Cheating No Longer Funny Opines Long-time Racing Writer Larry Woody
Current NASCAR
I think it was Smokey (everything about streaching the rules is dedicated to him anyway) who said something like this, "nothing is illeagle until some one says it is"
The only way to ever police the body on these cars is also the best soulution to the "can't tell what kind of car it is" and that would be to go back to stock sheetmetal. Make them look like what the manufacturer meant for them to look like. Of course you would still have some that might be a little narrower than others (like someones Mercurys once were) or such but with the templetes that could be minimized. We always used the "If it's wrong before the race you fix it or don't race, if it's wrong after the race you don't get paid' method in short track racing and we didn't need protests as we checked the first so many cars anyway.
Many of the things that were called cheating some years ago are standard practices today. Innovation furthers invention and progress. Controled innovation is the key, not stifling it.
I remember watching Janet Gutheries car get turned down because one of the little grill bars in the rear side panels of the Laguna's top was partly missing, her crew had to fashon one out of sheet metal and attach it with silicon.
Woops, got to go, I will try to finish this thought later.
