There's the flashy Chevrolet Camaro SS that held its own against Porsches and Aston Martins during a lap around the Nurburgring race track in Germany. There's a Dodge Challenger R/T that cranks out 370 horsepower and a Ford Mustang GT 5.0 that goes zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.9 seconds while delivering 25 miles per gallon. Even Hyundai has a pony car in the showrooms now, the 300-plus horsepower Genesis Coupe, which has been reviewed favorably as a "Mustang killer."

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From a performance perspective, these new pony cars are modern marvels. Their power-to-weight ratios, stout brakes and slippery aerodynamics would have been unimaginable years ago. And unlike the muscle cars of the '60s and '70s, they're engineered to corner almost as respectably as top performance sedans from Europe. Their sticker prices start at a relatively modest $30,000. While sales have been solid, if not spectacular, for these cars, there is one issue that makes very little sense to some automotive enthusiasts. Although these are some of the most talked-about cars Detroit produces, and despite the fact that they're combatants in a a very real horsepower war between major car makers, none of the world's top motorsports circuits has any plans to let them race.

Source: Detroit's Showroom Muscle Used to Run at Top Tracks, but No More; a Marketing Blunder?