Would you believe a front-wheel drive NASCAR racer? Okay, not really. But the ever-evolving rules of stock car racing allowed Buick to pretend a little in 1986.
It would be impossible to pinpoint an exact moment when NASCAR jumped the shark and stock car racing no longer had anything to do with racing with stock cars. It was more of a process: the zipper-top cars of the ’50s, the Ford Fairlanes with Galaxie snouts of the ’60s, the Taurus coupes of the ’90s. One of the more overlooked moments arrived in 1986 when suddenly, there were V6, front-drive sedans racing on the speedways, but with NASCAR-spec V8 chassis under their bodywork.
By the mid ’80s, the four General Motors G-body coupes—Chevy, Pontiac, Olds, and Buick—were at a clear aerodynamic disadvantage fo the slick Ford Thunderbirds (especially a red one from Dawsonville, Georgia). Always keen to maintain a level playing field, NASCAR rulemakers generously allowed the GM racers to adjust their competitive positions.
Chevy and Pontiac responded with the fastback ’86 aerocoupes (see our feature here) but the Buick and Olds diviisions took an entirely different approach, submitting their H-body two-doors (LeSabre and Delta 88) for competition. Of course, the production models happened to be front-wheel drive with transverse V6 engines, but if NASCAR officials were disturbed by this discrepancy, they never let on. Underneath, these were standard-issue, tube-frame NASCAR race cars, simply reskinned (and powered by highly modified Chevy V8s).
Buick added an aerodynamic tweak to its LeSabre coupe with a plastic insert (above) for the rear quarter windows, which enabled the teams to smooth out the rear portion of the roof for reduced drag and greater rear downforce. To square this modification with NASCAR officials, Buick assembled 112 production cars (117, some sources say) equipped with these filler panels.
The LeSabre Grand National, as it was called, was an appearance package (RPO WE2) that included the panels, blacked-out exterior trim, alloy wheels, and fender badges borrowed from the turbocharged Regal Grand National, all for $1,237. Beyond that, the GN was pretty much a standard LeSabre with a grey cloth interior and the 150 hp V6 under the hood. The entire run of cars was completed at the Flint Buick City plant late in 1985 and then sent to dealers in the Southeast for sale.
Only three LeSabres ran in regular Winston Cup competition in 1986, but they put on a respectable showing. Two were campaigned by the Stavola brothers for drivers Bobby Allison (below) and Bobby Hillin Jr., and a third by Kenny Bernstein’s King Racing with Joe Ruttman. The Stavola Buicks swept the two Talladega races that year, with Allison and Hillin Jr. collecting one win each. For 1988, Buick switched to the smaller Regal W-body shell, also a front-driver, and continued to run the package through 1991, when it pulled out of NASCAR for good.
This car is no more ridiculous than any tube framed V-8 rear wheel drive “Ford Fusion” or “Toyota Camry” (or just about any NASCAR “stock car” of the past few decades). It’s very hard to believe that there are people who apparently still believe that the race cars they see out on the track at a NASCAR race have anything whatsoever in common with the cars being sold at dealerships. NASCAR racing has become an illusion.
I worked at a Buick dealership at the time and I never saw one. I never heard of them until years later when I saw one on Barret-Jackson on TV.
I stopped watching Nascar in the 70’s. The cars today have absolutely no connection to anything on the showroom floor.
Your loss, mid 80s were great times.
Yes, and some of the greatest drivers. Earnhardt, Elliott, Waltrip, Richmond. To name a few.
I was dragged to a NASCAR race in Phoenix a few years ago and haven’t been back. Walking around the pits inside the oval was interesting.
I visited the Penske museum, also in Phoenix, and the cars from the 1950s really were stock – interiors, sheet metal, chrome, everything. Problem is, I suppose, what could NASCAR field nowadays that’s anywhere close to stock? Mustangs vs Corvettes vs Camaros vs Challengers? The latter two are disappearing, of course. Maybe include the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing? Maybe fast hybrids?
It will be interesting to see where NASCAR goes next.
That’s the thing. Whether we like it or not, current NASCAR Cup cars are pretty much what they need to be. In different ways, F1, IndyCar, and NHRA are in the same boat. Money and technology have led them down this path. You can enjoy them for what they are or find something else to follow. Maybe vintage racing.
Even back in the 50’s the stock cars weren’t stock. They were in appearance and basic construction, but the power plants and drive lines were “tuned” for the track. It was amazing how much power they could wring out of those engines but of course they were starting with low compression workhorse mills.
So true. In the early ’50s, Hudson produced “export” chassis and engine parts that were really for racing. Standard production components could not take the pounding of the dirt tracks. The ’57 Chevrolet Black Widow cars used truck hubs and spindles. Bill France Sr realized early on that he would need to be flexible with his “Strictly Stock” concept.
NASCAR died to me when it allowed the FWD Taurus body, a two door that didn’t exist, from then on nothing being raced actually mirrors a stock body. NHRA did the same thing when they allowed the funny cars to stretch and shrink until nothing is recognizable but the grill and tail lights. NHRA Pro Stock is almost as bad, but at least they still resemble what they are patterned after.
I understand the need for the chassis and running gear, but it would be more interesting to see them have to use actual stock steel body parts that would fit the same model sitting in the parking lot. Seems like I remember a tale that Smokey Yunik needed a fender or hood or something at a race, and went to the parking lot and took one off an employees car.
Probably doesn’t matter much now, since the Govt wants to end all IC engines anyway.
I no longer enjoy/support “STOCK CAR RACING!” They are NOT “Stock!” They no longer represent the former “Thunder Road” sort of competition that actually created the sport.
Stretching (Really?) a Honda or Toyota foreskin over a scientifically designed full force racing chassis is an insult to the American Automotive Industry and the Americans who built them.
I believe that while these “Plastic Covered Racing Sleds” will probably continue,… I long for the “REAL CARS” to make a comeback?
Maybe they’ll stop installing the engines sideways,.. and ALL FOUR WHEELS shall again have a job?