What Do People See in NASCAR, Anyway?

[Ivytalk]

As the RVs motor into Dover, and the good people of Slower Delaware head for the hills, I renew my annual question: what is it about NASCAR? Fast cars chasing each other around a track is like watching paint peel. Is it the morbid expectation of a pileup? Is it the lure of broads and beer? Is it the mass redneck social magnet? I just don't get it. Your thoughts?

[dbackjon]

Left turns are hot!

[bandl]

My thoughts exactly. And I've actually dragged to a NASCAR race. Never, ever again. The race itself was the least exciting thing about the whole experience. The drinking was fun, as always, but I can do that anywhere, and without the mullets and grandma guts spilling out everywhere.

[danefan]

I like car racing on any track but an oval. I just don't get the oval experience. NASCAR at Watkins Glenn is fun to watch.

I can watch open-wheel road course racing all day long. Watch an F1 race and then try and watch NASCAR - the driving ability and intensity just isn't there in NASCAR.

Seems to be to be another reason for people to get together, drink beer and have something in common (your favorite driver).

[bobbythekidd]

[ASUG8]

I've been to a handful of races including the first open wheel race at Charlotte (which was really pretty boring). I don't watch NASCAR, but my wife bought me the Richard Petty Driving Experience for our anniversary a few years back and I got 18 laps in at Charlotte. That gave me an appreciation for what those guys go through, especially since there were only 2 cars on the track and I didn't break out of the 140's.

[bobbythekidd]

Left turns are hot!

THey do run 2 road courses a year.

[SunCoastBlueHen]

As the RVs motor into Dover, and the good people of Slower Delaware head for the hills, I renew my annual question: what is it about NASCAR? Fast cars chasing each other around a track is like watching paint peel. Is it the morbid expectation of a pileup? Is it the lure of broads and beer? Is it the mass redneck social magnet? I just don't get it. Your thoughts?

I'm with you on this one, Ivy. Honestly, I would rather pull up a lawn chair and a cooler full of beer and watch the Interstate go by.

[grizzaholic]

I must be in the minority here, I enjoy me some NASCAR. Couldn't tell you why but I do. Live is the best, but on TV isn't all that bad.

[BlueHen86]

When I was younger I didn't care for NASCAR - even though I lived in Dover for a while. But about 12 years ago I worked with several people who liked it and I gradually developed an appreciation for it.

It's a lot more complicated than guys making left turns all the time. It's a lot easier to be a fan if you have a favorite driver, at least it was for me. My driver got hurt years ago and hasn't raced since, I don't watch nearly as much NASCAR now.

[bench]

I've always thought of NASCAR as more of a corporate-sponsored group engineering competition than anything else, with drivers turning a few laps in between adjustments. Not all drivers are created equally, but they're not the most important part of the equation, and the competent ones are largely interchangeable. The cars are supposed to be mostly equal, but they're anything but. It basically comes down to people who are turning the wrenches, and most importantly, the person who's paying for them. The Sprint Cup championship isn't awarded to the best driver on the circuit; it's actually not that much different from a starting pitcher who wins 20 games and the Cy Young with a decent enough ERA, but received an average of eight runs per game in run support. The driver's job is to not fuck things up, and to remember to thank his sponsors. That is all.

So it isn't a real driver's league, and with a rulebook that restricts car modifications it isn't purely a tech league, either. It's a sport of small edges that are very expensive to obtain, a racing discipline purposely designed to negate skill and punish ingenuity. NASCAR's goal is to promote mediocrity, or what the brass down in Daytona praises as "competitive racing."

[BlueHen86]

I've always thought of NASCAR as more of a corporate-sponsored group engineering competition than anything else, with drivers turning a few laps in between adjustments. Not all drivers are created equally, but they're not the most important part of the equation, and the competent ones are largely interchangeable. The cars are supposed to be mostly equal, but they're anything but. It basically comes down to people who are turning the wrenches, and most importantly, the person who's paying for them. The Sprint Cup championship isn't awarded to the best driver on the circuit; it's actually not that much different from a starting pitcher who wins 20 games and the Cy Young with a decent enough ERA, but received an average of eight runs per game in run support. The driver's job is to not fuck things up, and to remember to thank his sponsors. That is all.

