"Nobody in the garage area has really worked with it (fuel injection) yet, but NASCAR is probably more concerned about computer chips and things they can't regulate," Pemberton says. "What the computer people can do to make their cars operate and get an advantage through technology is a concern. It's not the technology they are worried about; it's the way people can use it.
"I think it's inevitable, and the days of the carburetor and ignition are numbered." - team owner Ray Evernham
"This isn't Formula One, but we all have items at our disposal with computers and technology. We're perceived as being a sport that is anti-technology and we're not. We're trying to keep the costs down on race weeks and that's important to us. When teams have engines blowing up because they are too lean because the weather changes, that's important and that could help create more interest in fuel injection."
NASCAR officials favor carbureted...
NASCAR officials favor carbureted engines, saying they are easier to police during technical inspections.
Pemberton says wide temperature variances can affect how long engines can survive, based on the way the engine is tuned. If they are tuned for a 50-degree day and it turns out to be 80 degrees, the fuel mixture is not right for the ambient temperature and engines can blow up. That happened this past March at Atlanta Motor Speedway when nine engines failed during the race.
"It's inevitable that fuel injection will happen," Pemberton says. "They will have to find a way to regulate it and that is the most important thing."
Ray Evernham, who fields Dodges for Bill Elliott and Jeremy Mayfield, is another who thinks change will come. "I think it's inevitable, and the days of the separate carburetor and ignition are numbered," he says. "I think there will be an engine management system that makes more sense. Right now, nobody has enough experience with it because you have to be able to control it. But once that happens, I think it's a direction we can go.
"I think it's probably five years down the road and by the time that comes out, enough people will be familiar with it at NASCAR. It will be a lot easier in conditions because you won't be burning motors down or making pistons soft because of weather changes. We need to keep the RPM limits down because the cost of turning these things 10,000 RPM would be astronomical."