I enjoy watching nearly all types of auto racing, so I thought I’d see if anyone else does too.
Unfortunately, I don’t get to attend races, but I try to keep up either on TV or the net. My favorite is Indycar, but I just watched the 24 Hours of Daytona this past weekend, and that was a damned exciting race.
Other series I try to follow include Blancpain GT, DTM (Mercedes is leaving the series after the 2018 season to focus on Formula E, leaving just Audi and BMW, which will be a shame), NHRA, IMSA, and so on (not a NASCAR fan though).
I have been a fan of auto racing since I was in diapers. My father drove race cars at a local race track and I followed in his footsteps years later. I don’t watch as much racing on TV as I used to and I try to attend some short track racing about once a year. My local track shut down in 2007 making attending a local track more difficult, the closest are about an hour drive from home. I live next to a road course/drag strip for over 20 years but only attended a handful of events there.
Big fan of F1 and have been for as long as I can remember. Also was lucky enough to see a lot of the rallying around the time of the group B monsters (they were very silly and very scary). I’ll pretty much watch anything motorised that goes around a proper track but ovals do absolutely nothing for me.
That’s what I like! Diversity of opinion! We have a big oval track fan, a road course fan, and a short track fan (so far). Just to keep things going, what is about your particular flavor of racing do you like?
I like the diversity of tracks in Indycar–short ovals, superspeedways, street courses, and road courses. There was a (I think) CART TV spot from 2002 or so (Michael Andretti was in it, so he hadn’t gone to the IRL yet) about the drivers being fast. “I am fast…so fast…I can make this car do anything…anywhere on any track…a big screaming oval…or a super tight city street…”
But of course it comes down to power and speed. I was a big fan of drag racing when I was a kid (the days of the Snake and Mongoose–I had the Hot Wheels drag set).
I also like seeing the exotic cars in the Blancpain GT series. It’s not often you see a Bentley Continental GT3 race alongside a Lamborghini Gallardo.
Indycar just tested its new windscreen, and Scott Dixon thinks it’s…not bad. Heat is apparently a problem, but that shouldn’t be hard to fix. At least they’re not putting a roof over the driver and fenders over the wheels.
I’m not sure I like how large it is, but if it prevents another Justin Wilson accident, then of course, I’m for it. At least it’s better looking than F1’s halo, which just looks bad. And of course, Indycar has had windscreens before.
I love racing itself, but I don’t really follow any of the leagues. I have attended one race before just 2/3 years ago though.
Racing games have also always been my main gaming genre too.
Bikes,cars,trucks,buggies and to a lesser extent ,boats.
On/off road, drags and twistys not to mention roundy rounds.
I find it hard to keep up with all the changes.
When they change up the class rules, they change the game…so if you don’t keep up on the rules, you miss half the experience, the human drama. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
That said I watch some on the phone(my only internet) and try to catch stuff on broadcast TV on weekends.
I liked NASCAR back when they used real modified cars as a race car. I believe that stopped in like 74.
I’m not a big fan of the modern NASCAR program. The WWE style promotion sucks a bit, but I don’t rant.:rolleyes:
I do like the modern cameras and telemetry in all the forms of racing. I shake my head and laugh watching the camera work at the big tracks in the 60’s-70’s. WOW we have come a looking way.
Yes, it is going to be a long month! At least I have the Olympics to tide me over for a while.
I don’t mind the windscreen, it’s fairly unobtrusive and as you said if it prevents another Justin Wilson accident then it’s all good.
The F1 halo is awful looking, and I can’t imagine how it doesn’t get in the driver’s line of sight. I’ve read articles where the drivers say they don’t notice it though.
The 2018 Indycar field is set with 22 full time cars, and 3 part time cars, with a total of 9 (!) rookies in the field. 17 races this season, and I’m very happy to see them go back to Portland. They’ll finish in Sonoma again, which is a fine track as far as I’m concerned, but somehow, I still like Laguna Seca. But I know they wouldn’t run both, so for now, I’m happy with Sonoma.
Fan of NHRA here. We finally get decent coverage, after all those decades of crumbs and small bits buried in Wide World of Sports. Full coverage of the pro classes of every race on Sunday, plus qualifying. During the week they also broadcast an hour program of the sportsman classes, but they still ignore Stock and Super Stock.
But, I hate throttle stop racing, and I wish the coverage would make it clear who wins, With breakouts, you can’t always tell. Since the coverage isn’t live, they should invest in a little extra graphic that tells the winner.
I have started getting into NASCAR in the last year. I’m excited about the Daytona 500 and the start of a new season in less than a week’s time. Really like the stage idea - not sure if I’d really care or get into racing before that… so I came in at the right time ;).
The problem with how stages are implemented is this:
Back in 2005 or so, NASCAR increased the number of points that the winner got by 5 because too many people were complaining that the second place driver would get just as many points if he led the most laps.
With the current stage rules, it is possible for 11 drivers to earn more points in a race than the winner (more if it’s the Memorial Day weekend race at Charlotte, as that has three stages instead of two).
And in my opinion, that does not bother me. Especially since the winner of a race gets something more important than any stage winner - an automatic spot in the Playoffs. And I actually do think a driver that is more dominant during the race and finishes in the top 3 should get more points than someone who was around 12-15 spots all race until a bit of luck at the end.
Correction: 10. (11 would require 121 stage points, but there are only 110 available.)
One way to do it: the drivers that finish 2nd through 11th in the race earn, in order, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 points in the first stage, and 10, 4, 3, 2, 1, 9, 8, 7, 6, and 5 points in the second stage.
For cars, its road courses for me. I don’t follow any special series but whenever I can catch one in person or on TV I do. I even like the old hillclimb stuff and try to make Giant’s Despair every couple of years. Now on the other hand circle and tri-ovals leave me meh; even Indy and Pocono; same with most of NASCAR.
For motorcycles reverse the above. I LOVE flat-track (mostly because its what I raced) and I’m not as big on the road courses. I also like observed trials, enduros, and regular motocross but not so much the stadium super-series and X-games style trick riding.
