| Author | Message | ||
| John Morgan (Psychokiller)
New member Username: Psychokiller Post Number: 2 Registered: 4-2002 |
Tired of left turns? Let Speed Channel (SpeedVision) know how you feel. Sign the petition. Nascar sucks. http://www.petitiononline.com/cel21/petition.html | ||
| Jon P. Kofod (95f355c)
Junior Member Username: 95f355c Post Number: 88 Registered: 8-2001 |
Martin, Yeah you are right about the left foot braking. I recently watched a tape of the 99 Japanese GP and they were interviewing Zanardi (then doing his last race for Williams) and the specific question was asked why he waited until mid-season the left foot brake and did this contribute to his poor showing. His response was that not left braking earlier was a major mistake and that he did not realize that unlike CART, in F1 the cars did not respond the same and that he didn't realize soon enough that he couldn't make the car do things that it did in cart. The best place to watch the effects of not left foot braking is at Suzuka last year where Ruebens was way off Shumi's pace and so was Coulthard. Neither left foot brakes and the telemetry shows huge drop off times in the fast sweepers like 32R and other corners. It showed Shumi on the throttle the whole time while Ruebens had to lift off to get the car to turn in and prevent understeer. On the subject of NASCAR I might have been a bit critical, but I thought the race was exciting. I have been an ardent critic of NASCAR for years (especially on the safety front) but really got interested in it this year because of all the hype on Speedchannel. It was the first time I ever watched an entire NASCAR race. Certainly I share other people's views that it is a shame that touring cars is gone and that F1 will get less time. But the bottom line is that Speedvision might not have survived on it's own. It was being dropped in several big city markets and I know that Direct TV was trying to lower it's programing fees while Speedvision was having problems paying it's bills without raising them. In the end it was a good fit to survive and maybe with NASCAR they will make so much money that they can have a second non-Nascar channel. It's kind of like FIAT owning Ferrari. None of us yearn to drive or own a FIAT but hey if it allows Ferrari to build better cars due to the increased cash flow from parent FIAT, that's a good fit. Regards, Jon | ||
| Ernie Bonilla (Ernie)
Junior Member Username: Ernie Post Number: 122 Registered: 11-2001 |
Listen I don't think the issue is NASCAR. What really is the problem is that they are getting rid of all the other good stuff and flooding it with too much of one. If it where nothing but F1 it would get boring. F1 is great, in fact I used to get up at 04:00am to watch the pre-race and the race live from Europe every Sunday, thats how much I liked it. But if it was on 24-7 that would be over kill. They need to keep a balance of things. Like the Reno airplane races, hydroplane racing, all the touring car championships (DTM, Australian, British, Japanese, Internation)internation sports car chapionship (the prototype machines), swamp sprit boat racing, even the european karting championship, and when ever are they gonna have the salt flats on? This is the problem. There is so much other kind of racing on yet they will ruin the channel with way to much of one. I like NASCAR also, in fact I watched the qualifying races, which are way more fun to watch than the big race, but too much of one thing will be a bad thing. | ||
| Tim N (Timn88)
Member Username: Timn88 Post Number: 405 Registered: 6-2001 |
Its not always boring Willis, it can be very exciting, since all the cars are mostly equal, they stay in a pack and as someone mentioned earlier, there are alot of lead changes, and lets not forget all the exciting crashes (such as the one yeaterday that took out 18 cars) | ||
| Willis Huang (Willis360)
Member Username: Willis360 Post Number: 503 Registered: 8-2001 |
I don't think we're belittling NASCAR by our criticisms. Yes, it takes a lot of skills to drive high speeds in heavy traffic on a tight track. But oval racing of any form is just boring. | ||
| Tim N (Timn88)
Member Username: Timn88 Post Number: 403 Registered: 6-2001 |
Thanks Jon for explaining that to everyone, i agree with you 100%. People may see nascar and say its boring and that it doesnt require a good driver when its realy the opposite. Those cars are all the same size, weight and pushing the same hp, only the suspension set ups, crossweight, tire sizes and some other things are different. The crew and the driver wins races in NASCAR, not the car. Anf if u look at the IROC races where the cars are all identical you will see that the nascar drivers finish ahead of most of the Cart and IRL drivers. | ||
