Nascar boring? No not really

[Gregster]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55m2YFWJwXo

Last nights finish from the Bud Shootout. Daytona seems really bumpy this year compared to last year. Any driver that can hold onto a sliding car at 190mph is ok in my book.

[kenneth]

It's amazing the car that got t-boned didn't take to air. Also, the race reminds me of the Snow Birds maneuvre, wings to wings..... or should I say fender to fender or wheel to wheel? :eek:

[bmwqc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55m2YFWJwXo

Last nights finish from the Bud Shootout. Daytona seems really bumpy this year compared to last year. Any driver that can hold onto a sliding car at 190mph is ok in my book.


If not for the pace car coming out so often, bunching up the cars, giving the backmarkers a second chance, the winner would have been another car. Only in America can a car qualifying in 23rd place end up winning the race.

[Gregster]

i like the road course races myself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47K69-1th-g

[sebdavid]

"watch 'im just squirt like a hawt dawg out of a bun!"

[LagunaM3]

If not for the pace car coming out so often, bunching up the cars, giving the backmarkers a second chance, the winner would have been another car. Only in America can a car qualifying in 23rd place end up winning the race.

And don't forget the left-turn-only racing (except for 2 races, and one of them--Watkins Glen--the NASCRAP guys can't handle the full track).

[bmwqc]

and one of them--Watkins Glen--the NASCRAP guys can't handle the full track).


Why is that? Running the full track shouldn't be all that much tougher - Or is it perhaps the cars can't handle the downhill section very well?

[Andrei]

Why is that? Running the full track shouldn't be all that much tougher - Or is it perhaps the cars can't handle the downhill section very well?

Because it will make for a less interesting show. It will spread out the field too much.

People who come to watch the race want to see some drama. Watching one car pull away is boring. Seeing a chess game with close spacing, pit stops, pace cars, etc. is much more fun if you are following what is going on.

Dismissing NASCAR as a pastime of toothless unsofisticates is lame. There are plenty of morons watching F1, as well. Crowds of people wearing red whigs and screaming "Forza Ferrari! Bro!" are not that much different from that guy:
http://www.maistrenko.org/pics/carnascar3.jpg

Yeah, I'd like a racing series with better cars and more interesting tracks. But NASCAR ain't as bad as snobs think it is.

[Gregster]

And don't forget the left-turn-only racing (except for 2 races, and one of them--Watkins Glen--the NASCRAP guys can't handle the full track).


So much hate! Wheres the love :)

[LagunaM3]

Because it will make for a less interesting show. It will spread out the field too much.

People who come to watch the race want to see some drama. Watching one car pull away is boring. Seeing a chess game with close spacing, pit stops, pace cars, etc. is much more fun if you are following what is going on.

Actually, I think it's because the NASCAR cars can't handle all the braking that a full lap at WGI requires. By skipping the "boot" section, they throw away 4 heavy braking zones and replace it with 1 straight. That long straight gives the brakes time to cool off after the heavy braking they just did at the "bus stop", too.


Dismissing NASCAR as a pastime of toothless unsofisticates is lame. There are plenty of morons watching F1, as well. Crowds of people wearing red whigs and screaming "Forza Ferrari! Bro!" are not that much different from that guy: <snip>

But those morons are not every single fan at an F1 race. :p


Yeah, I'd like a racing series with better cars and more interesting tracks. But NASCAR ain't as bad as snobs think it is.

Might have to agree to disagree. I think it's crap. F1 can be boring some times, but at least the close racing is not artificial. A 500-mile NASCAR race is an exercise in burning gasoline for 498 miles, everyone gathering up again behind a safety car, and then a 2-mile sprint race.

[bmwqc]

A 500-mile NASCAR race is an exercise in burning gasoline for 498 miles, everyone gathering up again behind a safety car, and then a 2-mile sprint race.


America is the land of opportunity. Don't make good in qualifying, the silly pace car provides penty of chances afterwards and the whole race becomes a crap shoot.

