NASCAR....whats the big deal?

In My Humble Opinion
21

racer72 is a fan, and he explained why he is. I’m not a fan, so I’ll tell you why I think it’s popular. The inappropriately-named ‘stock’ cars resemble cars anyone can go out and buy. I have a feeling that a lot of fans fantasise that they are out there on the track, and that many of them own the same (actually stock, or modified-street) cars they like to watch. And I’ve heard many people say ‘Wow! Did you see that crash?’ which leads me to suspect that some people (certainly not racer72) see it as something of a ‘blood sport’.

I do enjoy the occasional race. I even asked about how to find them a few months ago. But I like road races. F1/CART races don’t do a lot for me. (Although I did like the track at Laguna Seca.) But I’ll watch them sometimes when they’re on a road track instead of an oval. I prefer the GT races. When I owned a Porsche I liked watching the Porsches perform in GT. I never had any fantasies about ‘being there’, but 911s are pretty.

I’d like to try autocross when I get my MGB back. Unfortunately, ISTR that you need a roll bar and I don’t want to put one on the MGB. So I guess I’m SOL. I wouldn’t mind trying vintage racing, but I don’t have the resources to buy and prep a vintage car for it nor the ambition and dedication it requires to campaign.

22

NASCAR is about very close racing, to the point of contact. You never see that in F1, where contact means a crash. It also has cars that resemble actual street-legal cars, so a fan can sorta imagine himself in the driver’s seat. The resemblance is only skin-deep, of course. Inside is a very serious race car. Every time a new body style or engine comes in, NASCAR watches carefully to see if they need to tweak the rules. They strive for close competition, not the one-team domination you see in F1, with the same guy leading from flag to flag every week.

As for actually going to a race, even the biggest TV and speakers can never equal the physical experience of 43 big V-8s howling by you in a tight group. There’s even a cottage industry of renting you headsets, so you can sit in the stands and hear commentary and the radio chatter between drivers and their crews.

The only open-wheel racing that has the same elbow-to-elbow agression is sprint cars. Yow. That’s racing, where it only steers right sideways.

23

Here are the reasons I like NASCAR (BTW, I’ve never been to an actual Cup event, just watch on the telly):

  1. Close racing, with usually close to third of the field having a reasonable shot at winning any given race. Driver skill is a major component. Those who think that circling an oval requires little skill, try one of the NASCAR computer games. See how much different Bristol is from Daytona, and Atlanta from Martinsville. Practice on one course till you get a pretty good lap time. Now, try to duplicate that time 50 laps in a row as your tires go away, as you try to get around slower traffic, and without contacting the wall. And despite what you may see on TV sometimes, you can’t just push other cars out of the way. Not as easy as it looks, believe me

  2. Strategic games within the game: much like in baseball, smart implementation of small, fairly subtle strategies can win or lose the whole enchilada. For example, the choices of when to pit, how many tires to change on a given stop, and what suspension tweaks to carry out tend to have an important effect on the outcome.

  3. Lively personalities among the drivers and crews, although in recent years the sport has been drained somewhat of its more interesting characters, and the redneck quotient, sadly, has nearly disappeared.

  4. Picturesque crashes: yes, I am properly ashamed, and I certainly do not want to see anyone at all get hurt or killed, but lordy, there are some amazing pileups sometimes. An especially sporty one occurred last week at Richmond during the Busch race, where one driver who got pushed into the wall basically went the length of the backstretch with the car up on its side, wheels on the fence, trailing a massive rooster tail of sparks. Sweet.

Yes, the cars have nothing whatsoever to do with ‘stock’ passenger sedans any more, the circus atmosphere seems to get more out of hand with each passing year, and I get the impression that the whole thing is getting close to the point where it collapses under its own weight. Personally, if I were to choose, I’d prefer to see a more road-course oriented series along the lines of European Touring Car Championship series, but for now NASCAR’S product suits me just fine.

Anyway, no one’s required to like any particular sport. If you don’t like NASCAR racing, don’t bother with it; no problem.

24

Here are the reasons I like NASCAR (BTW, I’ve never been to an actual Cup event, just watch on the telly):

  1. Close racing, with usually close to third of the field having a reasonable shot at winning any given race. Driver skill is a major component. Those who think that circling an oval requires little skill, try one of the NASCAR computer games. See how much different Bristol is from Daytona, and Atlanta from Martinsville. Practice on one course till you get a pretty good lap time. Now, try to duplicate that time 50 laps in a row as your tires go away, as you try to get around slower traffic, and without contacting the wall. Plus you’re not ealing with g-forces and the heat and fumes, and despite what you may see on TV sometimes, you can’t just push other cars out of the way. Not as easy as it looks, believe me.

  2. Strategic games within the game: much like in baseball, smart implementation of small, fairly subtle strategies can win or lose the whole enchilada. For example, the choices of when to pit, how many tires to change on a given stop, and what suspension tweaks to carry out tend to have an important effect on the outcome.

  3. Lively personalities among the drivers and crews, although in recent years the sport has been drained somewhat of its more interesting characters, and the redneck quotient, sadly, has nearly disappeared.

  4. Picturesque crashes: yes, I am properly ashamed, and I certainly do not want to see anyone at all get hurt or killed, but lordy, there are some amazing pileups sometimes. An especially sporty one occurred last week at Richmond during the Busch race, where one driver who got pushed into the wall basically went the length of the backstretch with the car up on its side, wheels on the fence, trailing a massive rooster tail of sparks. Sweet.

Yes, the cars have nothing whatsoever to do with ‘stock’ passenger sedans any more, the circus atmosphere seems to get more out of hand with each passing year, and I get the impression that the whole thing is getting close to the point where it collapses under its own weight. Personally, if I were to choose, I’d prefer to see a more road-course oriented series along the lines of a European Touring Car Championship series, but for now NASCAR’S product suits me just fine.

