One of the U.K. TV channels, Five US, occasionally shows Nascar races. Now, I quite enjoy F1, Touring Cars, Moto GP, and the like, but 500 (or whatever) laps of an oval just seems boring. No chicanes, no gravel traps, no long fast straights, no hills, no dips, just round and round she goes.
About the only things of interest I note are frequent changes of leader and that a spectator can see the whole track at once.
What am I missing?
Crashes.
As a recent transplant to the heart of NASCAR country, I have tried to like it. Really, I have. I can’t do it. I don’t get it. I actually find the occasional road course race to be more interesting than the standard oval, but most real fans dislike the road races for some reason.
The races are incredibly boring. There are way too many cautions that stop the action, when there is any action.
Southern boy here. My mom’s family is from the South and they all love Nascar, and my dad’s family is from a place I like to call “so far north it’s the south” and they all love Nascar. So basically, I was raised on Nascar and for most of my formative years I watched races every Sunday. At least as long as they held my really short attention span.
I’m not going to lie, crashes are a big part of it, especially on the restrictor plate races. For those not Nascar-lingo inclined, in those types of races the cars have restrictor plates on the spoiler so all cars are basically limited to a max speed. These races are normally done on the longer tracks. Because of the plates, all the cars are usually forced together into one big group for most of the race. It causes lots of jockeying for position and things can change in the blink of an eye. It also usually causes what most race fans call the “Big One” every race, as in a wreck that usually takes out 10+ cars and has a very “holy crap!” effect to it. I know it’s kind of dumb and very male (for lack of a better word), but hey some people dig it.
My favorite races are always the ones that come down to the wire. Usually two or three cars close together and a tight race at the finish. Of course, you can get those ends to races in pretty much any type of car racing event.
Personally, I like the coverage. The NASCAR commentators do a great job of keeping you informed on what’s going on - they have people in the pits and in the garages, and they even talk to the drivers themselves during cautions. They monitor the team’s radio communications. They have a “cutaway” car that they refer to when describing mechanical or technical issues (“See this thing here? This is the oil pressure line that just failed on <driver>'s car”).
I have watched two Formula 1 races, and in both cases it seemed like the US commentators were simply watching the same TV feed we were, and making obvious comments about it. The coverage was simply terrible.
And I have never understood the “It’s just turning left!” criticism of NASCAR. It seems to me that if you think NASCAR is boring, you should think all auto racing is boring - why would adding right turns make it any more interesting? It takes just as much skill to drive in NASCAR as in other series - see the two F1 drivers who switched to NASCAR and generally finish around 30th place.
However, I have to admit that, if the F1 coverage was as good as NASCAR’s is, I’d prefer to watch F1.
I have no intention of selling the OP on NASCAR; it’s just another sport, and like most sports, either one gets it or one doesn’t. I’ll just discuss why I happen to like it.
The usual knock on NASCAR is the preponderance of events on oval tracks, but this is perfectly true to its roots in local Saturday-night racing on quarter-mile ovals (many of which remain unpaved), and while the largest number of races during the season are on 1.5-mile D-shaped courses, there are large variations in track configuration, from 0.5 mile bullrings like Bristol and Martinsville up the 2-5-mile high-banked monsters of Daytona and Talladega.
Things I like about NASCAR’S events are the use of full-bodied cars (although I’d frankly prefer to see something like an American version of the European Touring Car Championship), the subtle strategies involved in race management (when to pit, two tires or four, give up track position for a splash of fuel near the end or try to reach the finish without running dry) and the relatively engaging personalities of the drivers and crew chiefs. And yeah, some of the crashes are pretty spectacular.
Yes, some races can be boring, especially in the middle sections, and often on the 1.5 mile and larger ovals only the last fifty laps or so really mean anything. I cannot, however, consider the motorized Ben-Hur style chariot races that occur at Bristol, nor the 200MPH traffic jams at Daytona and Talledega, to be truly boring, in most cases. Likewise, I still find the most boring NASCAR event much less stupefyingly tedious than most F1 events, where (whether true or not) I have the impression that one car pretty much runs away from the field from the start and only gets passed if it breaks down or crashes. I personally would be in favor of NASCAR going to fewer 500-mile, 4 1/2 hour events, maybe to a 300-mile or timed two-hour format, and there has been much discussion along those lines in the past couple of years.
