I despise NASCAR (I’ve been over-exposed to it by my husband and his parents, who are obsessed) but after 15 years, I can’t help but have learned a few things:
Even die-hard fans are starting to hate that “bookety-bookety-bookety” line by Darrell Waltrip each week (thank heavens for the second half of the season, where Waltrip is nowhere to be heard).
It takes skill, it takes guts, and it takes precision timing by the pit crew members, the too-often unsung heroes of NASCAR.
The rules are inflexible, or too often bent, depending on who is complaining at the moment.
Penalties and punishments are awarded in a capricious manner, enabling everyone to feel cheated over a period of years.
The tickets are becoming overpriced, the memorabilia is definitely overpriced, and the drivers aren’t as accessible as they used to be (understandable since there are far more demands on their time than there used to be when the sport wasn’t so popular) - but people keep coming back for more. MLB and the NBA could take a few lessons from the NASCAR folks.
The “Nextel Cup Series” just sounds silly.
When the race gets boring, read or do other busywork, but be sure to be back for the commercials. Sometimes they’re the best part of the race.
It’s harder for any one driver to dominate now, because the cars are more evenly matched. Money has changed the Series; personally I think it’s for the better although my resident fanatics disagree.
Dick Trickle and Harry Gant have two of the greatest names in sports.
I’m not a fan of NASCAR at all, but I remember reading an article by a guy who went to some sort of driving school and got on the track with other cars. He talked about getting to drive ‘right behind’ some sort of lead car and feeling the adrenaline of being so close going so fast. Afterwards he asked how close he was and was told something like a dozen car lengths. Real drivers are often inches away, the dexterity involved to avoid constant crashes is amazing.
It all boils down to “bumpin and passin”. It’s the only (mainstream) motor sport that you see this at. If you bump in an open wheel car, you are very likely to crash, and then your day is over. I don’t think anyone has completed a pass in F1 since 1976(or they do it because they’re teammate let them so they can get more points). As was said, Rally Racing is cool and all, but its not real accessible. I would like to see more motorcycle sidecar racing on TV, but I doubt that will happen soon. There maybe more passing in one NASCAR race than there is in an entire season of CART and IRL combined (not that I’ve watched a race in years, aren’t they all Brazilian, or Euro’s that can’t compete in Formula Ford?). Bottom line, NASCAR is more fun to watch that other motor sports. If you disagree, I beg you to tune your TV to TNT tomorrow night at 7:30pm EST. The night race at Bristol is pure entertainment.
Recent NASCAR convert here. All I can say is once you go to a race you will be a believer. I was at the Busch race at Bristol last night. Its awesome. The electricity of the fans. The sound of the engines. The feel of the breeze as 40 cars pass within 10 yards of you going over 100 mph. The smell of fuel and rubber. The feel of the rubber on your skin and hair. Simply nothing like it. Only one year ago I thought NASCAR was silly too (“Wow, cars making left hand turns for 3 hours, big deal.”) I have seen the light. Watching it on TV truly does not do it justice.
I wanted to also point out that ESPNs SportsCenter did cover the Food City 250 last night - plus had a big segment on “off the course” fights between drivers on this mornings edition of SC.
Bristol is simply the best track in NASCAR. Go once and you’ll know why.
Yeah, NothingMan, I was going to say that Sportscenter has been covering the races for a few weeks now, at least (That’s as long as my memory functions about these kinds of things). So, I don’t know what any of these people are talking about.
As a kid growing up in rual Ga.,NASCAR was bigger than all the other sports combined. I’m not a rabid fan buit I still enjoy watching.
Modern NASCAR seems to be trying to distance itself from the 'shine hauling drivers of the past. And people like Junior Johnson are swept under the rug,hidden from the “modern era”.
