Foreign Makes Say No To NASCAR

(Originally published on July 22, 2008)

With NASCAR’s domestic mainstays looking to downsize support in light of financial woes, it might seem like a good time for other foreign manufacturers to follow Toyota into the fray and take advantage of a possible power vacuum.

But representatives from several overseas automakers contacted by the Press say that you won’t be seeing their cars at the Daytona 500 or any other NASCAR race in the foreseeable future.

Earlier this month Volkswagen announced that it would build a new manufacturing plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. The company’s goal is to more than triple its current 2 percent share in the U.S. car market in the next 10 years. But NASCAR isn’t a part of the marketing plan at the moment.

“I don’t see us investing money toward gasoline-powered racing right now,” said Clark Campbell, motorsports manager for Volkswagen of America. “Unless they’re going to start allowing turbos and diesels into NASCAR, we wouldn’t even be thinking of it right now.”

Instead, Volkswagen is focusing on its fledgling Jetta TDI Cup series, as well as off-road racing. While Campbell admits that his company has “done the math” about what NASCAR would entail, the price apparently seems a little high.

“Our [whole] Jetta TDI Cup is two weeks worth of budget for a NASCAR team,” Campbell added.

While Campbell said VW’s domestic motorsports program is just in its infant stages, another manufacturer with a much stronger foothold in racing has its reasons for staying away from NASCAR.

Honda is currently the sole player in the IndyCar Series. The company’s financial status is stable, as its U.S. sales have remained steady while others have suffered freefalls. The carmaker has been rumored in the past to land in NASCAR. But NASCAR mandates, which require technology to be very similar between brands in the name of on-track parity, doesn’t seem to jibe with a company looking to shift what it learns on the track to the showroom.

“The rules platform as currently constructed in NASCAR is not necessarily conducive to the racing goals of Honda,” said T.E. McHale, manager of motorsports public relations for American Honda Motor Co. “To advance the technology of the sport and to develop the associates who work in the racing program, that’s why we go racing.



“Part of advancing the technology of the sport, hand in hand with that is transferring technology from race cars to passenger cars.”

Over at Nissan, there does seem to be talk of investing in American motorsports—just not NASCAR.

Right now, Nissan doesn’t have an official racing program in the United States. But company spokesman Colin Price said that competing in the American Le Mans Series or Grand-Am Series to support the new Nissan GTR is “under investigation.”

As far as Nissan’s choice of where to race, the decision seems to largely be based on history.

“Nissan’s heritage has always been its IMSA days,” Price says, noting a championship road racing background.