So it isn't a real driver's league, and with a rulebook that restricts car modifications it isn't purely a tech league, either. It's a sport of small edges that are very expensive to obtain, a racing discipline purposely designed to negate skill and punish ingenuity. NASCAR's goal is to promote mediocrity, or what the brass down in Daytona praises as "competitive racing."

I agree with much of what you say. I don't think a drivers biggest contribution to the effort is his/her ability to turn left, it's his ability to get a feel for the car and relay the necessary information to his crem so that they can make he correct adjustments to make the car faster.

The deeper the sponsors pockets, the better the car will be (usually).

[Ibanez]

HE'S MAKING A LEFT TURN!
HE'S MAKING A LEFT TURN!
HE'S MAKING A LEFT TURN!
HE'S MAKING A LEFT TURN!

[Ibanez]

HE'S MAKING A LEFT TURN!
HE'S MAKING A LEFT TURN!
HE'S MAKING A LEFT TURN!
HE'S MAKING A LEFT TURN!

[bench]

I've always thought of NASCAR as more of a corporate-sponsored group engineering competition than anything else, with drivers turning a few laps in between adjustments. Not all drivers are created equally, but they're not the most important part of the equation, and the competent ones are largely interchangeable. The cars are supposed to be mostly equal, but they're anything but. It basically comes down to people who are turning the wrenches, and most importantly, the person who's paying for them. The Sprint Cup championship isn't awarded to the best driver on the circuit; it's actually not that much different from a starting pitcher who wins 20 games and the Cy Young with a decent enough ERA, but received an average of eight runs per game in run support. The driver's job is to not fuck things up, and to remember to thank his sponsors. That is all.

So it isn't a real driver's league, and with a rulebook that restricts car modifications it isn't purely a tech league, either. It's a sport of small edges that are very expensive to obtain, a racing discipline purposely designed to negate skill and punish ingenuity. NASCAR's goal is to promote mediocrity, or what the brass down in Daytona praises as "competitive racing."

I agree with much of what you say. I don't think a drivers biggest contribution to the effort is his/her ability to turn left, it's his ability to get a feel for the car and relay the necessary information to his crem so that they can make he correct adjustments to make the car faster.

The deeper the sponsors pockets, the better the car will be (usually).

Exactly. The Roush or Hendrick teams would probably be better off with an average driver who was formally trained as an engineer than the greatest driver ever with an eleventh-grade education. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but that's also why it's so funny when the secretly nerdiest team sport in America is depicted as just a bunch of stupid hillbillies turning left.

There's a lot to bitch about with NASCAR right now, but fixing the COT is tops, and should have been done yesterday. It's not a lot of fun to watch a couple laps of racing up front during restarts, then watching the leader sail away into clean air until the next stoppage. You can't chase down the leader anymore; there is no adjustment the guy in second place can make that will fix that. The new car is bent, period.

[SuperHornet]

NASCAR whomps. Not a one of them can beat Danica.

[polsongrizz]

NASCAR whomps. Not a one of them can beat Danica.

Sorry to ruin your little girlfriend fest, but she is so overrated they might as well have Cher in the Honda express. Sorry Jon nothing personal.

[ChetSteadman]

NASCAR whomps. Not a one of them can beat Danica.

Send her to Europe (again), put her in F1 (any team) and she finishes in the bottom 3rd every race. She's not fit to lick Michael Shumacher's left nut.

But boy would I like to kiss her on the mouth!

[BlueHen86]

NASCAR whomps. Not a one of them can beat Danica.

Sorry to ruin your little girlfriend fest, but she is so overrated they might as well have Cher in the Honda express. Sorry Jon nothing personal.

To be fair, she is a pretty good driver. Her fame is due to her looks, not her driving ability, but she can drive.

[SuperHornet]

NASCAR whomps. Not a one of them can beat Danica.

