By Lewis Franck
Pony cars like Mustangs and Camaros used to battle it out in the Trans-Am series, but not in NASCAR.
Last week, Ford Motor Company announced that they would enter Mustangs in NASCAR’s second series, the Nationwide Series on a limited basis.
On Tuesday, General Motors’s Racing Manager, Mark Kent, explained why the Detroit giant wouldn’t join its’ long-time rival.
“We've looked at racing the Camaro, and one thing that we do not want to do is to force a car where it shouldn't be. As we looked at NASCAR, for example, we took a very hard look at running the Camaro in the Nationwide Series. That was a request made of us by NASCAR. We've had a tremendous partnership with NASCAR, so we took a very hard look at it.”
“At the end of the day, because of the quest for very close competition and the need to have templated bodies in that series, we just felt that by forcing the Camaro into the Nationwide templates, we were compromising the lines of an iconic car. At the end of the day, we could not get the Camaro in the Nationwide Series to satisfy our requirements,” said Kent.
Pony cars like Mustangs and Camaros used to battle it out in the Trans-Am series, but not in NASCAR.
Last week, Ford Motor Company announced that they would enter Mustangs in NASCAR’s second series, the Nationwide Series on a limited basis.
On Tuesday, General Motors’s Racing Manager, Mark Kent, explained why the Detroit giant wouldn’t join its’ long-time rival.
“We've looked at racing the Camaro, and one thing that we do not want to do is to force a car where it shouldn't be. As we looked at NASCAR, for example, we took a very hard look at running the Camaro in the Nationwide Series. That was a request made of us by NASCAR. We've had a tremendous partnership with NASCAR, so we took a very hard look at it.”
“At the end of the day, because of the quest for very close competition and the need to have templated bodies in that series, we just felt that by forcing the Camaro into the Nationwide templates, we were compromising the lines of an iconic car. At the end of the day, we could not get the Camaro in the Nationwide Series to satisfy our requirements,” said Kent.