[Emre]

And don't forget the left-turn-only racing (except for 2 races, and one of them--Watkins Glen--the NASCRAP guys can't handle the full track).Why do you hate America??? :confused:

[Gregster]

America is the land of opportunity. Don't make good in qualifying, the silly pace car provides penty of chances afterwards and the whole race becomes a crap shoot.

So when a car hits the wall or there is an accident or there is some sort of debris on the track the yellow shouldn't wave and the race should continue? Thats a good one..

Stop comparing Nascar oval track rules to F1 rules.

[bmwqc]

So when a car hits the wall or there is an accident or there is some sort of debris on the track the yellow shouldn't wave and the race should continue? Thats a good one..

Stop comparing Nascar oval track rules to F1 rules.

If the (Nascar) guys drove cleaner, the pace car wouldn't have to come out so often in the first place. The way it is, there is so much bumping and grinding, the race gets interrupted every few minutes. And every little incident on the track becomes a full-course yellow. That's what kills the spectacle of a race. It's supposed to be a race, from start to finish - not so structured as for the leaders to get rounded up for the slower cars to play catchup.

[LagunaM3]

Why do you hate America??? :confused:

Because I can't get a decent latte at Starbucks.

[Gregster]

Because I can't get a decent latte at Starbucks.

haha you made my day with that comment! or maybe it was the title under the screen name :p

[Silverblades181]

Nascar is boring.

[Gregster]

When I was a crazed fan back in the day I'd watch the entire race. Now I only watch the last 30 laps. Well depending on what race I'll watch it all, usually The Glen, Bristol and plate races.

Seeing Nascar on TV and experiencing it in real life are different. The activity's are the track are great, the fans and the 3 hour traffic jam getting into the parking lot are loads of fun :) People are already drunk at 9am!

[sebdavid]

We all have different preferences. The fact that you can watch just the last 30 laps kind of says it all, to me. But to each his own.

On a scale of boredom, in decreasing values of snooze factor, for me:

NASCAR

F1

Touring cars

WRC

Motorcycle racing

There's so much close interesting varied racing around good tracks, I don't see how I could spend three hours watching a tactical game of chess that ends up in a random 2-lap sprint race around a track that only turns left.

Only cool thing about NASCAR to me is the sound of the engines, but you get that in Australian V8 Supercars as well (with more flames belching out the exhaust), and they drive around normal racing circuits. And it certainly isn't a "snob" racing series. In fact, it's NASCAR on road courses, with huge V8 behemoths being driven around aggressively by colorful characters with crazed fans and no jet set. Why in that context would you watch NASCAR, which is just an oval-only version of that?

But again, to each his own.

[johnmdanskin]

...
On a scale of boredom, in decreasing values of snooze factor, for me:

NASCAR

F1

Touring cars

WRC

Motorcycle racing

....


If you are there: in nascar you can see the entire track. In F1 you get to see one corner. In WRC you get to see one car at a time go through 1 corner (and jump out of the way because you are leaning into the apex with a camera).

Touring cars is just like nascar with smaller cars & left turns. At least the BTC guys are not driving more cleanly than nascar. Body work all over the place.

I like F1 better too, but the pull of nascar, especially in person, especially if you can just pay attention to the race and not the drunk fans, is really clear to me.

[bmwqc]

The one part of Nascar that never ceases to amaze me is how those drivers manage to drive those big and clumsy (compared to open wheelers) behemoths at those speeds.



If you are there: in nascar you can see the entire track. In F1 you get to see one corner. In WRC you get to see one car at a time go through 1 corner (and jump out of the way because you are leaning into the apex with a camera).

Touring cars is just like nascar with smaller cars & left turns. At least the BTC guys are not driving more cleanly than nascar. Body work all over the place.

I like F1 better too, but the pull of nascar, especially in person, especially if you can just pay attention to the race and not the drunk fans, is really clear to me.

[johnmdanskin]

The one part of Nascar that never ceases to amaze me is how those drivers manage to drive those big and clumsy (compared to open wheelers) behemoths at those speeds.

