Van,
When you were at Motor Trend, I was not. As you know, they went through several new owners, and several editors during this time. The Aussie guy that was installed as so called 'editor' was a nice guy, however he was 'told' what to do/say from upstairs. All of our 1/4 mile stuff was done @ Fontana. I will never forget the test 'results'. As an example, lets say they tested a supercharged Jag....its actual ET was 14.78. Motor Trend's GPS tracker/timer would say 14.99. So, what did the editors 'claim' it did in print? 13.90. FALSE!! Saw it with my own eyes and through the video cameras lens as a witness. Of course, the video was edited to show only it going down the strip. Only a voice over to say 13.90...lol. One last thing about MT--when they were conducting one of their famous 'Car Of The Year' award, I remember filming it, and the one they picked was always dead last in the tests. It also broke down many times. I asked John the MT-TV host why? He was honest with me and said: "We had too. Range Rover paid for it" There ya go...
Whats ironic about all of this, test ringers were used in the sixties also as Van mentioned. Think your 426 Hemi ran 12s...hah! Fake news. Speaking of Jim Wangers, I actually asked him about that famous test GTO...he had a nice chuckle...and also told me about his later Firebird tests...thats for another thread.
HOLY CRAP! I'd heard that things went downhill after I left, but that's what "the person who left" ALWAYS wants to hear, right?
I do know that the guys on what I called my "A Team" (that were still at MT for a year or so after I left) told me. They said that the rules had turned to shite on the one hand, and yet became draconian on the other. A couple of those staff editors left on their own accord, because of the heavy-handed bureaucracy.
Brett is correct that COY is (was?) a huge revenue generator. Thus the spinoffs of Truck of the Year, Import Car of the Year and SUV of the Year (we soon allowed import cars into the formerly domestic-only Car of the Year award.) That's why I and my staff took it all seriously.
And, also to give the readers a thorough test and evaluation of the most significant new vehicles. I changed the testing parameters to put lesser emphasis on track performance and added categories for quality, safety, technical design, styling, and value. That helped level the playing field in the years when you're comparing a widely varied field such as a Tercel, Corvette, Mercedes C Class, and Lincoln Town Car. There's no way to equitably pick a winner from that group simply by comparing against each other on test track.
It ain't rocket science, but we did take it seriously and did the best job we could. Anyone who doubts me can talk to any of my former "A Team" staffers themselves. (As any owner/manager knows: People that you've fired might have axes to grind, and thus make up shite to say against you. I know who those people are.)