Your interest is a favorite Nascar manufacturer... Strong, Moderate, or Zero?

Tbh, I struggled to understand how it was even a thing. I couldn't imagine a machine being the source of bias as a fan over the driver who has a personality, thinks, and feels.

I know it's not objectively they case, but my logic is basically if i meet a new friend and get a new car, I will always like the friend better

@Revman is a very big manufacturer fan and is a throwback to a bygone era when even kids would argue the merits of their Dads Mercury, Plymouth or Olds. The overwhelming vibe I am getting from this thread is that Nascar and the manufacturers don't care that the cars raced are boxes with decals on them that don't even have a passing resemblance to anything stock. With that being the case it is no wonder why most people don't think much about it.
 
@Revman is a very big manufacturer fan and is a throwback to a bygone era when even kids would argue the merits of their Dads Mercury, Plymouth or Olds. The overwhelming vibe I am getting from this thread is that Nascar and the manufacturers don't care that the cars raced are boxes with decals on them that don't even have a passing resemblance to anything stock. With that being the case it is no wonder why most people don't think much about it.

Yeah, so it's more so these manufactures make these race cars for this racing series, rather than actual stock vehicles?
 
Despite my manufacturer-centric username, I'd say mine's moderate. I always root for my Toyota guys, but I like drivers from other mfrs. too such as JJ, Bowyer, and Blaney.
 
I was a Pontiac Maniac back in the day. Too bad Pontiac became a Chevrolet with different skin. I used to own an '81 Turbo T/A with only 23k on it. Bought it for $6800, sold it for $9500. I saw a low mileage one awhile back on Barrett Jackson that went for big bucks. Man, it made me sick to the stomach. Also, I have an 1150 Holley four barrel(Pontiac only) in the attic. Anyways, I don't really care about manufacturer anymore in NASCAR.
 
Tbh, I struggled to understand how it was even a thing. I couldn't imagine a machine being the source of bias as a fan over the driver who has a personality, thinks, and feels.

I know it's not objectively they case, but my logic is basically if i meet a new friend and get a new car, I will always like the friend better
Back when the sport was really popular fans could buy muscle cars. Many were in car clubs and would spend their weekends working on their cars and going to car meets. If you were a Ford guy you didn't hang with the Chevy guys. There was a brand rivalry back then.
People are fortunate now if they can check their own oil.
 
I was a Pontiac Maniac back in the day. Too bad Pontiac became a Chevrolet with different skin. I used to own an '81 Turbo T/A with only 23k on it. Bought it for $6800, sold it for $9500. I saw a low mileage one awhile back on Barrett Jackson that went for big bucks. Man, it made me sick to the stomach. Also, I have an 1150 Holley four barrel(Pontiac only) in the attic. Anyways, I don't really care about manufacturer anymore in NASCAR.
I always liked Pontiacs, I used to have an '84 T/A and it was a really fun car. When GM was killing off divisions in the late 2000's, I wish they would have kept Pontiac and killed off GMC. I've never understood the reason for GMC's existence, they've never been anything but Chevy trucks with different grilles.
 
I always liked Pontiacs, I used to have an '84 T/A and it was a really fun car. When GM was killing off divisions in the late 2000's, I wish they would have kept Pontiac and killed off GMC. I've never understood the reason for GMC's existence, they've never been anything but Chevy trucks with different grilles.
I didn't understand most of GM's brands, for the same reason. To me, most of them looked like the same cars with different logos, especially Buick, Olds, and Cadillac.
 
I didn't understand most of GM's brands, for the same reason. To me, most of them looked like the same cars with different logos, especially Buick, Olds, and Cadillac.
Years ago there was a uniqueness to them: Chevy was the entry level brand, Pontiac was the sporty brand, Cadillac was the luxury brand, Buick was the near-luxury brand for those who couldn't quite afford a Cadillac, and Oldsmobile was kind of a Buick/Pontiac combo as it was a sporty/luxury brand. By the late 70's/early 80's though, badge engineering took over and they all basically became the same car. Never was this more apparent than in the Cadillac Cimarron, which was basically a Chevy Cavalier with Cadillac logos on it.
 
Who wouldn't want one of these bad boys?

Cadillac_Cimarron_2_--_07-01-2009.jpg
 
Back when the sport was really popular fans could buy muscle cars. Many were in car clubs and would spend their weekends working on their cars and going to car meets. If you were a Ford guy you didn't hang with the Chevy guys. There was a brand rivalry back then.
People are fortunate now if they can check their own oil.

