2006 Ford Fusion makes its NASCAR on-track debut
Ford's "Face for the Chase" (their phrase, not mine!) for 2006 is the new Fusion, and the NASCAR version was introduced on-track for the first time today on the high banks of Daytona.
On hand for the test session was Greg Specht, the Performance Operations Manager for Ford Racing Technology, who pointed out that, "...it's the first time that we've introduced a new race car and a new production car at the same time since 1968 with the Torino."
Of course, the NASCAR Torino and the showroom Torino shared the same basic chassis, powertrain and bodywork. In new millenium NASCAR style, the race Fusion is a tube-frame, V8-powered, rear wheel drive, live axle car with a custom NASCAR-spec body, and shares absolutely nothing with the street Fusion (a V6-powered, front wheel drive, independent suspension car based on the Mazda6).
I guess we'll find out if Ford's wind tunnel is better than GM's and Chrysler's though.
[Source: Ford]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
matt 2:27PM (1/10/2006)
why do they call it nascar? when its not stock.... gotta love rednecks.. long live WRC and F1
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Clint 2:55PM (1/10/2006)
Oh yeah, and how about the fact that the production model is being built in Mexico???? Ok Bill, we really did want to buy "American innovation." Let us know where we can find some....
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330R 2:55PM (1/10/2006)
Looks more like an NHRA funny car than a NASCAR "stock car".
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Chris 2:55PM (1/10/2006)
If you hate NASCAR so much why did you bother posting? Gotta love haters. It's really nice to see the 50% of WRC veiwers posting on this site. Oh, by the way, what a great race the '05 US Grand Prix was!
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Burt 2:56PM (1/10/2006)
NASCAR could mean "Naturally All Southerners Care About Racing" or "Not All Southerners Care About Racing" or "Northerners And Southerners Care About Racing."
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MattV 2:57PM (1/10/2006)
And if Ford's wind tunnel is better, NASCAR will make Ford change their car after the second race of the season to make the cars all the same.
NASCAR: The only race series where having a better car than the other guy is considered a bad thing.
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phez 2:58PM (1/10/2006)
...but seriously, why do they still call it 'stock' racing?
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jm 3:26PM (1/10/2006)
Honestly, they really shouldn't call it a Fusion since it is nothing like a fusion whatsoever. It's just your standard nascar body airbrushed with a fusion ad. Fusion ad-car would be more appropriate.
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John E Switzer AAI 3:34PM (1/10/2006)
NASCAR left its roots and surrendered to the almighty dollar long ago. It can't go back. Its too bad, really. It was more exciting 'back then', not as fast at times, but at least you could really identify with the cars and the various drivers seemed like true individuals and not like 'spokesmen' for their sponsors. I watch WRC, BTCC, F1, and the German touring sedan races. No more NASCAR; just too bland.
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Cory 3:36PM (1/10/2006)
Check out the Challenger in the latest issue of Motor Trend. That is the future of Mopar/NASCAR. BTW F1 sucks.
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Desiri 3:43PM (1/10/2006)
Whose idea was this?
Watch retail sales of the Fusion tank as people who do want to be associated with the all-white redneck image of NASCAR cross this vehicle from their list.
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roadside observer 3:47PM (1/10/2006)
It kills me to see what the France family is doing to Cup. Cup used to be about racing - real racing, between really different cars. Now it's about entertainment, equalizing everything, and how much money the France family can suck out of it. I have been watching Cup racing for 25 years, and I've just about lost interest in it as a result of these changes. What's wrong with competition between the makes of cars? What's with this ridiculous notion of taking the cars out of the equation?
Cup is about 75% of the way towards the France family's goal of turning it into a warmed-over(read: boring) IROC series. Don't believe me? Wait until the "Car of the Future" comes out this fall and the "Engine of the Future" comes out next year. When both are on the track, the only difference between the cars will be the paint and the decals ... literally. Pathetic, absolutely pathetic.
The last Cup car to bear a real resemblance to its street counterpart was the '97 T-bird ... front-engine, rear-drive, V8 power, all available from the factory, and the racing version actually fit the stock templates!!! Oh, to have those days back again ...
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Ken 5:19PM (1/10/2006)
A 30 year NASCAR race fan here. The old glory days, man and machine. Run what ya brung. Racing was racing. The drivers were tough. Cars had no power steering. The drivers didn't have cool-suits. The didn't even have radios. They were not told what gear, or shocks to run, and didn't get a plate at the 2 biggest tracks. They just had a seat, nothing made just for them. This was the time when if you had the best car, or the most horsepower, it made the other teams have to work harder to catch up. This is what racing is all about, not everyone having almost the same thing, riding around, waiting for the "big one" to destroy tons of equipment, loads of work, and millions of dollars. The car of the future? I think we have pretty much had it for the last couple of years or so. Can NASCAR get any worse? I'm sure it can. Lets bunch up the cars even more, even at the mid-size tracks. The younger generation will still like it, because they don't know any different, never saw a good ol race. I have gone to Daytona for years, and it's nothing like it used to be, even the sound of the cars is weak.