| Ken (Allyn)
Junior Member Username: Allyn Post Number: 194 Registered: 10-2001 |
The Daytona race was the best in years. The first 2/3 of it was pure driving, and then the crashes came and rules questions made for exciting TV. I love all kinds of racing and each kind has it's strengths and weaknesses. F1: whoever leads the first lap usually wins, but calling that 'boring' is like calling soccer boring which it isn't, IF you understand what's going on. Same with baseball. But I still sent the 'left turn' joke to all my friends because that's what they think NASCAR is and it was a pretty funny joke! If they think it's a bunch of rednecks then that's their loss. | ||
| Martin (Miami348ts)
Intermediate Member Username: Miami348ts Post Number: 1486 Registered: 5-2001 |
Jon, Michael Andretti did not last in F-1 either...LOL he never made it past the first corner, remember that? You could predict the race..."and Andretti is out in turn 1 ...again, will he ever learn that it is the left foot that is the brake?" LOL | ||
| Mark (Study)
Junior Member Username: Study Post Number: 169 Registered: 10-2001 |
So how do banked curves work? I've never thought about it before? After spending so much time learning how to keep as much speed as I can through the turns... I never really thought about those huge banked turns that guys on super speed-ways work with? | ||
| Jon P. Kofod (95f355c)
Junior Member Username: 95f355c Post Number: 87 Registered: 8-2001 |
If you like NASCAR great, keep watching, if you don't great as well, don't watch it. But most of you need to quit making references to the stereotype about NASCAR being all about "turn left, turn left," ... and the cars all being driven by hick rednecks. I will be the first to admit that F1, ALMS, CART and WRC are more exciting to watch (again this is my personal opinion, yours may be different) but I watch NASCAR when there is nothing else on. If you have never been in a race car or raced period then keep your mouth shut about something you know nothing about. Unlike what Tom Cruise said in the movie Days of Thunder you don't know much about racing just because you watched the "great coverage on ESPN." If you don't like NASCAR that is your business, hell I don't like the tractor races, the bobsleding, the snowmobbile racing or the tractor pulls, but I don't sit here in my recliner and say, "how boring, I could do that" just because the guys in the event talk funny or have a following of fans I consider beneath me. Racing is racing, plain and simple. If you don't race I don't want to hear your opinion on what it takes to run a stock car. Most of you would wet your pants going into turn one with three cars abreast and one behind trying to shove you in the wall. I was at Daytona this year for the 24 Hour sports car race and would like to remind everyone that Robbie Gorden, Kyle Petty, Kevin Harvik, all ran in that race and did well. John Andretti who won a lot of races in Porsche prototypes and Indy cars has struggled in NASCAR. Scott Pruett who was a former Trans Am champion and Indy car regular lasted less than a year in NASCAR. And don't forget that both Dale Sr. and Dale Jr. drove factory Corvette's at last years 24 hour race with Dale Sr. setting some of the fastest laps in the race. At the front of that NASCAR grid sits a lot of talent PERIOD. If you don't like NASCAR that's fine, but the young guys on the front few rows would likely be successful in other forms of racing. I will agree with most that NASCAR is a series that allows many with less talent to be able to compete (though rarely win). Guys like Dave Marcus who is in his 60's, Bobby Hamilton who barely fits in the car, and other's who are not competitive get a chance in NASCAR they wouldn't get anywhwere else, but make no mistake Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr., and other NASCAR greats have talent at more than just turning the wheel "LEFT." I am not trying to promote NASCAR, in fact I pretty much hated NASCAR for years, but once you start racing you realize that even NASCAR requires skill most of us will never have. We can debate all we want if Jeff Gordon could do well in F1, but hell Micheal Andretti couldn't do it either and he had years of open-wheel experience and a CART Championship when he got to F1. Could Gordon win in F1, CART or ALMS, maybe, maybe not, but I will guarantee you that he would whip all our ^$&#$'s in everything from a minivan to a F1 car. That can also be said many NASCAR regulars. OK, I feel better now. You are free to disagree with me. Regards, Jon | ||
| BretM (Bretm)