Sorry to ruin your little girlfriend fest, but she is so overrated they might as well have Cher in the Honda express. Sorry Jon nothing personal.

Four Top 5's in five races is overrated? I'd like to see what logic supports THAT notion....

[93henfan]

Not a redneck, not a conservative (or liberal for that matter), don't chew tobacco, not from the south, make six figures a year...

but I still love NASCAR.

I grew up going to NASCAR races and have been a fan for over 30 years. I appreciate the history of the sport. I saw Dover Downs grow from 22,000 bleacher seats to luxury boxes and seating for 140,000. My family has had the same eight seats at Dover (top row, start/finish line) since the first race in 1969. I had the pleasure of riding around the track at race speed in the #1 Winston promo car when I was 9 years old (1980) with Dale Earnhardt, Sr, the same year he won his first championship, and I've been a die-hard fan of his ever since. I've visited the shops of Junior Johnson, Richard Childress, and DEI and hope to visit Hendrick Motorsports very soon. I've been to the Daytona 500 and too many other races outside Dover to remember. I am a lifelong NASCAR fanatic. Am I willing to admit the sport has its faults? You bet. In fact, I've displayed my disgust with many of them at length over on the "other" board.

I appreciate the fact that NASCAR might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it has become cliche for those who don't like the sport to make the clueless comments earlier in the thread. I get a chuckle out of hearing the same drivel over and over. I don't expect that to change. People with the same mindset often can be heard saying that hockey is nothing but boxing on skates, the NBA is just a bunch of inner-city thugs beating each other up on a hardwood floor, baseball is sooooo boring, pro football isn't as good as the college game, yada, yada, yada.

To each their own. Don't like it? Don't watch it. Problem solved.

[grizzaholic]

Not a redneck, not a conservative (or liberal for that matter), don't chew tobacco, not from the south, make six figures a year...

but I still love NASCAR.

I grew up going to NASCAR races and have been a fan for over 30 years. I appreciate the history of the sport. I saw Dover Downs grow from 22,000 bleachers to luxury boxes and seating for 140,000. My family has had the same eight seats at Dover (top row, start/finish line) since the first race in 1969. I had the pleasure of riding around the track at race speed in the #1 Winston promo car when I was 9 years old (1980) with Dale Earnhardt, Sr, the same year he won his first championship, and I've been a die-hard fan of his ever since. I've visited the shops of Junior Johnson, Richard Childress, and DEI and hope to visit Hendrick Motorsports very soon. I've been to the Daytona 500 and too many other races outside Dover to remember. I am a lifelong NASCAR fanatic. Am I willing to admit the sport has its faults? You bet. In fact, I've displayed my disgust with many of them at length over on the "other" board.

I appreciate the fact that NASCAR might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it has become cliche for those who don't like the sport to make the clueless comments earlier in the thread. I get a chuckle out of hearing the same drivel over and over. I don't expect that to change. People with the same mindset often can be heard saying that hockey is nothing but boxing on skates, the NBA is just a bunch of inner-city thugs beating each other up on a hardwood floor, baseball is sooooo boring, pro football isn't as good as the college game, yada, yada, yada.

To each there own. Don't like it? Don't watch it. Problem solved.

It is amazing how often that line works in daily life.

[93henfan]

Damn! I spelled "their" wrong!! Thanks for bolding that Grizza.

I was building to a crescendo and I f***ing spelled "their" wrong.

[Appaholic]

NASCAR whomps. Not a one of them can beat Danica.

Send her to Europe (again), put her in F1 (any team) and she finishes in the bottom 3rd every race. She's not fit to lick Michael Shumacher's left nut.

But boy would I like to kiss her on the mouth!

Before or after she licks Schumacher's left nut?

[UNI88]

Send her to Europe (again), put her in F1 (any team) and she finishes in the bottom 3rd every race. She's not fit to lick Michael Shumacher's left nut.

But boy would I like to kiss her on the mouth!

Before, while, or after she licks Schumacher's left nut?

FIFY