Lastly, from a personal viewpoint a major attraction is that I play in an on-line fantasy NASCAR league, and so there is an added incentive to cheer on drivers who I’ve selected for my fantasy team in each race.
Now, can or should someone who has no knowledge of the history of this particular racing series, has no familiarity with the drivers, and is highly unlikely to be able to see an actual race, become personally invested in following the series? I’d say don’t worry much about it.
We’ve had a lot of NASCAR threads. This one from 2003 (gasp) gives a flavor for why many of us enjoy the sport.
Here’s what I wrote:
Another die-hard NASCAR fan checking in. College educated, 100% geeky, bilingual, 51 year old, female. Not what “outsiders” consider a typical fan. So, what’s the appeal, you ask?
It’s fun. Consider it in the same class as bowling–who cares if it’s deemed low class, it’s fun. Unlike a lot of sports, each week we get to watch all the competitors compete against each other in a single event. There’s skill, there’s chance, there’s excitement.
All of us enjoy it. We got hooked one afternoon when I was flipping TV channels, stopped on a NASCAR race because the phone rang. In walks Mr. as_u_wish, glances at the TV, “Oh, I didn’t know you liked racing.” Grabs a beer, sits. In walks my pre-teen daughter, sees a driver (who she insists must remain unidentified), “Oh, he’s cute. Wait, is that an m&m’s car, they’re adorable. Hey, he’s got Cheerios on his car…” Pulls up her stitching project, sits. In walks pre-school son. “Wow, what a cool crash. Are there any green cars? What’s an Interstate Battery.” Sits. That was it–the whole family, in one room, enjoying one thing. We didn’t have that with football, baseball, golf, soccer, Barney.
The history and personalities are colorful and interesting. I find golf boring on TV–but I assume that is because I don’t know a Tiger Woods from a Jack Nickalous (sp?), or one course from another. Easy enough for me to say “What’s so great about grown people chasing around a little white ball.” NASCAR is exciting for me precisely because I do know Dale Jarrett from Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jeff Burton from Jeff Gordon; Childress Racing from Hendrick Motorsports. I do know Bristol from Watkins Glenn. I can appreciate Matt Kenseth’s exceptional pit crew and the changes in the sport now that you must use the same engine for qualifying and racing.
NASCAR is accessible. We can get to races. We can watch the new stars develop in the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series. Once a year Matt Kenseth drives at a little local track and we get to talk to him.
Racing can be enjoyed on many levels. You can just kick back and wait for crashes. You can watch the various drivers’ strategies. You can listen in on conversations between the crew chief and the driver. You can enjoy the soap opera qualities of sponsorship.
To each his own, of course. **The Onion ** has wonderful T-shirts that say “The Sports Team From My Area is Superior to the Sports Team from Your Area.” Perhaps they should make one that says "The Arbitrary Competition I Like is a Sport; the One You Like is Stupid.
I am not a huge fan but I will watch if I am at home.
I’ve been to two or three Nascar events in Vegas (live here, it’s easy) and the races in person are quite cool. And loud.
There is a whole lot of strategy going on in the races and they are almost always close (rubbing fenders close). Next time a Nascar race is on tv pull up a chair and listen to the announcers. Also, with 43 cars running at once there is almost always someone trying for a pass so something is always going on.
I went to the IRL race out here twice and was bored to tears within about 20 minutes. The leader smoked everyone else and the cars were so strung out that it seemed like nothing was going on. With Nascar there is usually one or two packs and it is rare for anyone to totally dominate a race (meaning lap everyone else). The IRL races on the other hand had one or two people lapping everyone else. Kinda boring.
Slee
I find all forms of racing exceedingly dull but I can try to explain the difference between F1/Grand Prix racing versus oval track racing.