Intermediate Member Username: Bretm Post Number: 1644 Registered: 2-2001 |
Usually I am somewhat anti Nascar, but I will admit that I watched the Daytona 500 today and found it quite interesting. The cars sound pretty cool and are going very fast. I'll admit that it's a bit boring at times, but the in car views are cool as hell, and the last couple of laps are very exciting. I can't believe I've said this, I feel traitorous. I think that I must have ingested coolant this weekend flushing those big pipes underneath, I'm not a doctor but it must cause delirium. | ||
| Frank Parker (Parkerfe)
Member Username: Parkerfe Post Number: 575 Registered: 9-2001 |
Hey, I like F1 more than NASCAR too. But, I do recognize NASCAR as exciting racing. In fact, they're more lead changes in anaverage NASCAR race than a whole season of F1. And don't think those banked curves are easy like something on a video game. I have had my Ferrari on Atlanat Motor Speedway and those banked curves are curves, not straightaways. Try taking a Richard Petty Driving Experience where you get to drive a detuned NASCAR at 160mph+ and see how fast those curves come up. And remeber, the pros do those same curves at 200mph+. I don't think the new SpeedChannel format is going to hurt F1 coverage. | ||
| Robert Davis (H2oquick)
New member Username: H2oquick Post Number: 43 Registered: 8-2001 |
Guys, I got to agree with you. I live in the south less than an hour from Daytona. I have never been to a NASCAR race in my 40 years on this earth and have never watched a whole race on TV either. But I swear the people around here live and breathe NASCAR. There is not a store you can go into from the minute markets to the Sears, JCP's and malls without being surrounded with mass NASCAR items. Cars are plastered with stickers and tributes to fallen idols. I thinks Dale Sr.'s sales are up. I think he is holding out with Elvis somewheres laughing his a** off. I myself can't believe they would screw up a great channel with such things, but I bet if you dig deep NASCAR must have some holdings with ownership of the channel. I use to race dragboats and will miss seeing them on speedvision. | ||
| Dominic L. DiMento (Domenico)
New member Username: Domenico Post Number: 2 Registered: 2-2002 |
Oh well, another day with the NECKAR channel. No more cool shows. I used to enjoy the motorsport magazine show on a lot of the new cars "mostly european" that they would test and comment on. They also showed the newer technology that is going into future cars like BMW's new steering system being developed without an actual steering column. Pretty cool. Anyway, I guess they will sell more TIDE and Viagra with the "necks" watching. So much for the future car buyers and TRUE RACE FANS. I hope they keep F1 coverage live and show some DTM from Europe. Ciao. | ||
| Mark (Study)
Junior Member Username: Study Post Number: 167 Registered: 10-2001 |
They don't even turn LEFT... with the big banks on the track its like a straight line all the way around. I thought I'd try and watch NASCAR today (Daytona 500)and I rented the video game for my X-box. Video game was too easy. Track banking make it like one long straight away. All I can come up with for why people enjoy NASCAR... i guess they are country folks that don't get to drive in big-city rush hour traffic every day. If you like driving normal looking production sedans at high speed in a pack, where there is no room to do anything much but swap spots....well NASCAR (or living in a big city ) is for you! | ||
| 89TCab (Jmg)
Junior Member Username: Jmg Post Number: 135 Registered: 9-2001 |
Much as the new format sucks (if you are not a NASCAR fan) they do plan on increasing their regular coverage of racing in general this year. Same day/live WRC and CART have been added. F1 is still on the list. Cycle coverage has also been increased although I haven't seen 250 MotoGP stuff so that would be a loss for me. ANyone involved with the old Speedvision Cup? ANy idea what will happen with this? Bottom line, they weren't growing with the old format and in fact were being dropped in some markets (their are only some many of us fanatics out there) If Nascar is going to pay the bills and keep same day or even live coverage of the things I want, I am happy to fill up the digital recorder with stuff I like and watch it during the week. As it was, they seemed to be paying the bills with infomercials in the late evenings anyway...I just treat the NASCAR coverage the same! | ||
| Rob Lay (Rob328gts)
Intermediate Member Username: Rob328gts Post Number: 1094 Registered: 12-2000 |
