The times I’ve heard US-style oval track auto racing on the radio, it was … well, duller than watching grass grow. Basically, what I heard was motors whining with the accompanying Doppler shift from a fixed microphone, with commentary every three to five minutes or so, with someone reading the drivers in the lead. After that, back to the motors.
I know fast-paced sports like hockey and basketball can be hard to follow on the radio, but what about auto racing? I have fairly good hearing, but to my ears all the motors sound exactly alike. What am I supposed to be listening for when I hear nothing but engines? I would imagine the equivalent would be a broadcast of a basketball game, where all one heard was squeaking sneakers and dribbling on the floor, and the occasional whoosh of a ball descending into a basket, with someone reading the score every so often.
It’s scanner radio that you want. Get the frequency of the driver of your choice, and you can listen to the banter back and forth between him and his crew chief.
I haven’t listened to NASCAR, but I do recall listing to the Indy 500 on the radio many, many years ago (I think TV broadcast was on a major delay). The engine sounds and such were just atmosphere noises, you just need a decent announce team to keep everything straight and exciting.
This wasn’t play-by-play that I was hearing whenever I’ve stumbled upon races. It was just engine noises, and an occasional breakdown of the lead drivers every few minutes. I’ve heard such broadcasting on both satellite radio and on AM radio in southern states. How is anyone supposed to follow it?
Not sure what you’re hearing. As Tacoloco says, MRN (and PRN) have excellent broadcasts, and that’s all I’ve ever heard. I was born and raised in the South (and still live there) and have never heard broadcasts such as you describe. At least on terrestrial radio - I don’t have satellite radio, so I can’t address that.
According to their website, there are driver feeds available on Sirius, so I wonder if there’s a race-only feed that you’re catching. In any event if I were hearing a broadcast such as you describe - no, it doesn’t sound very exciting.
However - if you were to pipe it through a subwoofer… Well, if you’ve ever seen the Howard Stern autobiography Private Parts, you might know what’s next…