USAC mandated a design change in its Silver Crown Series starting this year. The car looks like a cross between a sprint car, an Indy car, and a Pug. {In my opinion, the car has the pug's nose.}
The idea is that the cars will be more "racy" producing competitive finishes. The cars are designed to run on 1.5 mile pavement ovals. {How many of these tracks does nascar have, hmmm?}.
With the 700 to 730 horsepower engine, the silver crown cars will reach over 170 mph, according to the car specs on USAC's website. "Racy" indeed.
The draw back is that all the prior years' cars cannot be run in the series due to the change in design. So, manufacturers have been working feverishly to churn out enough cars for the season opener, the Copper World Classic. Best estimates have 12 cars showing up for the race weekend, which started today. Many don't expect more than 10 to take the green flag, and possibly even fewer to finish the race.
It remains to be seen how many of the "old" series owners literally buy into the "new" series, or how many new owners step into the series.
What happens if the car counts do not go up? Does the series fold after a year or two? Or will they go back to the "old" design?
It's hard to say if it will be a "new generation" or a short lived experiment. Only time will tell.
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