Pontiac withdraw

[pink69]

GM have decided to withdraw Pontiac from the NASCAR series in 2004, so they can concentrate their efforts on Chevrolet and the Monte Carlo. GM say that they'll work with Pontiac on a new motorsport venture in the near future. Its expected that very few, if any, teams will run the Pontiac next year without factory backing. Shame they've decided to withdraw as the Pontiac has been getting some good results this season and has 2 of the last 3 championships to its name. And it not like Chevrolet are doing badly, they hold 4 of the top 5 places in the standings.....

[Adam43]

Well it doesn't surprise me because I don't know much about NASCAR's workings, but I reckon it is a shame.

Still won't they be back to three manufacturers when Toyota joins

[oily oaf]

I knew Nissan were trying to break into Nascar but Toyota too!!!
Where will it all end. (sound of hair pulling and teeth gnashing). The bottom fell out of my world on learning of the impending Jaguar estate (station wagon) now this!

[Adam43]

Toyota already has its truck racer for next year! Do you mean that you don't want a Mondeo, sorry, Jaguar front wheel drive diesel estate?

Will the Pontaic teams automatically go to the Monte Carlo or will some go to Ford?

[Roselady3]

Originally posted by AdamAshmore
Still won't they be back to three manufacturers when Toyota joins

They presently have:

Chevy
Ford
Dodge
Pontiac

So next year- WITHOUT any Pontiac's they will still have three. When Toyota comes in- it will bring it back to 4.

[oily oaf]

Adam:the Monjaguo oil burner estate is an abomination, I am however keenly awaiting the much vaunted new Ferrari 800cc 3 door hatch and the Lambourghini Caravanette with it's own washing machine capable of 300 spins on its drying cycle.

[oily oaf]

Sorry I'm going off topic again (sound of wrist being slapped).

[Emfa]

It's a bit of a shame to see Pontiac go, I guess, but it does make perfect sense for GM to concentrate it's efforts on Chevy. Hopefully we'll see Pontiac turn up in some other category that could do with GM's support.

It's not a foregone conclusion that the 5 existing Pontiac teams will switch to Chevy:

"GM plans to honor any deals still in place with Pontiac teams, but not all of them will have the option of moving to Chevrolet.

``We do have some contractual commitments, which we will uphold,'' said Doug Duchardt, director of GM Racing. ``We're going to evaluate the rest of those teams on how they can help us win manufacturer and driver's championships."

[gttouring]

I don't really understand the loss of pontiac, arguably the better looking of the GM cousins, it really is great looking racer, and when it won this year what a finish, GM should offer the Pontiac at a bonus to some established teams to get them to work better, after all doesn't pontiac 'build excitement?"
the Monte Carlo is a laugghable (like my spelling) passenger car and really not fun at all, front drive V6 with or without supercharger, they should use the new GTO or something. this whole thing is really sad.
2 of the last three championships are pontiacs what gives? are they going back to trans-am or something?

[Emfa]

Tony Stewart, amongst others, spent most of last year complaining about the aerodynamics of the Pontiac (with good reason, by all accounts). The 5 existing Pontiac teams are not front-runners, so I think the decision would have been fairly easy. Ricky Cravens's win WAS amazing, but it was only 1 - Chevy's have won 17 times so far...

Interesting that you should bring up the issue of the road cars, gt. What do they have to do with Nascar - apart from the name? "Stock cars"?

I wonder if something is in the works with the Monaro/GTO in another series?

[Adam43]

Originally posted by Roselady3
it will bring it back to 4.

oops Thanks

[gttouring]

I know there is no relation to road cars, but i couldn't see where they might be going with all this. unless as you said the Pontiac GTO will enter the Pony wars with the mustang, and hence go GT racing

[Megatron]

GM did not like the idea of common templates, that may have someth9ing to do with it. Aside from some minor alterations to the front and rear, this years "pontiac" was essentially a clone of the Dodge, Chevy, and the Ford Taurus, which is what NASCAR based it on. Of course, this isn't reallly a Ford Taurus.

How they can continue to call them stock cars is beyond me. Maybe
Nascars" would be a better term now.

Sad to see Pontiac go, though.

[24thunder]

Originally posted by AdamAshmore
Toyota already has its truck racer for next year! Do you mean that you don't want a Mondeo, sorry, Jaguar front wheel drive diesel estate?

Will the Pontaic teams automatically go to the Monte Carlo or will some go to Ford?

3 of the 5 Pontiac teams have already announed on TV that They will go to Chevrolets in 2004,while the other 2 teams are still weighing Their options.

[Tenoch]

Chevy has been cutting back on the Pontiac line completely, just last year they stopped producing the thunderbird. Anyway a lion is a lion anyway you paint him.

[429CJ]

You mean FIREbird? T-bird is a Ford. And the new GTO is coming to fill the spot of powerful rear-driven coupe.

[billiaml]

When they stopped making Firebirds, they also stopped making Camaros -- it wasn't just a Pontiac thing. I hope they do go back to Trans Am & GTO's replace the Camaros that were being raced this year, but are no longer in production. (And the way Jaguar dominated the series this year, GM needs to do something.)

Meanwhile, Pontiac won the manufacturer's championship in the NHRA....

[Robert Ryan]

The "Pontiac GTO" The Holden Monaro just won the Bathurst 24hr endurance race, for the 2nd year in a row

[Magical Trevor]

Originally posted by billiaml
Meanwhile, Pontiac won the manufacturer's championship in the NHRA....

Yeah, but thse are hardly Pontiacs. They just have Sunfire or Grand Am headlights put in.

I just hope some car owner will be cool enough to run some races next year with a GP just to keep the marque in the sport.

[billiaml]

True. But you could say that about a lot of race cars, couldn't you?

Based on 24's post, it looks like there are 2 chances of that happening -- the 2 that are still weighing their options. Of course you might also say "slim" and "none." Nowadays, a team needs factory support; and that's one thing Pontiac teams won't get in NASCAR.