NASCAR Goes on No Carb Diet in 2012

There are many changes taking place in NASCAR in 2012. Some of the changes have to do with drivers changing teams, crew chiefs changing teams or a team receiving a new sponsor. The change that will affect NASCAR the most is NASCAR’s plan to go on a “No Carb Diet” in 2012. NASCAR has decided to make a change from the carburetor to the new electronic fuel injection (EFI) system.

This change did not sit well with many fans. The “old school” NASCAR fans had the idea that if it is not broke, do not fix it. There was nothing wrong with running the carburetor on the car, but NASCAR decided it needed to make the switch for many logical reasons.

The main reason NASCAR decided to make the switch is because of pressure from the car manufacturers. NASCAR is trying to make the cars that fans see on the track resemble the cars in which fans drive home from each race.

Automotive manufactures have not built a car using a carburetor in nearly 20 years. Switching from a carburetor to the new EFI stem will help NASCAR keep up with the engine technology used in the cars on the street.

Next season NASCAR will switch from its current body style to the new body style that resembles the cars on the showroom floor. Once this happens, NASCAR will have a car on the track that most resembles the cars on the street.

Most companies in the United States are doing their best to change to greener technology. NASCAR is no different. The switch to the EFI will provide a more environmentally friendly car on the tracks in 2012. The carburetor uses a mixture of gas and air to supply the engine. Some of the vapors are leaked, causing pollutants from the car. The change to the EFI will prevent this from happening.

Another reason NASCAR decided to make the change to the EFI is because it will cause fewer problems with the engine. The electronic sensors on the new fuel injection system act like a brain for the car. The sensors ensure that the perfect amount of gas is supplied to the engine at all times. This should reduce the amount of engine failures in a NASCAR race.

NASCAR has always been a sport where teams try to cheat the system without being caught. Teams could make changes to the carburetor to try to gain an advantage during the race. NASCAR will be able to monitor the sport more closely with the change to the new EFI system.

After a race, NASCAR can download the information from the electronic sensors to tell exactly how the car was set up. This will help prevent cheating in NASCAR.

With this big of a change to the sport, many fans probably think there will be a big change in the way the cars look and sound at the track. That is not the case.

The cars will look and sound the same as they have the last 30 years with the carburetor in use on the car.

Without a carburetor you might think the restrictor plate will no longer be used at Daytona or Talladega. The cars at Daytona will still be restricted, but in a different way. Instead of using a restrictor plate, NASCAR will be restricting the throttle settings of each car.

The speeds at the NASCAR testing in mid-January were still over 200 MPH, but NASCAR is all about safety. They will not allow the cars to go much faster than 200 MPH at Daytona or Talladega.

There will be some noticeable changes though in 2012. Usually fans can see flames shooting out of the exhaust pipe of the car during a race. Those fumes come from excess gas leaking out of the car. The EFI system will help prevent this from happening.

The EFI system uses sensors all over the car to collect data during the race. In the NASCAR testing at Daytona in mid-January, some teams brought the cars into the garage and immediately hooked them up to computers. The computers would then tell the engineers what changes needed to be made on the car in order to gain more speed.

The electronic sensors make me wonder if each team needs a crew chief or if it would be better to have an IT department.

The EFI system will have some effects on the racing in 2012, the most noticeable of which is that the switch to the EFI system will cost each team a lot of money.

Whenever money is involved in NASCAR, the teams with high budgets are separated from the teams operating on a strict budget. I think this year the high budget teams (Roush Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Stewart Haas Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, Richard Childress Racing and Penske Racing) will dominate the sport more than they have in the past. It will take a year or so for the lower budget teams to catch up.

NASCAR has become a sport where many of the races come down to fuel mileage. The EFI system will cause problems for teams in 2012. In the past, crew chiefs could calculate how much gas was needed to get their car to the checkered flag. This year teams will have to guess until they get a feel of the gas mileage the car gets with the EFI.

Also, considering drivers shut off the car during caution laps in order to save fuel during the race, the EFI system will not allow drivers to shut the car off to save fuel because the car's computer takes a while to reboot after being shut off. Drivers will have to figure out different ways to save fuel during a race.

Drivers have been able to test the car using the EFI system, and the reviews have been mixed.

Brad Keselowski was fined for criticizing the EFI system. Kasey Kahne was the first to test the car using the new EFI system and seemed to accept the change.

During the Daytona testing the drivers did not complain about the EFI as much as I thought they would. Drivers do not like changes to their cars. I remember Kyle Busch criticizing the “Car of Tomorrow” after he won the race in Bristol. I am sure some drivers will complain about the change, but the fact is that EFI is best for the sport.

NASCAR will go on its “No Carb Diet” in 2012 in hopes of producing a new lean, green car in the Sprint Cup Series. Fans probably won’t notice much change to the car, but the EFI will be a hot topic in 2012.

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