Overhaulin'

Are NASCARs based on a production car?

For example in Australian V8 supercars the commodre and falcon are both 4 door cars for sale on the Australian market avalible in V8 and V6. All the engines,suspension,wheels etc are modifed within the limits of the rules but the shells are based on the 4 door production car.

Public Comments

1. the body is very loosely styled after the looks of production cars , however there is nothing stock about a stock car . years ago the cars were a lot more similar to real production cars
2. No they are not. Years ago they were but because of the very high speeds (over 200mph at times) aerodynamics play a huge role in performance. The stock shell with the least drag would have a huge advantage over the others. The cars are now built so none have an aero advantage over the others.
3. No, they are stock cars only in name. Because of the safety ramifications of their performance they have bodywork that resembles the production cars they are named after but they are pure race cars underneath. They do not have horns, headlights or any street car accessories. Their engine technology is also rather fixed in time and advancement and bears no association with any street car in production.
4. Back when stock car racing first started the guys took a stock auto, ripped out the interior, made minor improvements to the motor, welded a roll bar in, and went racing. They even used stock tires. Due to constant performance upgrades of all types more and more rules and restrictions were implemented. Throughout the 90s the cars were hand built with almost no stock parts but still had to fit the template of the stock body in certain places. Some makes had a clear aerodynamic advantage so,in an effort to achieve parity, NASCAR has been developing the car you see today which has a generic body. This is a bare-bones answer but I think it answers your question. As for the Australian V8 Supercar series, mind blowing! Best road racing in the world. Did you know that the Commodore (Holden) is actually a Chevy and the Falcon is a Ford? Yuuup. It's true. Australia has huge divisions of both manufacturers and make models specifically for Aussie consumers.
5. The only thing stock about modern NASCAR cars are the hood and rear deck lid. They actually get those from the manufacturer. Everything else is built to strict standards that has to match a template.
6. Yeah sort of. The Toyotas are all Camry's, the Chevrolets are all Impalas, the Dodges are all Avengers and the Fords are all Fusions. By the way, it is not called a nascar, that is a common misconcemption. It is called a racecar. NASCAR is the appreviation for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. It is just coincidental that the word CAR is in there.
7. Not any more. the golden age of American stock car racing has passed. the cars are all the same shells, and the only differences are the decals, particularly the hood ornaments of which type of engine the car is using...which I doubt there's much difference be it a Ford, Dodge, Chevy or Toyota. Oh for the days of seeing the classic Dodge Daytona Challenger!
8. Wild Bill, Holden is GM's Australian subsidiary however the Holdens we see in the US are sold as Pontiacs(most recently the last version of the GTO).
9. no they are not. they are stock cars baseand pretty much on street cars besides speed, lights(stickers), and safety
10. Not anymore.