NASCAR 101

Lesson 1: An Overview of NASCAR

NASCAR, an Overview - Part 2

The sport of Cup racing has evolved into a highly technical enterprise where the awarding of hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money can be determined by a mere tenth of a second. Race cars that used to be built in back yards are now constructed in state of the art race shops with computerized equipment. The only part of the race car that is “stock,” or the same as you and I would purchase at a dealership is the 350 cubic inch engine block, and its cylinder holes are bored out to 358 cubic inches. Everything else from the tires to the roof is built especially for racing, and is extremely expensive because it’s a specialty item and not mass produced. This is where the “sponsors” enter the picture. Each race team needs millions of dollars to build their racecars and support their employees who transport the cars and equipment to racing venues all over the United States. An average Cup car costs more than $200k to build and different cars are needed for different types of race tracks. The sponsors are generally large corporations that get involved in racing as an advertising venture. Their corporate logos are painted on the cars, the hauling trucks, and the team uniforms, giving their advertised products a maximum of visibility. The cars, drivers, and crew chiefs, are also used in television commercials and print advertising as part of the sponsorship package. Without the sponsors or we race fans that buy the advertised products and attend the races, NASCAR racing would not be the multi-billion dollar industry that it is today.

Millions of dollars were also generated into NASCAR from the television networks that televise the races and cover pre-race events. Over the years, several networks played a major part in the growth of the sport. Among them are the major networks of ABC and CBS. The Turner Broadcasting networks out of the Atlanta, Georgia area coupled with ESPN and ESPN2 were also larger than life NASCAR TV promoters. Beginning with the 2001 season, NASCAR entered into a long term multi-billion dollar TV broadcasting contract with the FOX and NBC television networks to televise its racing events. Television has been largely responsible for the growth in the industry because most of us are not able to travel to all of the races and are relegated to watching the race and preceding events on TV.

At the beginning of the overview I mentioned the three main series that make up NASCAR’s top three divisions, the Nextel Cup Series, the Busch Grand National Series, and the Craftsman Truck Series. In closing, I’ll cover the different racing vehicles used in competition in these three series. The Nextel Cup Series is considered the elite in all stock car racing circles. The cars are bigger and the most powerful. The Cup cars have 110 inch wheelbase compared to a Busch car with a 105 inch wheelbase, although they both are 51 inches in high and 72.5 inches wide. A Cup car weighs 3400 pounds as opposed to the 3300 pound weight of the Busch car. NASCAR racecars are not fuel injected like their stock counterparts; they use Holly four barrel carburetors. The Cup cars use a Holly 750 which helps the race engine usually develop over 750 horsepower as opposed to the Busch cars which use the Holly 550 and produce over 550 horsepower.

Another reason the Cup cars are more powerful is the difference in compression ratios. Both the Cup and Busch cars use the same 358 cubic inch eight cylinder engine. The compression ratio in an engine is measured by the amount of compression area inside of each of the eight cylinders. The Cup cars have a 12 to 1 ratio as opposed to the 9 to 1 ratio used in Busch cars. This means that the Cup cars have a smaller compression area inside of their cylinders than the Busch cars do. The smaller the compression area, the more power the engine creates. This is accomplished by the length of the cylinder rods that connect the piston to the crank shaft. The Cup cars have longer connecting rods which gives them a smaller compression area in basically the same engine.

The trucks are an entirely different breed of racer. Although a lot of race drivers find a similarity between the trucks and Cup cars, there is a remarkable difference in some areas. Although the 3400 pound weight is the same, the wheelbase of the race truck is two inches longer than a Cup car at 112 inches. The trucks are 59 inches high and 78 to 80 inches wide, depending on the model. The truck’s engine’s compression ratio is lower than that of a Cup engine at 9.5 to 1. With that compression ratio, and the Holly 750 four barrel carburetor, the truck engine turns just a little over 700 horsepower.

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