Big clunky cars can drift through turns at super high speed just like little tiny cars. It's just nimbleness that is lacking. There is also a certain amount of inertia which means that you have to catch any little bad rotation or other movement very very early or it just becomes a slow motion disaster. I got a taste of this driving my truck on the ice skid pad and road coarse. On the skidpad in 2wd I'd get the rear end out 10 degrees, hit ice, and the truck would just complete the spin no matter what I did. My only hope was to try to turn the spin into a 360. It worked a couple of times. On the track, I was in 4wd so it was easier, but I had to be far more on top of tiny movements in the truck than I had to be in the mini. In the mini I could always correct "later". In the truck I had to correct practically "before" or things would get out of hand very quickly, but in slow motion.

Those nascar drivers are really doing something amazing floating around that track in those big cars. They have to be so sensitive to the tiniest early inputs.

I have to say that I really really enjoy listening to the southern announcers. "Like a hotdog out of a bun". Amazing.

[Gregster]

I wish I had 1% of Tony's skill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNu8ln59SO4

[johnmdanskin]

I wish I had 1% of Tony's skill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNu8ln59SO4

"here he comes down that good-ole straightaway". classic

[LagunaM3]

"here he comes down that good-ole straightaway". classic

Bwahahahaha....awesome. :D

[Phil]

And how did y'all enjoy the 2009 Daytona 500?

Did you turn up the volume?

Enjoy the critter cam?

Wheee. Wasn't that fun?

Repeat after me: Nascar is not boring. Nascar is not boring.

Ahhh. Feel better?

Phil

[Andrei]

The critter cam is at least something trying to spice up the coverage. F1 coverage is so stodgy that they can't figure out how to take a driver interview post crash that would show the actual driver on the screen. We just get to "hear" the driver mumble about how disappointed he is.

Yeah, the race ended up getting washed out. But at least they try to be creative in showing it.

All I can feel with F1 now is that I am not rich enough to be welcome. If I am not invited to the Paddock Club then I am a piece of garbage getting in Bernie's way.

If they would televise other racing properly I'd gladly watch that. But Speed channel is more interested in showing crap like Pinks, Pass time, and that show with that Latina chick with a very round ass (that show might have cars in it but I didn't notice).

Wait a little longer and web based delivery of live video from Euro touring car races is going to be here. Then it will be fun again.
And paying for the full Le Mans 24 feed when you can hook up 4 screens + a huge TV to a computer is going to be well worth it.

[sebdavid]

It's true that TV here is crap for motorsports. I have had to resort to relying on downloading torrents of interesting racing.

Speed used to show Australian V8 Supercars and WRC, now it's all NASCRAP and reality shows. We also had a 1-hour summary of the DTM season, woohoo! I'm thinking of cancelling Speed altogether, especially since with Videotron you can't have that channel alone, it forces you to get an entire sports package which I have no interest in.

I'll be waiting for the next F1 season impatiently. F1 may not be that great anymore as a spectator racing series, but if the hype is to be believed, next season might be interesting to watch on TV.

At least they're doing a good job of showing almost the entire Le Mans 24 hours.

[Gregster]

It's true that TV here is crap for motorsports. I have had to resort to relying on downloading torrents of interesting racing.

Speed used to show Australian V8 Supercars and WRC, now it's all NASCRAP and reality shows. We also had a 1-hour summary of the DTM season, woohoo! I'm thinking of cancelling Speed altogether, especially since with Videotron you can't have that channel alone, it forces you to get an entire sports package which I have no interest in.

I'll be waiting for the next F1 season impatiently. F1 may not be that great anymore as a spectator racing series, but if the hype is to be believed, next season might be interesting to watch on TV.

At least they're doing a good job of showing almost the entire Le Mans 24 hours.

Speed always has great coverage of the 24h races or 12h races. They even show SCCA club races time to time.. those interest me :). Actually come to think of it their coverage of American based racing is pretty good. Those stupid reality shows fill in the blanks during the week.

I've tried to watch a few DTM races and Rally's... but just couldn't get into it for some reason. DTM is cool and all but it's hard to follow since the coverage is so bleek. As for Rally, I've never been really a big fan of that... However I do remember speed back before FOX bought the network did show a ton more WRC.