I see. So it was more of a machine based culture than it was "fans of the sport"
 
I always liked Pontiacs, I used to have an '84 T/A and it was a really fun car. When GM was killing off divisions in the late 2000's, I wish they would have kept Pontiac and killed off GMC. I've never understood the reason for GMC's existence, they've never been anything but Chevy trucks with different grilles.

GMC exists to market trucks to more white-collar, higher income truck buyers while the Chevy brand is marketed as more blue-collar and working class.

Notice how GMC ads use buzzwords like "professional" and "intelligent". Chevy truck commercials in recent memory have had cows in them. GM wants to reach both types of buyers.
 
I always liked Pontiacs, I used to have an '84 T/A and it was a really fun car. When GM was killing off divisions in the late 2000's, I wish they would have kept Pontiac and killed off GMC. I've never understood the reason for GMC's existence, they've never been anything but Chevy trucks with different grilles.
I had a 79' LeMans Boat. It was pretty fast with a Chevy 305 in it. I sold the SOB for $50. Should've kept it for a demo-derby.
 
I was a Pontiac Maniac back in the day. Too bad Pontiac became a Chevrolet with different skin. I used to own an '81 Turbo T/A with only 23k on it. Bought it for $6800, sold it for $9500. I saw a low mileage one awhile back on Barrett Jackson that went for big bucks. Man, it made me sick to the stomach. Also, I have an 1150 Holley four barrel(Pontiac only) in the attic. Anyways, I don't really care about manufacturer anymore in NASCAR.
Pontiac was pretty much always GM with just different skins , going back to the very first Pontiac( according to the internet,)
 
I was a Pontiac Maniac back in the day. Too bad Pontiac became a Chevrolet with different skin. I used to own an '81 Turbo T/A with only 23k on it. Bought it for $6800, sold it for $9500. I saw a low mileage one awhile back on Barrett Jackson that went for big bucks. Man, it made me sick to the stomach. Also, I have an 1150 Holley four barrel(Pontiac only) in the attic. Anyways, I don't really care about manufacturer anymore in NASCAR.
I would say that in most cases when a Chevy and Pontiac shared the same platform, I liked the Pontiac styling better, take for example your beloved T/A, built on the F-Body Platform, for the 70's-81, I find the Camaro styling from those years to be very boring and yawn inducing, but man, the T/A's, great looking cars compared.

For the most part , I always thought Pontiac always had the better styling most of the time when compared to the rest of GM's line up.
 
Arguably the best years for Pontiac sales were those during which the guy in charge of North American Operations was John Z. DeLorean.

Read into that what you will.
 
Yeah, so it's more so these manufactures make these race cars for this racing series, rather than actual stock vehicles?
It has been that way since the mid-1960's. That is fifty years! For a while, they mounted bodies that resembled production cars, but that ended in 1990. What is wrong with that?

I don't understand why people think Nascar would be better if they raced production cars? There is a recurring theme in this thread (and many others) that the cars are not stock production cars, and this is a reason for declining interest in Nascar. How would it be better to see FWD sedans with 4 and 6 cylinder engines, trying to act like race cars? And "balance of performance" shenanigans like IMSA has? No thanks.
 
Years ago there was a uniqueness to them: Chevy was the entry level brand, Pontiac was the sporty brand, Cadillac was the luxury brand, Buick was the near-luxury brand for those who couldn't quite afford a Cadillac, and Oldsmobile was kind of a Buick/Pontiac combo as it was a sporty/luxury brand. By the late 70's/early 80's though, badge engineering took over and they all basically became the same car. Never was this more apparent than in the Cadillac Cimarron, which was basically a Chevy Cavalier with Cadillac logos on it.

The Cimarron had a very ugly digital dash that added 5 hp lol.
 
I would say that in most cases when a Chevy and Pontiac shared the same platform, I liked the Pontiac styling better, take for example your beloved T/A, built on the F-Body Platform, for the 70's-81, I find the Camaro styling from those years to be very boring and yawn inducing, but man, the T/A's, great looking cars compared.

For the most part , I always thought Pontiac always had the better styling most of the time when compared to the rest of GM's line up.

The big old thunder turkey fecal on the hood just didn't do it for me. I liked the forebird and camaros better. Loved the GTO and Tempest too. A buddy of mine had a Tempest with a 400, we used to say it ran like a scalded dog.
 
