NASCAR Camping World East Series

Infobox sports league
logo=NASCARcampworldseries.gif
pixels=142px
sport=Auto racing
country=USA
founded=1987
teams=18 Fully Active
Manufacturers = Chevrolet
Dodge
Ford
Toyota
website = [http://localracing.nascar.com/series/7 localracing.NASCAR.com]

The Camping World Series East (formerly Busch East Series & Busch North Series) is a regional stock car racing series owned and operated by the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing. Races are held at oval tracks ranging from 1/3 to 1 mile in length and on two road courses, 1.53 and 2.45 miles in length. Most races are stand-alone events (i.e. not in conjunction with other Nascar touring series) but there are three race weekends that are in combination with the Nascar Sprint Cup series. Many of the drivers on the series are gaining experience with the hopes of moving up to one of the major Nascar series, however some of the drivers are right at home in the series and have no plans of moving on.

The series is not only a developmental series for drivers (Joey Logano, Martin Truex, Jr., Ricky Craven, Mike McLaughlin). Crew members (Greg Zipadelli) and officials have also moved on to work in one of the major Nascar series.

It is the only NASCAR series to have a driver win a series championship without winning a race. In 1994, Dale Shaw won the then-Busch Grand National North Series championship without a single win.

Races can be seen live on HDNet and are replayed on SPEED.

History

Formed as the Busch North Series in 1987, the series originally raced primarily in the Northeastern United States, including Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Drivers in the series could compete in "combination" races with then named Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) that were held at various tracks over the years, including but not limited to Daytona International Speedway, Nazareth Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Combination races were on the schedule until the late 1990's.

Over the next 18 years, the series extended its reach and added races in Delaware and Virginia. The series name was changed to Busch East for the 2006 season after a race was added in Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina. Races were added in South Boston, Virginia, and Nashville, Tennessee for 2007 to continue the push South and West, as well as East-West combination races at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, IA and Elko Speedway in Elko, MN.. The 2008 schedule has the series running races in 8 states up and down the East coast. (Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia)

In 2003, NASCAR unified the rules of the West Series and North/East Series to a single rules package. A post-season invitational race known as the Toyota All-Star Showdown was also added to pit the best drivers from both series head-to-head.

For 2007, NASCAR made several rule changes including a "spec" engine and a composite body to reduce the cost of competing in the Grand National Division.

On December 16,2007 NASCAR announced that Camping World would take over a Title sponsor of both series in the Grand National Division. [ [http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/official/12/16/developmental.series.sponsorship/index.html NASCAR.COM - Camping World named developmental sponsor - Dec 16, 2007 ] ]

Camping World Series cars

General

The cars used today in the Camping World series can be either a 105 or 110 inch wheelbase. The two wheelbases were introduced to the series when Nascar combined the East and West series rules. Prior to that, only 105" wheelbases were allowed. Cambered/off-set rear ends are not allowed.

The car bodies are typically a hand-built steel body, however teams may also use a one-piece composite body. The composite body is a "common" item that may be run as any manufacturer branded car (I.e. only one style of composite body for all 4 car manufacturers [Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Toyota] ). Teams then "brand" the composite body by the grill opening, quarter window openings and the vehicle decal package (head lights, tail lights, etc..). Due to the introduction of the Car of Tomorrow in the Nascar Sprint Cup Series, many of the vehicles on the series are old Sprint Cup cars. Another popular way to get a complete body is to buy a "cut-off" body from a Nationwide series team and mount it on a chassis.

Teams have an option of building their own engines or they may run a Nascar Spec Engine. Both engines are V8, pushrod, 12:1 compression motors. "Built" motors are built to team specifications using any configuration of pieces as long as it still meets nascar specifications. The spec engine is built using Nascar Approved pieces that may be purchased from a Nascar approved supplier. The engines may be purchased as a kit or pre-assembled. All of the spec pieces are individually encrypted with a barcode for verification and tracking purposes and can be checked during the inspection process with an encryption reader.

When the series first started, the cars ran a V6 engine with a maximum 274 in³ displacement and no compression limit . In the early/mid 90's the V8 engine with a 9.5:1 compression and maximum 358 in³ displacement was introduced to the series as an alternative to the V6 engines. Due to the decrease in popularity of the V6, it was phased out for the 1999 season. When the East and West series rules were combined, the compression ratio changed to 12:1.

Camping World Series cars may use leaded or unleaded fuel. However when running in conjunction with one of the 3 major series, unleaded fuel must be used.

pecifications

*Engine displacement: 358 in³ (5.8 L) Pushrod V8
*Transmission: 4 speed Manual
*Weight: 3,300 lb (1497 kg) Minimum (without driver)
*Power output: ~650 hp (485 kw) unrestricted
*Fuel: Leaded or Unleaded gasoline
*Fuel capacity: 22 U.S. gallons (83.2 L)
*Fuel delivery: Carburetion
*Compression ratio: 12:1
*Aspiration: Naturally aspirated
*Carburetor size: 390 ft³/min (184 L/s) 4 Barrel
*Wheelbase: 105 in (2667 mm)/ 110 in (2794 mm)
*Steering: Power, recirculating ball

List of champions

Career Victories

In 350 races there have been 69 different winners, 39 of which have won multiple races.

ee also

2008 Nascar Camping World East Series - Contains results from the 2008 season

2007 NASCAR Busch East Series - Contains results from the 2007 season

References

* 2008 Nascar Camping World Series Rule Book
* The Official Nascar 2008 Preview and Press Guide
* 1996 Nascar Busch North Series Rule Book

External links

* [http://localracing.nascar.com/series/7 NASCAR Camping World East Series Website]
* [http://www.eastseries.com EastSeries.com - Series News & Coverage]
* [http://motorsportsschedules.com/index.php?option=com_eventlist&Itemid=26&func=shcatev1&categid=26 2008 NASCAR Camping World Series East Schedule]
* [http://www.campingworldracing.com CampingWorldRacing.com - News on all of the Camping World endeavours into racing]