[Layla's Keeper]

Okay, first and foremost, NASCAR has been around longer than there have been Japanese cars in the U.S. Remember, 1998 was their 50th Anniverary year.

NASCAR's formula in the 60's was simply, as I recall, a 7.0L maximum displacement, no forced induction, and you were limited to a single four barrel carburetor. Now, with those rules, engines like the 426 Hemi, Chevy 427, and Ford 429 semi-hemi are best suited, particularly when there are minimum weights, minimum production figures (500 units until 1970, engine and car) and minimum dimensions. You needed massive torque to get out of the corners on the short tracks and lots of top end power on the big superspeedways.

There wasn't an import engine alive in 1969 that could make the power to keep up with Hemis and Boss 429's while breathing through just a single four barrel carb. Imports stuck to road courses, with Datsun and Mazda allying with the SCCA and IMSA respectively, while the American auto manufacturers built up partnerships with NASCAR.

This trend progressed through the 70's, with Dodge Chargers and Magnums, AMC Matador, Ford Torinos, Mercury Montegos, and the Chevy Lagunas. Torque on the short tracks, power on the superspeedways. The wide slicks gave up the needed grip, all you needed to do was tamp down suspension movement and control camber (guess what, solid axle rear suspensions work best for doing that reliably while keeping weight down; just ask anyone who ran IMSA GTO, GTU or SCCA Trans-Am). In the 70's up until the mid 80's, cars developed at a gradual pace, engine tricks were found, new materials were experimented with, and suspension layouts were changed and redone. It was a fairly expensive time for the still fairly regional sport.

The net result was that the governing body, in order to keep the teams' doors (and keep 1000's of jobs in America's southeast) open while the rest of the motorsports world began to move away from carbs and tube steel, decided to lock in the rules and keep the cars the same underneath the sheetmetal. It worked, and NASCAR weathered the suffering American auto industry's shift to front drive cars, while the American auto industry was able to maintain a presence in at least one high profile motorsport (if in silohouette only) where they could market their product to an interested audience. The initial shift to silohouette cars came from Buick Regals and Olds Cutlasses.

By the time the Chevy Lumina phased out the Monte Carlo, NASCAR was on solid financial backing and was beginning to pick up steam. Soon, it was the other way around. It wasn't NASCAR trying to stay alive through manufacturer participation, it was the manufacturers trying to hang onto that one last bastion of market presence. The Ford Thunderbird's death was the death of manufacturers building cars to be involved in NASCAR, and the cementation of manufacturers as sponsors and engine programs in NASCAR.

That is how it is now. NASCAR is big money and big exposure to a devoted and fanatical group of fans who by and large represent middle-America. Toyota wants that market share like there's no tomorrow. They sponsored a Celica program in the Goody's Dash series from that started in the late 90's (and also had the first OHC engine victory in NASCAR, not counting the infamous Ford 427 "Cammer" engine, that really wasn't ever legalized). Now they have a very promising program in the Craftsmen Truck series, and will have a Nextel Cup program by 2006/2007.


In short, NASCAR's formula rendered imports uncompetitive in the 60's and the 70's. The 80's presented a chance, but the returns on the investment weren't particularly interesting to foreign manufacturers who'd already committed to highly expensive road racing programs (for example, the Nissan GTP/Group C program. One race in which both cars crashed out equalled a monetary loss of, as I recall, 10 million dollars for Nissan). NASCAR is now much more of a national series and much less regional and has the single largest market share of any racing series in the U.S. I believe the numbers are something like 75% NASCAR, 25% everything else. Now, foreign manufacturers want in, and NASCAR is allowing them in.

There never has been a ban on imports in NASCAR. There simply weren't imports that met the formula, nor was there prior interest from foreign manufacturers.