Let’s fix NASCAR

The new Challenger.

The Bullitt Mustang.

Two of the three cars that could remake NASCAR from the ludicrous joke it has become are now being made.
Those cars are —1) the new retro Mustang, and —2) the new Dodge Challenger.
The new retro Mustang has been around a little while.
It takes its styling cues from the Mustangs of old, yet is a much better car.
Pictured is the Bullitt Mustang, a new iteration that pays homage to the 390 cubic inch 1968 Mustang of Det. Lt. Frank Bullitt in San Francisco; played by Steve McQueen.
McQueen leapfrogged his Mustang up and down through the streets of San Francisco in the greatest car-chase scene ever.
He was chasing a black Dodge Charger driven by Mafia hit-men.
The Charger crashed into gas-pumps and exploded in flames.
Ford has an advantage. The Mustang’s motor is a four cam double overhead cam V8, four valves per cylinder.
The motor should breathe well, perhaps making up for the aerodynamical detriments of that retro body.
Mighty Mopar has fielded a competitor, although it may weigh too much
It has a 425 horsepower version of the new Hemi, a motor that cashes in on the old Hemi’s reputation, but like the old Hemi has free-breathing hemispherical combustion chambers.
It also has a retro body that probably will present an aerodynamical challenge.
So all that’s left is a GM entry, a retro Camaro.
I guess one is under development, but it’s not for sale yet. —It looks like Chevy will be last this time instead of Mopar.

The proposed Camaro.

And make no mistake: these are the cars that could make NASCAR relevant.
Used to be NASCAR stockcar racing was actual stock cars, then based on stock cars.
It was the old waazoo: win on Sunday, sell on Monday.
Now NASCAR racers aren’t even close — purpose built racers on tube chassis.
No longer can it be “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” when the racers are so unrelated to stock. (“Take Granny to church in one of them things — they don’t even have doors!”)
Then too the double overhead cam Ford motor might drag GM and Mopar kicking and screaming into the new century.