Anyway, no one’s required to like any particular sport. If you don’t like NASCAR racing, don’t bother with it; no problem.

25

Whoops, brain fade, there.

26

I’ll watch NASCAR, I’ll watch sprint cars. Both are a blast live. Anything else is as boring as soccer. I have to agree with Euthanasiast…being at a race is a whole different universe from watching it on TV. And it used to be stock cars. There are stories about drivers who would hit Avis or Hertz before the race, slap on a few decals, and blow people’s doors off. Long ago, of course, but it did happen. :smiley:

27

As someone who generally finds racing kind of boring (and I’m a huge soccer fan :slight_smile: ), I will sit and watch NASCAR at times.

While intellectually I understand that F1 has better racers, cars, and technology (and is considered the height of racing), and while again I intellectually I realize that driving in an oval is quite dull…I can get hooked on a NASCAR race.

And you know what it is? It’s the bloody TV presentation. The announcers and commentators seem way more into it (and for a layman knowledgeable) on the NASCAR races. For me, they make it happen. In fact, they make it happen so much that I far prefer the FOX races than the NBC races.

As well…there is far more changes of place in NASCAR than F1 (from what I’ve seen). So that adds to it as well. As technically proficient as the F1 racers may be, there are far fewer opportunities to pass than in NASCAR. And I’d rather see someone pass at 180 mph (NASCAR) than on a sharp turn at 50 mph (F1).

28

I grew up a fan of open-wheel racing and always sneered at NASCAR until I lived in Charlotte and was dragged, under protest, to attend the race. There are some things you don’t get in open-wheel racing like going three abreast through the turns and bumping/rubbing each other in ways that would send an open wheel car flipping down the track.

It is fun, but I don’t think I would have become a fan just by watching it on TV. NASCAR is a great sport to attend. For one thing, most of the tracks are built so you can see just about the entire race. You don’t miss as much of the action as you do with road races or even the races at Indy since you can’t see as much of the track even with good seats. Also, it’s easier for novice attendees to keep up with what is happening. The slower speeds make it easier to keep track of who is where. I remember bringing people to the Indy 500 and it took them about 100 laps to learn how to observe who was in what place as they came into view then left a split second later–especially if several cars have a similar paint job.

Also, NASCAR seems to have done a great job marketing itself. For example, the drivers make a lot of public appearances and seem more accessable than those in some other series. I don’t know that they truly are more accessable (likely not), but they’ve been promoted in such a way that there is that perception.

29

If you want a feel for Nascar, get this book. Don’t let the “author” fool you…this has nothing to do with the Burt Reynolds travesty of that name. :smiley:

30

We could be having this same conversation about golf. Why watch golf? It’s boring and repetitive to the casual viewer. Unless you know the history, the personalities and have a feel for the sport by playing it yourself. Then, you can appreciate the skill of a good golfer and perhaps get ideas to improve your own game. You watch the early holes to build up to the tension at the end of a long close match, and get engrossed in a sudden death playoff.

We could have the same conversation about baseball. Why watch baseball? It’s so slow. Unless you know the history, the personalities and have developed team loyalties over the years. You learn to appreciate the skill and coordination of a good infield, the role of a middle reliever, the drama of a stolen base. You watch a no-hitter unfold and thrill to the excitement of a game where “nothing” happens.

NASCAR is really not all that different. Of course it’s boring and repetitive. Unless you know the history, the personalities and have a feel for the sport. Then you can appreciate the skill of a good driver and his pit crew. You can watch for sparks to errupt between two feuding drivers. You learn the differences between the tracks–and become passionate about whether a superspeedway is more fun to watch than a road course or a short track.

Setting aside, then, the fact that most any sport is boring to those who don’t follow it, let’s address “Why NASCAR” for so many people.

NASCAR has the advantage over many sports in that it is fairly easy to begin to get interested. The surface rules are fairly simple–drive fast. The cars are easy to tell apart because of the sponsors. The drivers and the sport as a whole market personalities. And there are a limited number of personalities–far few drivers to get to know that baseball players. You can enjoy it on a surface level, or you can dig deeper and get involved in the personalities of crew chiefs and the politics of the organization and rule changes.

NASCAR is a sport that acknowledges a deep need of the blue-colar, high-school educated, rural, nuclear family based segment of America. It affirms their values. It offers the opportunity to root for the underdog or the likley champion. It publicly acknowledges values like hardwork, fair play, family, manly-men and feminine women. Many revel in it precisely because it is a lower (or possibly middle) class sport. They drink beer instead of wine. And Budweiser or Miller, not some sophisticated micro-brew. They get joy out of hanging out with the blue color, just folks crowd, feeling rah rah about America. They find comfort in the public acknowledgement of God at the beginning of races. They feel patriotic and strong when the military air craft fly over. The open acknowledgement of the importance of family–in big names like Petty or Earnhardt, but also in watching Mark Martin retire so he can spend more time with his young son who is already a six-year veteran race at age 13. There is a heart and soul to NASCAR that many highly educated and sophisticated people have never chosen to learn to savor. They somehow consider it beneath them. I (and many others) love it. It may take getting over some cultural snobbishness–because you can appreciate a good quiche does not mean you should reject a greasy cheeseburger.

Another important factor: Every single race includes every single star driver. In most other sports you can only watch a few of the stars at a time. If you are watching the Red Sox and the Yankees, you are missing out on what the Cubs and Giants are up to. But every week I get to watch Tony Stewart and Dale Jr. and Jeremy Mayfield and Jaimie McMurry and Kurt Busch and… and… and…

So, if racer72 is the number one NASCAR fan, can I get in line to be number two?