I don't know about next year, but this year don't complain, we still have all the same road racing, it may just be shown at 3am. Learn to work those VCR's so they don't just blink "12:00". | ||
| Ken (Allyn)
Junior Member Username: Allyn Post Number: 189 Registered: 10-2001 |
I think NASCAR is fun (loved the joke though!!!!); the only problem is that coverage is at the expense of F1, CART and IRL. BTW, IRL is more pathetic than NASCAR IMHO. They're left turn crash. Left turn, crash. Left turn, blown engine, crash. Left turn, run out of gas, coast, crash. Pit. Drop air gun. Roll over foot of pit member. Stall. Left turn, left turn... | ||
| Willis Huang (Willis360)
Member Username: Willis360 Post Number: 497 Registered: 8-2001 |
It's a pretty sad looking schedule. 90% NASCAR now.  | ||
| Randy (Schatten)
Junior Member Username: Schatten Post Number: 193 Registered: 4-2001 |
NASCAR talk hightlights here! It went something like this: left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn pit smoke em if you got em left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn pit smoke em if you got em left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn pit smoke em if you got em left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn left turn white flag out left turn left turn left turn left turn checkered flag. | ||
| Erich Walz (Deleteall)
New member Username: Deleteall Post Number: 36 Registered: 12-2001 |
I'm still waiting for the NASCAR garage where they finally show us the v-8 powered, 5-speed, RWD, four-door, fords, chevys and pontiacs upon the "stock" race cars are based. | ||
| Mark (Study)
Junior Member Username: Study Post Number: 166 Registered: 10-2001 |
What are you guys talking about. Such fine quality programs are coming your way. 4:00pm Bass Fishing with Michael WalTrip 5:00 "Chew" Nascar Stars favorite brands of tabaccy 6:00 Jeff Gordon's Cooking Gritts and Possum Southern style 7:00 Deer and Duck hunting with Rusty Wallace 8:00 Dukes of Hazzards "Bo get Boss Hog " 9:00 Mudding with RICKY RUDD | ||
| Howie F. (Brokerofexotics)
Junior Member Username: Brokerofexotics Post Number: 134 Registered: 11-2001 |
Speed Channel does stink. Everytime I flick it on, it's Nascar this, Nascar that..but I guess in reality, that's where the money is. Cryin' Shame | ||
| Mitchel DeFrancis (4re308)
Member Username: 4re308 Post Number: 413 Registered: 6-2001 |
That is a damn shame. Because I knew that it was changing to NASCRAP only on Feb 11th, I recorded like 6 hours of my favorite shows. I even got the Ferrari Victory by Design on TAPE!! HE HEEEEE! Speed Channel sucks me. Why did they change a good thing? I just don't get it. Why not just ADD another car channel and call it NASCRAP channel and leave Speedvision alone. Talk about crummy planning. | ||
| DHutchison (Hutch308)
New member Username: Hutch308 Post Number: 10 Registered: 1-2002 |
I agree totally. SPEEDVISION is dead, SPEED CHANNEL sucks!! What does NASCAR stand for? Nitwits And Stupid Cocky A**hole Rednecks. It must be more exciting if your I.Q. is limited to double digits. Rob - THANK YOU for Ferrarichat. It is good to have this valuable source of fellow true enthusiasts. | ||
| Erich Walz (Deleteall)
New member Username: Deleteall Post Number: 35 Registered: 12-2001 |
It does suck. Worse yet, they changed their website. Their awesome one-stop shopping for all things motorized is gone. It's funny too, because there was always a lot of commentary on how NASCAR relies on Goober power to get what it wants. The NASCAR influence is more than having to view an excessive amount of left-turns. Check out the Ben Blake article on Simpson suing NASCAR. Its a editorialized with comments about Simpson "shooting first and asking qustions later" and "muttering about filing a lawsuit since last year." Real dismissive considering the intial report in earnhardt's death showed the belt wasn't a factor, Simpson apparently performed some tests himself and three other NASCAR drivers died in a similar fashion witout their belts breaking. | ||
| Randy (Schatten)
Junior Member Username: Schatten Post Number: 191 Registered: 4-2001 |
Yesterday, Speedvision changed to the "Speed Channel". Its nice to see the magazine ads that show the Speed Channel with F1, CART, WRC and other cars, but the big picture: NASCAR. Ugh. This channel just sucks now. Its NASCRAP all the time. Tell me one thing, how many topics can you have on NASCAR garage? The revolutionary change from drum brakes to disc brakes, maybe 20 years in the future we'll have fuel injection! Yes, I know its a basic way of racing, and keeping things standardized, and lots of left turns. But there is that one challenging race every year - its the one where it has right hand turns. Oh boy. /end rant. |