The Car of Tomorrow is just a simple design where teams slap either a Ford, Dodge, Chevy, or Toyota sticker on the front of it. To me, this seems like a waste of stickers if you’re going to run cars that all look the same and don’t put brands on them.

The parts come from a wide variety of auto makers and have little to do with the Chevy, Toyota, Dodge, or Ford sticker that may be slapped onto the front of it. While some like the fact that giving all drivers similar cars makes things more fair (so that the best driver wins), this can’t be good for the actual car companies, as it removes the personal connection that so many fans feel to the brands.

These cars should definitely be more affiliated with their sponsoring auto makers. Sales of cars are often hugely driven by a brand’s success on the NASCAR season, and I fear that a continued push in the direction of the Car of Tomorrow will force a disconnect between NASCAR fans and the importance of an auto brand.

I don’t really see who loses from this approach. It’s not as if people will stop watching the races from it. The automakers would get more exposure, which during these economic times, is really much needed anyway.

And how about the power trains? These should represent the actual auto companies too. Not doing this just makes things more unrealistic in my mind.

All they should really need to do is to drive with an engine made by the car sponsoring them. Again, it adds a personal connection to the brand that many will lack should the Car of Tomorrow prevail.

On an unrelated note, I also took offense to last year’s races, during a time where gas prices were at an all-time high, yet the cars burned through gallons and gallons like there was no tomorrow during races. Many fans I know felt this was done in poor taste, and favor a shift to ethanol.

Fans would all embrace the move, and our own economy would benefit too. Gas prices are bound to rise again so the best time to do this is now.

Although he’s now better known as ‘Richard Petty’s dad’, Lee Petty had a very successful career behind the wheel himself. More significantly, he played an important role in the development and growth not only of his own family business but of NASCAR racing as a whole. Petty Enterprises has now owned race teams for over four generations and Richard Petty–aka “The King” is considered the greatest driver in stock car racing history.

Lee Petty was one of the first businessmen car owners in a day when many NASCAR drivers were moonlighting (or daylighting) bootleggers and moonshine runners. He raced in the very first NASCAR stock car race ever on June 19th, 1949. Among his many firsts in the sport is the dubious distinction of bringing out the first caution flag in NASCAR history. To chronicle his achievements in the sport in a nutshell, he won 50 Cup races, including the first one ever on a paved track. He also caused his share of trouble”todays driver fracases are mild by standards of Lees day and he was never a man afraid to mix it up. He once hit Curtis Turner over the head with a wrench after a race, and another time got into a fistfight during the pre race festivities. Lees two sons quickly joined the skirmish but the fight was ended by Mrs. Petty (Richards grandmother) swinging her purse”made heavier than the typical pocketbook by the .44 handgun she carried inside.

Lee also won three NASCAR championships (the precursor to today’s Sprint Cup) during his career. He also shepherded his son, Richard, into the sport. Surprisingly, things didn’t immediately go well for the Petty offspring–he’d race only 9 times in the first season and ended up in a wreck more often than not. He’d eventually turn things around and the man now known as “The King” Richard Petty would go on to win a staggering 200 NASCAR races–a mark that may never be broken.

Lees career was cut short by a nasty accident at the 1961 Daytona 500, where his car hit a guard rail and flipped a few times. Lee suffered a number of broken bones and internal injuries. He raced a few more times, but hung it up for good in 1964. He left the management of Petty Engineering to his sons Richard and Maurice and spent his time enjoying friends and family and playing golf. He played frequently until a few months before his death in 2000 at age 86 after surgery to treat a stomach aneurysm.

Lee Petty holds a few NASCAR records that may never be broken. He finished in the top five 231 times out of 427 races, and still holds the mark for best average finish for a full time driver at 7.6th place. Making this level of success all the more impressive, it was done in an era before big money sponsorships, on poorly maintained tracks and against legitimate criminals who spent most of their time bootlegging moonshine. The fact that Petty enjoyed so much success in that era is a credit to his toughness, dedication and courage.