band cooked up a deal with Herb Fishel (the guy who got Jimmie Johnson involved in stock car racing, by the way) to have every car in their series powered by a GM-factory produced LS1 engine, with computer engine controls and a big, fat seal on it so nobody could go in and mess with the guts of it.

Every engine raced in the NASCAR today has to go through a teardown and rebuild, and it’s unheard of that a major team would run the engine more than once. ASA drivers could run theirs most of a season with minor replacement of wear-heavy parts.

I could be wrong…I’ve seen it happen. But it might be something close.