NASCAR vs. Open Wheel?

I watch the entire F1 race and the pre and post race stuff if it's even shown (CBS, grrr...). It's the only thing I'll watch the entire thing of. I enjoy NFL and NBA, but there's always a couple games where I miss a few minutes of it. That doesn't happen for me in F1. I also make a copy of it to watch whenever I want.

 

Maybe myself and the folks I hang with are just getting old........

 

Not necessarily. Of all my friends only one other guy is as dedicated as I am. Everybody else follows it a lot more casual.

 

That's why they make TIVO. I never start watching until about 30 minutes after the race starts so I can fast forward through all the commercials. FYI, you can watch an hour program on TIVO in about 35 minutes by fast forwarding through all teh commercials...

 

I know. I'm just so old school that I still use VHS tapes. And I don't even have an Ipod.

 

Don't get an Ipod. I have one and I don't like it because the battery life sucks. Also, it tends to freeze up every once in a while and I have to reset it. My friend's just stopped working so Apple gave him a new one (Mini 6 gig).

I don't think I'll ever bother with Tivo/DVR. My friends have it and I don't enjoy watching live sports with them. They always flip it to another channel during commercials and when they come back to the game, they're a few minutes late. They either FF to the live part, missing part of the game, or they play it out a few minutes behind live broadcast. I prefer watching games live. If I really wanted a DVR/Tivo, I would buy myself a good video card/tv tuner for my computer and save it all to an external hard drive. No reason to pay a monthly fee for a hard drive like Tivo.

Edit: Btw, hour long TV shows like LOST, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, etc are 42 minutes of show per hour. 30% commercials!

 

THIS WAS REAL RACING. YOU HAVE TO BE A MOVIE STAR TO RACE NOW.
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Fortunetely, this type of real racing still exists, mostly in the midwest. Its where drivers like Jeff Gordan and Tony Stewart got their start. I would love to see some F1 "star" try this.

 

Can you emagine and F1 star putting his butt in one of these. OOP's forgot my fire retardent suit.
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Don't get an APPLE iPod, but get one made by somebody else, Dell makes a good MP3 player that I am told has about triple the battery life of an iPod.

 

You are in the minority here in the US. Watch ESPN Sportcenter and you will see IRL, CART and NASCAR highlights, but no F1 unless someone gets killed. In fact, no WWF highlights either - even if someone does get killed.

ESPN also devotes time to dog shows, spelling bees and even poker tournaments - events that are not even "sports". Still, F1 can't rank with them either and get any airtime.

Sort of puts F1 in perspective as far as its relevance here in the US, doesn't it?

Oh, and as far as your quip about not being a WWF fan; I am not a big lover of wine, cheese or Grey Poupon either. That said, I am also not a fan of racing/competition where only one or two teams has a legitimate chance of winning, racing/competition that is so boring that an hour-and-a-half race is essentially over at the first turn, spoiled overpaid drivers that cheat and then get on camera and lie about it, technology for the sake of technology, races with six cars taking the green flag out of 20 entered, etc, etc...

I was a huge fan of F1 in the good old days when cars were cars and drivers were drivers. You know, back when Ken Tyrell started his team from his garage. I have no bone to pick with road racing vs. oval racing. I just like to see good racing. I like Moto GP on Speed, the Austrailian Supercar and touring series and the Speed Challenge series. Hell, I'll watch a lawnmower race if it's a good race.

The problem with F1 is that it just isnt good racing from a racing purists standpoint anymore. The funny thing is, if Ferrari entered NASCAR it would be interesting to see how people's myopic viewpoints here would change about NASCAR.

 

To quote myself above from page one on this thread, and then I read this article from Briatore, who said the SAME THINGS I did.......

http://sg.sports.yahoo.com/060526/1/4150j.html

 

I would agree with you. About the only sport I watch entirely 100%, and usually only the live broadcast (tough when you get home at 3 AM), is F1. Although NASCAR is much better racing, it is great fun in person but doesn't hold my attention on TV.

Of course, I watched 100% of the NBA playoff games when the Miami Heat were playing.

Go Heat!

 

One of the best quotes I've ever heard was from a sportscaster on National Public Radio a few years ago .He was lamenting the American public's xenophobic view of the world , even in sports. In his dialog , he used racing as an example, noting that most Americans didn't even know who Michael Schumacher was and noted that F1 racing was a elegant, exciting sport. To get his point across he noted that (paraphrased) " comparing Nascar to F1 is like comparing listening to the Dixie Chicks singing at the Grand Old Opry to hearing Pavarotti at the La Scala Opera House in Milan."

 

Bill tabled with no plans to resurrect it. NASCAR denied Champ Car's claim that Bryan Sperber, who was leading the effort to stop street races, worked for NASCAR. But Sperber does run Phoenix International Raceway, which is owned by ISC, which is controlled by the France family, which owns NASCAR.

Sneaky Stock Car Guys.

 

Makes you wonder what would happen (to nascar) if F1 ever really did 'take off' in the US....

Maybe part of the problem (with F1 in the USA) is the fact that 'most' fans in the USA drive chevies, fords and dodges, and those don't exist in F1, therefore they can't identify ? I mean, I dream of Ferrari, but not Mercedes, BMW, Renault or Toyota........

 

I had a theory that with the increase in racing fans some would look for something more technical/sofisticated. With that in mind, I bought 100 shares of Cart at 16. It went to 42. Then it went in the pooper. So much for my theory.

Tony George had to have had F1 in his pocket before he orcastrated the split. IRL and F1, and he would rule American racing? Ha!

The Indy facility is beautiful with what George has done to prepare for F1. Turn the Mickey Mouse corners into some sweepers and keep F1 at Indy. Unite open wheel in America and run Indy 500 and the F1 track with a formula that is close to F1 performance. Get Marco to F1. Get some marketing beyond Gene Simmons.

But they have'nt asked for my opinion.

You dream of cars? I dream of my fears and women.

 

There's a domino tournament on ESPN2 right now.

Edit: And it's the 2005 one at that!

 

I just stopped and had a beer at the local pub on the way home. Dominos was on. One guy said he was watching it. They were still throwing stuff at him when I left. You will never please everyone I guess.

 

Problem is, someone is paying for it (whatever airs).

I went to ESPN awhile back to see about them airing a 30 minute event, and they said 'If you can line up the advertising (dollars), we will air it'.

At the time, ESPN wanted $40,000 per 30 minutes.

Sponsors target shows and events that attract the market they are shooting for, this is why you see Buick during golf tournaments, Nike sponsoring events aimed at the under-30 crowd, and so on.

 

You gotta be kidding. This sounds like typical snobbish "Europe is better" crap we used to get from the Clinton administration. People who, for reasons that escape me, think they are better, smarter and more sophisticated than the Billy Bobs of the world. And, of course, we taxpayers get to pay for his condescending babble.

Dave

 

They are still playing aren't they?

 

Starting tonight!

 

I like all forms of racing. If I'm driving, give me all the turns I can get. If I'm watching, give me NASCAR, cause there is real, competitive racing. The few former F1 drivers that did try NASCAR didn't fare all that well. It's different skills. There are people who are fantastic drivers, but not good racers and vice versa. A few can do both. Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon come to mind. I don't know if any current F1 drviers can race since all they have to do is drive.

Dave

 

Although I see your point in distinguishing racing from driving remember that no F1 driver is born as just that: They all had to climb through lesser series where they used spec cars racing their hearts out to win.