The pros and cons of Chryslers' return to Winston Cup. Mark Martin on a roll, Cup pit crew competition, 2000 Ford Taurus, and the Pop Secret 400 at the Rock.
Chrysler Causing Excitement....... More Competition
When Chrysler pulled out of Winston Cup in '69 the sport suffered. Gone were the rivalries of the "big three." The Chrysler fans were left out in the cold, either sitting in the bleachers with no one to root for, or staying home, saying "the hell with it." Oh, they could root for their favorite drivers. Most of the drivers stayed in the game, and drove what ever was available, but it would never be the same. There was a time when all of the car makers were represented. Buicks, Oldsmobiles, even Hudsons were out there racing for the checkers.
It got to where the manufacturers were forced to be cost conscious, and were able to just put one effort out per company. So, gone were the Mercuries, Ford was now just concentrating on Ford. The same thing happened at GM. Oldsmobiles and Buicks fell by the wayside, and GM just concentrated on Chevrolet, Chrysler had done the same thing, dropping the famous Chrysler from the circuit, and concentrating on Dodges. So, you had Dodges, Chevies, and Fords. Then, Chrysler pulled out leaving Ford and Chevy to fight it out on a weekly basis. Then Pontiac came back into the picture, allowing GM to gang up on Ford.
I remember here a few years ago, Chrysler had some big money problems, and hired this Lee Iacocca fellow to help them out. If I remember right, he conned the US Government to loan them the money to survive, and they made it. I don't know if the government ever got paid back or not, but that was a close one for Chrysler. Then a couple of years ago, they were bought up by a German Company, Daimler Benz, I believe it was. So now, it's actually called Daimler Chrysler. You'll excuse me if I leave the Daimler off.
At any rate, it will be good to have more competition in Winston Cup. Dodge has been holding it's own in the Craftsman Truck Series. I think it will enhance the sport of Winston Cup dramatically to have Dodge back. Just look at the amount of fans that will come back to Cup, and probably Busch also. If I heard right, Everham and company are also going to be fielding Dodges in the Busch Series. I wrote last week about a Dodge Intrepid already being built by Bill Davis Racing for the Busch tracks. I can't say for sure if Intrepid will get the call, but it kind of looks that way. Dodge already has the engine, it's been using it in the Craftsman Trucks, and all they will have to do is to tweak it some, and it will race in a Cup car perfectly.
The copyright of the article The Rock II in NASCAR is owned by Thomas M. Sampson. Permission to republish The Rock II in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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