Toward future use of more road courses, such as Watkins Glen, N.Y., which will have a race this year, NASCAR has had a prototype race car, called the LR, built.
The L and R stand for left and right , and the new car is being designed with the expansion into road and/or street courses in mind. It is smaller, has a shorter wheelbase, is much lighter--2,600 pounds compared to 3,700 pounds for current models--and, as the name implies, will be balanced to turn both directions, not just left.
"Our cars have always been built for ovals, and they relate better to ovals, but to grow, we are going to have to go to other places to run," Richter pointed out. "The LR cars would give us the opportunity to expand our market potential.
"It would allow NASCAR to take its program into places such as the Meadowlands, Tamiami Park in Miami, Long Beach or street facility in new locations."
The LR car, an experimental Chevy built by Richard Childress, is sitting in the garage area at Daytona International Speedway for racers to study. It is scheduled to make its debut as part of the Winston Cup series in August of 1987 at Watkins Glen.
Most NASCAR teams now have three cars--one for superspeedways, such as Daytona; one for short tracks, and one for Riverside, for many years the only road course where the stock cars ran.
"We feel that the LR cars will reduce costs and make it possible for teams to need only two different cars. The LR should be perfectly compatible for short track racing as well as road courses."
Another result of the LR program will be expansion of the 29-race schedule to as many as 36 races, allowing NASCAR to move into more nationally lucrative markets and out of its Southeastern mode. Currently, 20 of its 29 races are in the Southeast.
