RED BULL TOYOTA - New NASCAR Team

Complain all you want about NASCAR, it is growing in popularity every day. It does offer the biggest competition bang for the dollar in most all motor sports.

Red Bull will be the primary sponsor of the new Toyota NEXTEL Cup stock car, waking up millions of race fans all over the world. Europe and Asia have already warmed up to NASCAR, and with Red Bull's move into prime time American auto racing, this sports popularity world wide will keep increasing.
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As I have said often, to criticize NASCAR or any form of motor sport for that matter is to not understand motor sports in general. Lo tech, high tech, doesn't really matter at the end. Motor sports survive because they are entertainment. Which means $$, which pays the increasing costs of racing. Without the spectator $$, you will not have F1, or any other form of motor sports that uses purpose built vehicles.

Without the entertainment factor, all you will have is amatuer races, and except for the SCCA Championships, not really spectator draws. The vast majority of spectators at an F1 event really do not understand the hi-tech nature of that form of motor sport. They are there primarily because of the contrived glamour and for nationalistic reasons (i.e. the Spaniards were not into F1 until Fred won the championship). There are the few of us that appreciate the technology behind the scenes.

I really enjoy F1, and other road racing series such as ALMS, DTM, and the BTCC. And I really enjoy watching NASCAR at the superspeedways, it is exciting and competitive. Are the finishes helped along with arbritrary yellow flags? Absolutely, but so what, that move ends up providing an exciting finish which adds to the entertainment factor of the race. It still is a race to the finish, and no one complains except those few that just do not understand the appeal of NASCAR. That appeal is growing, and is crossing economic, social, ethnic, and national lines very rapidly. The demographics of NASCAR are a moving target, and no longer are limited to the working man in the deep south. I suggest that until you attend an NASCAR event, spend time in the garages, meet some the drivers, and watch a few events in person, you can not understand NASCAR, so your criticisms are misguided. It is not supposed to be a hi-tech series, that is why you see small teams competing with the large multi-car teams. NASCAR is not supposed to be F1, so why do some of you contimue to make comparisons?

Anyone can enter a NASCAR event, you can't say that about F1.

Only in 2006 will we see 11 teams in F1, finally, full fields. No, F1 will never be as good as the old CanAm when Follmer and Oliver dirt tracked around road courses banging into each other like a NASCAR race. But in 2006, we may actually see excitement in F1 that the masses will understand and appreciate. Like passing on the track and not because of pit stops.

Enjoy whatever form of racing yanks your rope, but you end up looking foolish to condemn the most successful motor sports series in the world in terms of growth and fan loyalty. F1 could take some hints from NASCAR, especially when it comes to making its stars accessable to the real $$$: the fans in the stands.

 

Not sure what your definition of a talented driver may be, but unless you have driven a modern day NASCAR vehicle in an actual race, especially around a track like Talledaga, I don't see how you can comment on a driver's ability. I personally do not care for Jimmy Spencer, in the same vein as I do not like Montoya, but apparently he/they are highly regarded in their respective race series as they have managed to be around for a while.

Whether you like it or not, it does take a substantial amount of skill to drive at a constant average of 185mph "on the edge" for three hours. That skill includes the ability to make split second decisions, just as in road racing. That is one of many reasons I have the same respect for Jeff Gordan as I do for Michael Schumacher as professional race car drivers.

 

Not the point I was making, I was not comparing the two. Read my statement again and then ask yourself the same question as you ask me. You have a right your opinion, but I would guess that it is not based on your own personal expereince but only on your personal predjudice. My point is they are not the same "skill set" but different skill sets each having their own difficulty. They overlap only slightly. In no way was I suggesting that one form of racing is more difficult that the other, that would be pompous. I was stating that unless you understand first hand the difficulty of driving on a superspeedway, it is not fair to be judgemental. Your comment about wrestling just confirms your myopic view.

