CASCAR Reveals 2004 Season Plans

CASCAR has completed its national tour of driver information meetings that included stops in Windsor, ON, London, ON, Toronto, ON, Ottawa, ON, Montreal, QC, Saskatoon, SK, Edmonton, AB, Calgary, AB, and Kelowna, BC. Each of the meetings was well-attended, with some new faces appearing for the rookie battle in each of CASCAR’s three series: The CARQUEST Series, Western Series, and Super Series.

National Technical Director Brian Thomas outlined some revisions to the rulebook as well as some additions to allowable race car components for all three series. Included in the changes was the outline of a three-year plan for CARQUEST Series cars that will see sealed crate engines phased into competition by the year 2007.

For the 2004 season, as well as the following two race seasons, CARQUEST Series cars will be allowed to compete in Super Series oval track events provided they meet with basic Super Series technical regulations, mostly involved minimal safety requirements. Sealed crate engines from Dodge, General Motors and Ford will begin to be phased in for the 2005 season. Current CARQUEST Series engines will still be allowed to compete with the sealed crate engines in 2005 and 2006. The current engines will be phased out for the 2007 season, at which time all cars will be required to run the sealed crate engines mandated by CASCAR.

The sealed motor program will create substantial savings for race teams both in up-front costs as well as in the maintenance of the engines. The units run at lower RPM than the current engines, and as sealed motors, eliminate the costs of tuning and spending money to create a performance advantage.

The Super Series will once again return with a twelve-race schedule that will be televised on Sportsnet and Speed Channel. CASCAR will be back in Toronto and Vancouver at the Molson Indy events now that the new CART ownership group has confirmed its plans to keep the 2004 CART schedule in operation. The CARQUEST Series and the Western Series will each have eight events on their schedule.