http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/7464578?MSNHPHCP>1=10637 Just so as not to put up a bare-nekkid link, she complains that there was no car-to-car driving, no scandals, no mudslinging, no drama, no real competition other than Hendrick team, etc. etc. etc. Complains that they need "new technology" (car of tomorrow) and weakened down tires to make the cars wheel to wheel competitive. Any of this sound just a little bit familiar to formula one fans? Maybe their day for traction control and paddle shifting will come at last.
Boring? They had JPM's rookie year, a great 2-car race down to the wire for the title, the Earnhardt Jr./DEI split, Toyota's performance, cheating scandals at Daytona, etc. What do they need, someone indicted for steroid scandal and perjury to make things interesting? They should stick to politics as their motorsports reporting sucks.
I think the NASCRAP popularity bubble has burst. Remember a few months ago when their officials seriously thought they could challenge the NFL????? And the last elections when a big voter group was going to be "NASCAR Dads"? They rode the wave, made a ton of money, but now it's over. A bright light that has faded like so many other fads.
Me too. But, like decadent Rome, it may take a century or two for the last embers to burn out. For one thing, in the old days, they used to be sort of admired by sports & F1 publications for their sincerity, simplicity, and good-old-boy charm. Remember when Henry Manney would do amusing race reports on them about the lovable crudity of the events, mechanics, and drivers. Look at them now - as self important as Bernie himself and more obsessed with expensive garages and endorsements than Ron Dennis. I just wonder when their core fan group is going to see these guys through as smart-alek high dollar carpetbaggers into their sport. For another, just how many firgiging races can you hold in one year and still expect everybody's rapt attention to every one? This is getting to be like major league baseball, IMHO. And finally, can anybody really truthfully believe that any of this stuff has anything to do with real stock passanger cars? Why not start with the stupid "trucks" and actually race some stock trucks that have been made track-worth, like they used to do in the late 50s and early 60s?
Boring yes. And really boring becasue Hendrick racing dominated everybody else. And reportedly nobody really likes Jimmy Johnson but nobody really knows why. He's a nice guy and all that. An agressive drive but maybe just boring according to the commentator on ESPN this morning. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the most popular. Jeff gordon is popular too. Go figure. It's NASCAR.
Any more so than F1 cars resemble anything found on roads today?!? What does that have to do with anything?
AHAH, SennaHopper - But F1 does not pretend itself to be STOCK CAR racing! And never has... N - ational A - ssociation of S - TOCK C - ar A - utomobile R - acing. They used to actually use a Ford, Chevy, Pontiac, Hudson, etc. engine, frame, body, etc. That was my point.
And the DTM is a TOURING CAR championship. Any resemblance of those cars to their production cousins is strictly incidental. And Pro STOCK drag race cars are hardly stock. Stock Car racing is a euphemism, not an exact definition. It is a silhoutte series just as touring cars in the rest of the world are silhoutte series. This has got to be the single most ridiculous criticism of NASCAR.
Thanks, I got it now. So NHRA cars are only "stock cars" in the sense that they are profiles in drag?
. . .as long the drivers only turn one direction! Neurotic Affinity for Seeing Crashes Among Rednecks.
Aside from pointing out the elitism inherent in your comment, I suggest you consider reading "The 200 MPH Billboard". I just finished reading it recently, the demographics surrounding NASCAR racing will explode a lot of your preconceptions. While I am not a fan of oval track stock car racing, I can appreciate the sport for what it is and the talent of its participants. Furthermore I can also appreciate not acting like an effete Euro-trash snob towards stock car racing simply because I prefer Formula One.
And thus our own Senna#xWC rides bravely forth, lancet in hand, to fight against our Ferrari snobbery of all things straight line, pushrod, non-computerized, or oval. I am glad you have found something to do after that entenable windmill of the McLarenGate, sir. You know I am posting in jest, BTW___ and - what fun are these threads anyway, without a little gratuitous eliteism? We sure pay for it at the mechanics...
Pro Stocks were at one time STOCK base, just like NASCAR was! F1 was never stock anything! Racing was at it's best in earlier years, Indy 500, Stock Car Racing, Can Am, F5000, F1, Sports Prototypes(Lemans), TransAm, Formula Ford for that matter. Those days are done all we have now is spec.this and spec. that.
Maybe so, I'll just tell you ONE thing for sure - if they were to build ya a six-wheel truck racer, it would guarontee durn sure have big old dually rears rather than two silly front axles with little kiddy car wheels on each...
Elitism or not, NASCAR was boring this year. I tried to watch it, but I would fall asleep not too far into the race...even using Live Timing. OTOH I get up in the middle of the night to watch F1. (I watch Live Timing and am frustrated by the Speed TV announcers who seem to miss most of the important things about the race.) I would guess that most NASCAR fans drive "American made" cars and F1 fans drive foreign cars. I would also guess that NASCAR fans don't drive a sports car and that F1 fans are more likely to drive a sports car or have owned one in their life. And the sports car that they have owned was most likely foreign made. NASCAR fans are also more likely to drive a pickup. I can see how people who don't own foreign sports cars can think that people who do own foreign sports cars are elitists. I can also see how people who drive foreign sports cars don't think of themselves as elitists. After all, that's what anybody who knows about cars would prefer. Well, that's what people who own foreign sports cars naturally think. Just like people who own pickups think their choice is much wiser and more practical. The pickup guys I know all like to have a new truck with lots of power and all the latest gadgets. Does that make THEM elitists? Owning a Ferrari is elitist by the mere fact that they are so rare. But I don't believe that just because you own a foreign sports car and/or think NASCAR is boring, makes you an elitist. And people I know who have modest means and regard "redneck" behavior as appalling with distain are definitely not elitist and they are not snobs. So calling people elitist is just as bad as calling people rednecks.
An elitist is someone who would stereotype fans of a particular form of racing as "rednecks". It is no surprise that the movie "Talledega Nights" portrayed an F1 driver as a homosexual Frenchman.
No, but showing disdain for those who DON'T own a foreign sports car or disdain for those who DON'T think NASCAR is boring is indeed elitist. Just because someone chooses to enjoy different hobbies and toys doesn't make them worse people, and yet there are those here who clearly think the NASCAR fans are inherently inferior to them because of that choice. Just my $.02, from a pickup driving, Ferrari owning, NASCAR loving, Formula 1 fan.