At the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour today, Ford officially unveiled this, the 2013 Ford Fusion NASCAR Sprint car.
The racecar features a new silhouette and the face and headlights from the 2013 Ford Fusion we saw in Detroit. "We wanted Fusion to be the car that helped return 'stock car' to NASCAR. I Think fans, when they see the car, are just going to smile and cheer. It is going to reengage them with the sport and make the sport better because there is just something natural about seeing race cars that look like cars in their driveways," said Jamie Allison, director of Ford Racing in a statement echoing the "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" adage.
More than just a 2013 Fusion sticker package, Ford worked hard to make sure the proportions of the racecar were as close as possible to those of the road car despite the size difference. "This is a seminal moment in the sport where we had a chance to get it right once again and make sure the race cars are race versions of street cars. And I am proud because I believe we have accomplished just that," Allison concluded.
Look for the 2013 Ford Fusion to make its NASCAR debut at the Daytona 500 in February of 2013.
rustyshacklfrd says:
12:21 PM, 01/24/12
Meh. All just stickers. The further NASCAR has gotten from stock cars, the more irrelevant they are to me.
throwback says:
12:51 PM, 01/24/12
Even looks god as a fake race car. I think a Fusion coupe would not be bad idea.
stovt001 says:
02:22 PM, 01/24/12
"We wanted Fusion to be the car that helped return 'stock car' to NASCAR...and make sure the race cars are race versions of street cars. And I am proud because I believe we have accomplished just that"
Great! So when will I be able to get a carburated V8 powered, RWD Fusion completely unable to turn right?
It is almost hard to mock NASCAR because you'd be hard pressed to actually believe they're thinking this way if it wasn't put down in writing.
stovt001 says:
02:23 PM, 01/24/12
Oh and throwback has a good eye. I didn't realize my future carburated V8 powered, RWD Fusion completely unable to turn right would be a coupe. Sweet!
explorerx4 says:
05:54 PM, 01/24/12
wombats have never been known as too bright.
Next year, Nascar is moving to fuel injection, although it's the simple old GM type.
teampenske3 says:
07:14 PM, 01/24/12
@ stovt
GM's moving to fuel injection next year. Also, DTM and the future V8 supercars are also tube frame based silhouette racers. Though of course those will have working lights and will be based on RWD cars.
teampenske3 says:
07:15 PM, 01/24/12
EDIT: NASCAR is moving to FI, not just GM. And it's supplied by McLaren.
roadburner says:
09:15 PM, 01/24/12
Yawn...
7driver says:
09:18 PM, 01/24/12
The fuel filler is in the taillights? Brings back memories of the Pinto.
(yes, I know they're stickers)
stovt001 says:
11:37 PM, 01/24/12
@teampenske: at least in the case of the V8 Supercars and Mercedes (and soon BMW) DTM the drivetrain layout and configuration - V8, RWD - is the same as production. And for the Audi DTM, at least you'd consider buying an A4 for performance reasons and might see a real one on a track. And of course Grand Am has their tubeframe cars, but again the drivetrain configuration and layout are the same, even rotaries in the RX-8s. I'm aware that in top tier racing the cars are not going to be close to production-based, but if you're going to try to pretend they are, don't pretend they're FWD 4-6 cyl vanilla family sedans. At least Dodge has the right idea branding theirs as a Charger. I won't even give them a pass for the no-right-turns thing.
blueprint1 says:
10:03 AM, 01/25/12
Ecoboost sticker? Well, maybe the turbo engine will become legal in 2073, about 20 years after the demise of privately-owned internal combustion-based cars.