Oval Track races have a ton of passing and and a ton of opportunity for collision as a result. The emphasis is on racing against the other drivers and crews. Serpentine courses limit passing extensively and force the drivers to essentially compete against the race track and the other teams cars in qualifying.
There’s a lot of detail in the culture and what not, but the fundamental reason that fans of one type of racing tend to not get the other is because they are conditioned to expect different things in their racing. The OP sums it up perfectly in his criticism but asking where all the drama of the track is…a NASCAR/Indy fan would ask where all the passing, drafting and side-by-side racing is.
That’s a consequence of the vehicles rather than the track. Australia’s V8 Supercars are modified road cars driven on serpentine (to use your word) courses with plenty of passing. MotoGP and many other forms of motorbike racing are run on winding circuits and feature plenty of passing which can be much more exciting than anything a car does.
I’m not a huge fan but my family is into it and I’ll watch once in a while. This might be an unusual take, but I find the repetition relaxing. Like watching golf, there’s sort of a “flow” to it, each lap repeating the same routine, with small variations to keep it interesting, and occasionally some big upset to wake you up a little. Not a bad way to veg out for an afternoon. Also, as mentioned above, the commentators are engaging and actually have informative things to say, unlike the gratingly banal banter that seems to plague every other sport.
Nah, those road races might have more passing than F1 but it’s still an order of magnitude less passing than a NASCAR race. In a NASCAR race, especially at one of the tighter tracks, there is literally a pass happening at every corner somewhere in the field. Road races by their nature limit passing to specific corners under ideal conditions, many parts of these tracks simply aren’t wide enough for two cars.
I’ll bite. Why is driving a car fast a “sport”? I suppose there is an endurance part to it, having to turn the wheel and jam on the pedals for a few hours in a row, but I’m having trouble seeing the “sport”.
Oh geez, let’s not get into semantics here. We can all agree that it is an activity that requires physical skill, coordination, quick reaction time, intense concentration, physical fitness, and all that.
Debating about whether that actually falls into the category defined by the word ‘sport’ is completely pointless. Call it motorsport if you wish to make the distinction.
Here are some statistics about Formula One drivers. These guys are not just sitting fat and happy in the seat, leisurely cruising around the circuit.
Also, I have always been amused by this quote:
I’m pretty sure if you put F1 cars on an oval you wouldn’t see much passing.
Thanks for your thoughts. I remain unconvinced. There are some great battles in F1 which involve people trying to pass on the one hand and trying to prevent a pass on the other. And there have been races where a driver has come from near the back of the grid to get on the podium. F1 can be a very boring parade but that’s not often. It seems to me that there are actually too many cars in NASCAR: it’s difficult to keep track.
NASCAR is controlled chaos. Many people find that engrossing compared to the measured precision of F1. Different strokes, it’s all about a persons mindset. Compare it to a baseball game. Some people find a pitchers duel that ends in a 1-0 final boring as sin, other people think that’s the ideal game.
Neither I nor my wife are NASCAR fans. My wife’s family in Kentucky are big fans though. We happened to be visiting them one race weekend and they were all hyped about the race on television that Sunday. The race started and every one of them fell asleep 20 minutes into it, leaving me and my wife as the only ones awake. We didn’t dare change the channel. Luckily, I had my Gameboy with me.
So, maybe you should watch it if you need to catch up on your sleep.
Minor point of order, the restrictor plate is on the carburetor, not the spoiler (cite). It limits the amount of air that can be mixed with the fuel, keeping the cars’ top speeds fairly equal. That’s important on the big ‘superspeedway’ tracks because without the plate, the cars would get going so fast they could present a danger to spectators.
As for what makes it watchable, for me it’s the drivers and their personalities. When you watch a couple of races you start to figure out the drivers that have issues with other drivers and the drivers that are teammates and the drivers that have issues with their teammates. When two ‘rival’ drivers get together on the racetrack it’s really cool to watch them race each other. Every position on the track is important, but they’ll fight a guy they don’t like a lot harder.
I’m sure your other motorsports series have that same dynamic, but that’s what got me hooked on NASCAR.
That and going to a race and seeing the suprising amount of Mardi-Gras-style bead activity in the campground area…