I like sports. I have spent many an hour watching football, basketball, hockey, baseball, and whatever else I could find. Seriously, get a bunch of guys in uniforms together, give them a ball, put it on TV, and I’ll watch it.
But I don’t get NASCAR. I don’t see the skill supposedly involved. Can any dopers out there explain the appeal of this stuff?
Will Someone Please Explain “NASCAR” to Me?
Feel free to ask anything not covered there, for I am happy to talk about NASCAR all day long.
i dont mean to dis NASCAR but NASCAR has nothing on the World Rally…rally drivers race on every kind of road surface and if the road has ice/snow on it they race on it…i love the WRC
some links for ya
my fave team is Subaru
There’s skill in handling a 3,400 lbs of steel, aluminum, and fuel travelling at speeds upwards of 195 MPH, 2 inches away from your opponent on all sides of you, to survive 500 miles later to kiss your wife and kids. I’m with Bruce_Daddy. I’ll help as much as I can with specific questions.
All types of auto racing have pros and cons. F1 has the most sophisticated cars and the highest price tag but the races are rarely close. Stock cars keep the racing tight but are relatively slow. IRL has the speed and close finishes but no road courses. Rally racing may be some of the most challenging but is less accessible to spectators. You get the idea.
I would suggest you try some real racing yourself. It’s not practical (or safe) to race a real car on the streets. The racing schools out there are too expensive. But, you can race go-carts on courses all around the country.
Now, I’m not talking Putt-Putt go-carts. I’m thinking of European style karts. They usually have top speeds around 40 mph. Get some buddies together and race. You’ll get a few things from the experience.
That’s what it came down to for me. I had a hard time relating to the appeal of auto racing until I did it myself. Give it a try. You’ll like it.
After reading these posts, I have a new respect for NASCAR drivers. I’ve never been and likely will never be a fan, but neither have I ever dismissed it as “easy” or just driving." My question is, can NASCAR be considered a sport? One fellow I know considers the drivers to be athletes. I disagree, but am I wrong? Is it shown on ESPN? And if so, why/why not?
Sam Hell, I got into this on another board. NASCAR drivers are subjected to about 140 degrees inside their cars, for four or five hours at a time. Still they must maintain absolute focus at 200+ MPH. On hot days they lose 10-15 pounds during a race. Not to mention the dangers of injury/dismemberment/death every week. And if it’s not a serious injury (head trauma) they’ll jump in the car next week! Pretty athletic if you ask me.
P.S. It’s not shown on ESPN anymore cuz Fox and NBC paid WAY more $$$!
It’s not just the racing, it’s the wrecks. There’s nothing cooler than watching a 15-car pileup with flying debris and tires and huge balls of flame…AND watching the drivers climb out uninjured, afterwards. (Well, most of the time.)
Plus, there’s the rare occasions where you get 2 cars racing neck-and-neck on the final laps, sometimes wrecking each other by the end. Way cool.
Sam Hell, not only does ESPN not show NASCAR anymore, they don’t even show footage of the races in their recap shows, like Sportscenter or RPM tonight. FOX/NBC must be pissed off at them, or something.
It was great when it was on ESPN and TNN (The Nashville Network, y’all). Bob Jenkins can announce any race and I’ll listen to it.
I don’t think ESPN is ALLOWED to show coverage anymore! Money Talks, bull…
Quack I’ll take Spike TV anyday! :eek:
This is what makes NASCAR so exciting!
I don’t know that you can really appreciate it until you can tell all/most of the cars by sight. Then you can concentrate on the more subtle parts.
Plus there’s Bristol. If the Busch race that was on today doesn’t appeal to you, I gotta wonder.
I have never figured out the appeal either, F-1, rally cars and CART are (in my book) real car races, NASCAR is
I have never figured out the appeal either, F-1, rally cars and CART are (in my book) real car races, NASCAR is like the WWF of auto racing.
now for the obligatory joke: “if I want to watch something go around in a circle I will try to flush a ping pong ball”
unclviny
YEAH!!! That’s what I’m talkin’ 'bout! What a finish! What a race!!!
I grew up in Indianapolis (and moved away before the Brickyard–yup, I’m that old) so I used to be a total snob towards NASCAR, prefering CART and F1. Then I moved to Charlotte and got dragged to the race. You know what? It really is fun. It’s fast (I always considered it slow before I went to an actual race), it’s loud (I’d considered it too loud–but it really does get your adrenaline going), and there’s a lot of action.
I will say that it’s hard to get the full effect from watching it on TV. A lot of the excitement is the speed and the sound (wow, they really are loud). Go with a friend who knows racing and can explain some of the strategy to you (e.g. should a driver pit now, or try to stretch it out, etc.) And pick a team to root for–and one to root against!
In addition to if6was9 said about the stress drivers endure during a race, I’d always heard that they need incredibly quick reaction times. I can believe it. I was at a race and listening to my scanner when I saw a wreck (yes, I’m that big of a nerd that I have a scanner). Before I could even think “yikes! bad wreck” the spotters (guys who stand of top of the grandstand and all around the track to alert drivers of things like crashes) were screaming at their drivers and the drivers were avoiding the crash. I would have been toast.
Oh, and I hate the wrecks. Hate them. I hate them more in open-wheel racing because those cars just disintegrate (yes, I know they’re designed to do so–but it’s just so darned frightening), but I hate them in NASCAR too. I guess I’m just a wimpy girlie-girl, but I hate seeing the crashes.
Call me sicko…I hope for wrecks… 
I don’t hope for wrecks anymore. A couple Daytonas ago I saw the 3 car crash and hollered “I HOPE YOU BREAK BOTH YOUR LEGS!” and was thereafter personally blamed for Dale Earnhardt’s death.
CART and other open-wheel crashes make me curl up in fear since Halloween 1999…
If it’s a foreign concept it helps to start by going out to the local track and hang out around the drivers before and after the races
All the NASCAR folks started out at that level. Building their cars themselves. Begging for sponsorship and bearing most of the burden all the while being a working stiff. Kind of a hobby that develops from having an interest in cars and racing. NASCAR is not like Formula 1, etc., because it is an extension of the common man’s interest in automobile racing where F1 is more of a royal sport. You have to be good to make it to Busch and Winston and yes it is very competitive. If it looks like people driving around in circles you just don’t know very much about it. It’s kind of like soccer in that if you ever get into it you actually grow to like it.