None. I'm not partial to any manufacturer in general. Don't have any brand loyalty either.

Kevin Harvick drives a Busch Beer Chevrolet. There isn't any kind of beer that's nastier than Busch and I drive a Ford. :idunno:
 
It has been that way since the mid-1960's. That is fifty years! For a while, they mounted bodies that resembled production cars, but that ended in 1990. What is wrong with that?

I don't understand why people think Nascar would be better if they raced production cars? There is a recurring theme in this thread (and many others) that the cars are not stock production cars, and this is a reason for declining interest in Nascar. How would it be better to see FWD sedans with 4 and 6 cylinder engines, trying to act like race cars? And "balance of performance" shenanigans like IMSA has? No thanks.
Look at WRC cars. They aren't quite as fast as NASCAR cars, but they race on public roads, paved or gravel, day or night, sun or rain. Can you tell if a car is doing 180, or 160 mph, if they aren't next to each other? Most people can't. I'll ask you this, would you rather have faster cars, where aero,and setup info sharing, is most important, or a little bit slower cars, that puts more importance on driving skill?
 
F1 uses a 1.6 liter V-6. I know the cars are lighter, and NASCAR can't spend that kind of money. Since NASCAR doesn't use stock cars, why do they have to weigh 3400 pounds?
 
Look at WRC cars. They aren't quite as fast as NASCAR cars, but they race on public roads, paved or gravel, day or night, sun or rain. Can you tell if a car is doing 180, or 160 mph, if they aren't next to each other? Most people can't. I'll ask you this, would you rather have faster cars, where aero,and setup info sharing, is most important, or a little bit slower cars, that puts more importance on driving skill?

Great post as I have long been on the going slower makes for better racing bandwagon as the average Joe can't tell how fast the cars are going anyway so sign me up for anything that places importance in driver skill.
 
It has been that way since the mid-1960's. That is fifty years! For a while, they mounted bodies that resembled production cars, but that ended in 1990. What is wrong with that?

I don't understand why people think Nascar would be better if they raced production cars? There is a recurring theme in this thread (and many others) that the cars are not stock production cars, and this is a reason for declining interest in Nascar. How would it be better to see FWD sedans with 4 and 6 cylinder engines, trying to act like race cars? And "balance of performance" shenanigans like IMSA has? No thanks.

I don't know anyone that blames the current car for declining interest in Nascar as the current slab sided uglyassed thing they race is just part of the reason for Nascar's dwindling fortunes. Most of what the former and current spec car have done is to negate any importance of the role the manufacturer plays in Nascar in the eyes of most fans.
 
Well, better get off my butt and post this. Still thinking about this more, and I'm still conflicted. Assuming I own a ford, chevy or toyoda economy car instead of a nissan, one of the biggest things that would inspire @Revman levels of fandom in this sport would be some commonality of parts between the race car and my road car. Now, I don't know much about how my road car works, or how it gets the performance it does, or what parts I could buy for it to increase that performance. I'd say the same is true for a lot of guys in my generation, and that falls squarely on the auto manufacturers and not just NASCAR. What would get people like me interested in the above? Hearing a driver say in Victory lane "yeah we put our ford went into ecoboost mode and we were able to save just enough to make it to the end there..." because if I drive a ford I could do the same thing tomorrow and if I didn't I would want to check it out. Or how about instead of hearing them say "yeah our pornhub camry was really good today, the crew brought some good stuff" drivers would legitimately be able to say "Yeah these new TRD intakes definitely gave us more power..." and I could go to TRD and buy said part and install it (or at least give it a try). TRD, Ford Performance, Mopar and the like make tons of aftermarket parts that have made customization more prevalent than ever, "pimp my ride" or "ricer" stereotype be damned. Why can't the race teams use those instead of spending 100x more to custom manufacture each shock absorber?

Now for the other side. At the same time, when I turn on the TV Sunday I want racing success to be tied solely to the skills of the Driver, pit crew, and crew chief, not engineers back at the shop. I strongly believe that doing so would produce the closest, most competitive races and reward those teams that work the hardest. I don't like it when a car can unload 2/10ths quicker than the field and maintain that advantage throughout the weekend. All teams should be able to look at a car that unloads super quick and make up the difference by Sunday given enough hard work.

Are the two positions reconcilable? I probably not. But then again as I've said elsewhere, there are a lot of very smart people in this sport and I am eternally optimistic something can be done.
 
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