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roadside observer 5:34PM (1/10/2006)
Ken, I know exactly what you mean. Cup is turning into the racing equivalent of pablum. I've been to several of the tracks myself, Daytona and Talladega included ... and like you said, it's just not like it once was. And who would have ever thought that Darlington would lose the Southern 500????? We both know THAT was all about money.
Oh, and I've hated that stupid restrictor plate since its inception. It makes absolutely no sense to run a huge 4-bbl carb, only to choke it to death with a tiny restrictor plate. You'd think NASCAR would simply downsize the carb, but no, that makes too much sense ...
21st-century NASCAR: entertainment = good, real racing = bad.
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Ken 6:31PM (1/10/2006)
Yes, Roadside Observer, The Southern 500, what a shame. How about "The Rock" that grand old track had some of the best, racing had to offer. Just keep building more of the same like Charlotte, will make the car of the future even more thrilling.
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Steve C. 8:16PM (1/10/2006)
When you start building them in the U.S.A. I will buy one.
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Rick 1:43AM (1/11/2006)
all white red-neck huh? thats kinda funny, actualy you might as well say all black people eat watermelon and listen to nothing but rap music too. I happen to be neither white or red-neck actually and I like all racing. People are ingorant in this world and no better display than here. I think some of you just like to post assinine comments just so you can read them afterwards and have a ggod laugh at yourself, what a shame. The majority of people who like Nascar like it because it's racing, period. If you like cars are you a red-neck? No, so if you like cars and you like to watch them race then are you a red-neck? Some of you seem to think so but again, no.
With that said, Nascar is not even my favorite form of racing, slow, but still great drama watching machine against machine no matter how alike they try and keep the cars. and it's called NASCAR because that's what it has always been called. Are you going to change the MLB to MSLB, S for steriods by the way, just because everyone says ball players are juiced up now a days? Baseball is not the same as it was, so I doubt it anyway. What would everyone like to call it, the non-stock car leauge? It's a title, it's tradtion, it's a brand name, it equals money, it's going no where fast, it's here to stay. Would you change the name of youe bussiness in the middle of it all if you were making lots of money just cause it's not exactly what it used to be? No, you probably will just deal with it and make money and be happy. Anything else would sound stupid and be unidentifiable and people would turn away. So think before some of you act like sterotypical biggits and open your mouth. Opioins are like a$$ holes, everyone has one. Your not going to go far in life thinking small.
Other than that, The Fusion sucks and if it blows than they will change again when they get a chance, it's that simple. If you can't deal with change that you are in for a long hard life. Besides, if the think wins all the time people will jump on the bandwagon and they will eventually forget they hated it because they git used to it.
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Cory 1:50AM (1/11/2006)
I myself being a 35 year race fan. Having watched NASCAR at OMS (Ontario,Ca.), Riverside,Ca. Daytona(2005), Las Vegas, (what a joke), PIR, Fontana and Dover. I agree racing was all about the best drivers and the fastest cars. But now it's all about money. That is why Darlington lost the Southern 500. Also why The Rock is no more. The stands were never full and the money trail headed out west. The France family follows the money trail. I miss seeing 426 hemis (hemi heads on wedge blocks), running well over 220 mph without plates. Those days are long gone and nothing but a memory. Hopefully with all the pony car retros making a comeback, Trans-Am road racing will resurface. There is always the HSCRS series races to give us a taste for the days of old.
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Strom 3:23AM (1/11/2006)
This is why Grand Am and Speed World Challenge are so great....real cars and real competition. I can look at a BMW E46 M3 run in Grand AM and then go look at the one in my garage and actually make a connection.
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WolfgangNC 5:38PM (1/11/2006)
Hey look even the 97 Tbird may of looked similar; but was actually just as different as todays race cars. My Tbird doesn't have a tube chassi; put a stock Tbird and a NASCAR tbird side-by-side (which I have)...it is amazing. The biggest thing is that the slope of the windshield looks almost flat on the race car compared to the stock Tbird.
I live in North Carolina and it was nice in the early 90's having 7 seven racing to go to per year (2-Rockingham, 2-N.Wilksboro, 3-Charlotte) and another 4 that were within driving distance (2-Darlington, 2-Richmond) now I'm down to only 3 in NC, all at Charlotte and still 2 in Richmond and down to one at Darlington.
Money does talk, look at everything, look how all these companies are merging, like Nextel and Sprint, and how sports and entertainment are starting to merge, even halftime shows are getting crazy at NFL and NBA games. All because of money. I still say the best driver with the best equipment is most likely to win. It is even like that at the local Friday night races.
As far as the car and engine of the future, I believe if you just race the slope of the windshield to around a stock angle and introduce fuel injection with random NASCAR assigned chips/computers to each team at each race weekend (just tell the teams that they have to make their engine work with this random assigned chip/computer from NASCAR).
As far as the redneck deal, tell that to all the highschool kids (all races) that are wearing NASCAR team jackets. Yeah it might just be for style; but it is still NASCAR.
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