Going Backwards

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of my regular readers for their support over the years and to wish them a very Happy New Year, with many more to come.

Tom Sampson

Another Winston Cup season has come and gone, another Winston Cup Champion was crowned at the annual Winston Cup Awards Banquet. Beyond any doubt, when the new Winston Cup season gets under way beginning in February 2003, and as usual, along with it will come several changes. Some changes may be considered to be good; and others not so good. It's just like anything else; it all depends on the likes and dislikes of the individual.

I have been following auto racing for more than half a century, and during that time, believe me, I have seen a lot of changes take place. Every year we see new names and faces come into the sport, some young, and some from other forms of racing. Of those new names to arrive each year, some of them make their place on the Winston Cup circuit while others don't. That's why NASCAR each year has the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award, and as a result, we see some of the familiar names fade out of the picture which will most likely be the case again in the 2003 season. After all, the field of cars is limited to 43 starting spots for each race. In the first Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in 1949, there were 75 cars that started the race. Try to imagine that many cars at one of the superspeedways in a restrictor plate race today. We have a bad enough mess as it is with a 43 car starting field.

I feel that the 2003 racing season will bring with it a greater number of changes than any we have seen in recent years. First of all, NASCAR is mandating major changes involving the body design of the cars. If you will take a look back in the history of Winston Cup race cars and how the roof lines have changed down through the years, you'll see what I mean. Look at some of the pictures of automobiles in general up through the year 1957. You'll notice that the roof was very tall which made for a lot of head room inside the car which was very much in demand in those days, but when the 1958 models came on the market, this changed dramatically. The roof lines were lowered by about a foot which was a combination of the head room being lower and the cars being built lower to the ground. Automobile racing was fast becoming very popular in those years and the auto manufactures had become very aware of it so they began adapting to it. Then in the next two to five years, 1960 through 1963, saw the shape of cars become more sleek and stream lined making them to become more "aero friendly," which made for a much better design for racing on the larger race tracks.

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