Fast Fusion. Well, the Nose, Anyway

Filed in archive on March 2, 2006

This is a photo of a Ford Fusion from AutoExtremist. Does it look like a Fusion to you? No, and not to me, either. It's NASCAR's version of a Ford Fusion, in which the only thing vaguely resembling the mid-size sedan is its grille.

NASCAR's silly, old-fashioned rules (they still race with carburetors, for goodness sake) force this kind of nonsense onto competing teams in order to benefit from auto manufacturer's racing budgets, money that would be better spent if it was shared with other deserving series, road racing in particular. Incidentally, I'm chuckling over the fact that Dodge couldn't run a Charger (or at least its nose job) because the thing turned out to be unaerodynamic. Ever since the current Chrysler 300 and its Dodge siblings appeared, I've complained that not only were the cars inelegant, their wind tunnel CD numbers must be dreadful.

That's Matt Kenseth in the Roush Racing No. 17 DeWalt Tools Ford winning the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway last Sunday. Obviously he won by more than a nose.