Written by:
SceneDaily.com
SceneDaily.com
Hendrick Motorsports general manager Marshall Carlson was enthusiastic about the NASCAR town hall meetings. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
ยป More Photos
NASCAR conducted town-hall-like meetings last week at its research and development center in North Carolina to talk about the sport, and officials also have recently talked to the manufacturers about a long-term project to try to increase brand identity in the Sprint Cup cars.
Each race team was represented at the meetings last week – one on Tuesday that dealt with competition issues and one on Wednesday that dealt with business issues. The manufacturers’ meeting took place a week earlier.
While no changes were immediately planned as a result of the discussions, participants said it was good to bounce ideas off each other as well as learn about what works well at one race team that could also work well at another.
“We learned about NASCAR’s research and some of their initiatives,” said Hendrick Motorsports general manager Marshall Carlson. “We talked about building some more efficiencies in the sport, analyzing the schedules, looking at what rules changes have helped, what rules changes have created maybe unintended circumstances.
“It was a new experience. The first one was back in a May. [The teams] were enthusiastic to have this forum to be able to learn what the other teams are doing, for NASCAR to hear what we’re thinking, for us to hear what they’re thinking.”
Expenses, schedules, travel, hotels, horsepower, scorers, spare engines, spare race cars, tires and the media were all topics of discussion at the meetings, NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said.
“It was a good discussion on a lot of things,” said Pemberton, who estimated there were about 25 people in the competition meeting. “We talked about everything from tires and how many tires they use in the race to qualifying procedures.
“It was a really good conversation. … It’s something we’re going to try to put together about every three months or so, try to get a small group together to talk about just those things to keep the teams healthy, keep us healthy, and it helps us not get too removed.”
At the manufacturers’ meeting a couple of weeks ago, the manufacturers stressed brand identity for the Sprint Cup car, said Ford Racing aero engineer Bernie Marcus.
“It was an open discussion of where everybody wants to go from the manufacturer’s point of view and NASCAR’s point of view,” Marcus said. “There’s going to be some ongoing discussions. The Cup car is now in its third year, and we all know there’s some room for improvement in brand identity and looks.
