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The opinions concerning the debut of NASCAR’s new racecar continue to be mixed. I don’t think the Bristol performance changed any minds. Fans that didn’t like it before Bristol seemed to hold on to their feelings after the fact too.

The naysayers might even have gathered a little ammo for their arguments as some folks seemed to think. The racing website Jayski.com was one of the first to send out a less than enthusiastic review. “The racing today was not as good as many Bristol races we’ve seen,” the post-race report read.

Another web reporter declared, “The Car of Tomorrow is now officially the Crap of Today.”

The winner of the race registered his displeasure with the car in his Victory Lane interview.

A friend of mine called during the race and wanted to know where the wing on the back of the car came from? He had missed all the news about the Car of Tomorrow and had no idea about the changes until he noticed the cars looked different. He’s not the NASCAR addict like me, but he just didn’t like the new look.

The new racing machine makes a second appearance this weekend at another historic racing facility. The Car of Tomorrow will be at one of the oldest speedways still on the NASCAR schedule. The stage is a three-quarter-mile arena in Martinsville, Virginia that is also one of only three short track facilities still on the NASCAR schedule.

The .526-mile track has been on the NASCAR tour since 1949. It was a couple of Georgia boys that left the track with the trophy with winner’s pay that September day when Martinsville hosted their inaugural NASCAR event.

Red Byron was driving an Oldsmobile owned by Raymond Parks in that 200-lap run. Byron passed another Georgia racing legend, Fonty Flock, on the 104th-lap and continued on to finish three laps ahead of second-place Lee Petty. Only five of the 15 cars that started that race made it to the end.

The Martinsville race was one of only eight races on the NASCAR schedule during the first year of the stock car racing organization and Bryon was crowned champion by 117 points over the Lee Petty.

The only other tracks with official NASCAR races that first year were in Langhorne and Pittsburg in Pennsylvania; Charlotte, Hillsboro and North Wilkesboro in North Carolina; Hamburg, New York and Daytona Beach, Florida.

Martinsville, Charlotte and Daytona are the only three towns that have been able to sustain and remain on the modern NASCAR circuit from the original slate of cities awarded race dates. The Charlotte and Daytona speedways have been moved since 1949. Martinsville is the only track still operating from the same location it was that first season for NASCAR.

The Martinsville track has been paved and lengthened a little since 1949 and a second race date was awarded the next year. Lots of seats have been added through the years to accommodate the growing demands for ringside perches for the two events still run at the speedway.

Richard Petty still holds the title for most Martinsville wins. “The King” conquered the track 15 times between 1960 and 1979.

Jeff Gordon has the best score among active drivers at Martinsville these days. Gordon has seven of the Grandfather clocks the track awards to winners there. The No. 24 has won four of the last eight races at Martinsville.

Jimmy Johnson, Tony Stewart and Mark Martin have collected two wins each at the Virginia track. Johnson won his in 2006 and 2004. Stewart’s Martinsville wins were last year and in 2000. Martin’s victories were in 1992 and 2000.

The one-time winners at Martinsville include Kurt Busch (2002), Bobby Labonte (2002), Dale Jarrett (2001) and Jeff Burton (1997).

The top-five finishers of last year’s March race at Martinsville were Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch. Stewart led 288 of the 500 laps.

The other drivers leading more than one lap in the 2006 race were Jimmie Johnson (195), Sterling Marlin (9) and Jamie McMurray (6).

There were 16 caution flag incidents and the race took just under three hours and 37 minutes to complete.

Jimmie Johnson was the Bud Pole winner for the 2006 race with a speed of 96.736 miles-an-hour.

Georgia Boys: David Ragan left Bristol with the best results among the Georgia delegation of drivers. Ragan took the Bristol spin four times during his first Nextel Cup experience at Thunder Valley, but he was still able to finish 26th and just three laps behind the leader. Ragan is ranked 22nd in the Nextel Cup points with one top-five finish in the five events this season.

David started 20th and finished 13th in the Busch Series race at Bristol.

Peachtree City’s Reed Sorenson got off work early in the Sunday race. He took the Bristol spin on the 19th lap courtesy of Kevin Harvick’s bumper. Reed finished 43rd and dropped to 29th in the driver point standings. Sorenson has scored one top-ten finish in the five Nextel Cup events this year.

Reed’s run in the Bristol Busch race was better. He started 24th and finished 16th in the 300-lap event.

There were three Georgia drivers in the ARCA/ReMax race at Lakeland, Fl. Savannah’s Dicky Williamson finished 27th. Michelle Theriault, of Alpharretta started eighth and finished 36th. Winder’s Mark Gibson finished 39th.

The next ARCA event is scheduled in Nashville on April 7th.

Saturday’s Allan Vigil Ford 120 will air from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. on Newstalk 750 WSB Radio and www.wsbradio.com. For more race information visit our Fastcar Newsdesk at www.captainherb.net.