Road race "experts" that are hired to drive NASCAR road races do very well, but those same drivers do not do well on superspeedways. Jeff Gordan and Tony Stewart do well on both road courses and superspeedways. I will be curious to see how well Paul Tracy and Sebstian Bourdais do in NASCAR this year. You do realize these road racing drivers are going to NASCAR right? Based on your inference about road racing vs superspeedway racing, they should win the championship in their first year.

But to answer your question, I have only driven in amateur road racing, never in superspeedway competition. I have been driven around Daytona at speed by an unknown driver named Bobby Allison. So I am going in the reverse direction based on converstions with those that have done both. I was at Atlanta Speedway in March years ago as a professional photographer, when during Friday's practice day, a blue Plymouth with the number 43 on it was slightly modified (wooden blocks on the pedals) to allow one Jackie Stewart to drive the car for a few laps to settle a bet with the car owner (aka Petty). He did, would have qualified 5th.

That May I was fortunate enough to join an elderly friend at the Speedway Motel dining room in Indianapolis for breakfast. He was invited by a few other friends for breakfast at the start of the first weekend of time trials for the 500. Those friends included the Unsers (even mom), Chris Schenkle, and Jackie Stewart. I will never forget Stewart's description of driving the NASCAR car around Atlanta. Words like safer, hard to steer, could not imagine the strength and concentration needed to drive at those high speeds so close to other cars for hours. He thought the skill required for constant slip streaming was incredible, something infrequent in F1. Driving a stock car took no less skill than driving a formula car, it was just different. End quote. As I respect Jackie Stewart as a champion, I began to respect the champions of NASCAR in the same light as I do those from F1, and other road racing series.

I subsequently heard the same opinion from drivers like Mark Donohue, Graham Hill, Dan Guerney. Hunt was the most vocal as to his new found respect for speedway racing. If you remember, there used to be a real IROC series where even F1 drivers participated. On ovals. At every press room interview, they all said the same thing, driving the oval was quite difficult, certainly not easier than driving a road course, primarily because of the constant speeds and the concentration needed for such close driving and slip streaming (drafting in American terms). Even in the last 5 years, how many road racing queens have tried NASCAR and did less than stellar?

As for your comment about out of shape atheletes, I would assume you include professional football on your list. Keep in mind that even a driver such as Spencer has the stamina and presence of mind to sit in 160 degree temperatures while driving 185 MPH constantly for up to 3 1/2 hours, inches apart from another car(s), knowing how to use the draft without wrecking his car. He may be chunky, but I doubt if you or I could do that. So I guess being in shape is a relative term.

So tell me b-mak, upon what experience do you base your opinion? Playstation or XBox? Have you driven both road course and superspeedway?

Or are you ovalphobic? :}

Just joking.

 

Assuming you are serious, making a determination as to the skill required to drive a race car (road course or oval) using a video game as your basis confirms my point. No use trying to explain reality. As for Spencer, I would use as my example another tall "portly" driver named Foyt. He managed to win on superspeedways, road courses such as LeMans (Ford GT), and a few times the Indianapolis 500 in mid-engined cars. He was big and usually over-weight. I don't think road racing skill is limited to 145 pound drivers under 5'6". And I don't think size has anything to do with racing skill.

You are right, I am a fan of motor sports. Primarily F1, and since I can not get good coverage of the BTCC and DTM, I watch some NASCAR events to get my side by side thrill. NASCAR has lost much of its past appeal to me, as I much preferred the day when the cars had bumpers and the doors opened. Safety necessitated changes. Nevertheless, it still provides exciting racing, and as a race fan, isn't that what we want? I attend two events annually, the USGP, and the Daytona 500. When I can, I go to one European F1 event. I grew up with my hero's names like Bandini, Scarfiotti, Moss, Clark, Jim Hall, Cevert, Fireball Roberts, and Curtiss Turner. Geez, that makes me old.

I do not compare each series, because they are all very different. That would be rather myopic wouldn't it? That is my point about the pompous attitude that road race fans seem to have. Unless you have experienced both, there really is no credibility in the statement that road racing is more difficult that superspeedway racing. It is all relative. For that reason, I prefer to remember Jackie Stewart's words at breakfast years ago.

Thanks.