[F107plus5]

In the last few years I have become less and less interested in NASCAR racing; while my Wife and oldest daughter have become flaming fanatics!

Has NASCAR joined Figure Skating and Ballroom Dancing as a Ladies sport?

If you watch the pre-race programs, and the races too fer cryin' out loud; all they do is talk about the Drivers and the other personalties who drive and crew the current "funny-cars" with the only differences being the headlight and tail light decals. There is no discussion of the vehicles short of the latest safety devices installed. The show is about the personalities of the drivers and crews and families only! They even have phone-in votes for your favorite drivers to lock in their positions in some phony "Race For the Chase" or whatever, which may be absolutely meaningless in the over-all standings!

Maybe I'm mistaken on this and some of the specifics, but that's how it seems to me.

 

[a1rocketpilot]

That is one of the reasons why I hate NASCAR and love F1. F1 is so much more interesting on so many more levels. First off, we have the engineering, which even though it is a spec series, the amount of refinement is spectacular. I am a budding engineer, so this is probably my biggest draw to F1. The amount of time, money (some teams over half a billion each year), and effort that goes into pulling every ounce of performance out of these cars is through the roof. Take the aerodynamics (my favorite, since I am a budding Aerospace Engineer) for example, when changes are made, it is done in increments of a quarter of a degree. Such small changes totally change the behavior of the car. Today at the Canadian Grand Prix for instance, Kimi Raikkonen's F2007 encountered a small piece of debris that got stuck in his front wing. This changed the aerodynamics so much that the entire balance of the car was skewed. I could go on and on about how this sport is miles ahead of NASCAR, but I'll spare the audience.

Aditya

 

[Tuberoller]

While I'm not a big fan of NASCAR I do enjoy watching sometimes. I'm only watching F1 because of Lewis Hamilton.

Nascar is much more about driver skill than F1 has been in a very long time. F1 is car and manufacturer series while Nascar is a driver and team series. There is so much technology in an F1 car that I would'nt be surprised if we one day saw these cars drive themselves. We can call Nascar Lo-tech and complain about how they roll around in a big circle but I'd say it's a lot more difficult to make a Nascar go around in circles than to make an F1 car drive a road course. Juan Pablo calls F1 racing "point and shoot".

Yep, Nascars still run carburetors ,springs, shocks and pushrods but they are hella fast and not easy to drive. F1 cars have so much tech that they can't drive straight without both front and rear wings attached. F1 rules change so often and there are so few competitive teams it's really difficult to maintain interest. The US Grand Prix fiasco also did nothing to help win American fans.

I'd still like to see Nascar do some things different. I'd love to see a few dirt track races and a few more road courses thrown in. Perhaps allow a tire choice and/or allow only current production based engine packages.

I did Love watching Hamilton's win today. That was a treat and it was fun to hear and read some of the fans reactions. The people who booed and post all the nasty stuff about him really are haters. I really hope he wins the Championship. His season is making F1 fun to watch again.

 

[blessingx]

It's such an artificially pumped up sport. From family histories to moonshine beginnings to god and country to justifications of racing the day after a death 'cause they wanted it that way to down home boys and their million dollar sponsors, it's very interesting in its insanity. It's the softer, feminine vehicular WWE. Should it be surprising, when it's so little about sport, if it starts to drift to non-traditional sports fans?

 

[setmenu]

At the end of the day when you strip away the pr BS all motor racing is the same, teams drivers machines.
I can love it all. [not enough time too though!]
Of course I have my favourites.
But hell, if it has and engine, I can usually find something too enjoy!

Current favs.
For tv , Moto GP and 250,125 classes and F1
For live viewing and visceral experience, drag racing!



.

 

[F107plus5]

My favorite today, and going back into the 50s, has always been F1. But I'm a bit on the rebound this year after what happened to Schumi. I mean having to wait in line at the filling station at such an important time.

I'm watching Hamilton quite closely as well, and I suspect NASCAR is also. I mean; what a fabulous way to gain a more varied viewer base then adding Hamilton to Montoya and pick up an even bigger chunk of the minorities in the US as a batch of new commercial-watching viewers! And please, please, don't look at that as any kind of a racial comment, as it's not intended to be. Only as a potential marketing concern of NASCAR, which could very well be the case.

Thinking of the good old days with NASCAR being an offshoot of the moonshine runners of the deep south; now that was a cool old time. It pretty well went away with the loss of the rebel flag after the Atlanta olympics(or there abouts)when that grand ol' symbol of the South was considered by the media as racist rather than the symbol of a geographical area. I mean, anybody ever see anything racist about the Dukes of Hazzard?! But I digress badly.

Ok; they still have a couple of announcers on NASCAR with a bit of a southern drawl, but that's gonna fade over the years as they try to further their reach into the more mainstream types of viewers.

Speaking of viewers; I've noticed the commercials of NASCAR going more and more to the feminine side of things. The wife used to scan right past them! But more and more she is actually watching them! There's concrete proof for ya!!

After the race yesterday and after I'd posted this question there was another NASCAR based program on TV that even furthers my point. This new show was something about various "superstars" from other sports and entertainment, driving NASCAR-type vehicles and being eliminated in some "Reality-TV" type of format! I didn't actually watch the show, I was happily watching NASA and the docking and work going on at the space station instead. Actual "Reality TV"! Not this new TV stuff though, where they put people in the most unusual of situations and have them try to eliminate each other so we can revel in the losers more-so than in the winners, and then call it "reality." But I digress even further.

NASCAR is no longer a grass roots type of racing where the Chevy guys and the Ford guys and the Plymouth guys and the Oldsmobile guys and the Hudson guys can watch the race and discuss the relative merits of their favorite automobiles in a true "my car is better'n your car" debate.(ok; that went away in the 70s or 80s, but, you know what I mean.) But it used to be that NASCAR was about cars, about who's "Ford" was passing whose "Chevy" or "Dodge". Now maybe it should be NASDRIVERS, where which "driver" is passing which "driver" and personalties are more important than the race.



Yeah; F1, and most other forms of motor racing, as well, is lots more fun technically and keeps the important stuff important. And F1 only lasts a couple hours on Sunday.(unless I can sneak in watching practice and qualifying!) NASCAR is now a long drawn-out "all-day" ordeal of "Who" this and "Who" that! Like the silly-saga of "Jr and Terrisa" uh; WHO! Yuck!! Gimmee a break, ladies!

 

[KYTGuy]

NASCAR is going through a real upheaval right now...it has decided that the battles of "the Chevys got a better rule than the Fords, and the problems of ruling whether the Ford door is as safe as the Dodge's, and which (if any) roof construction is safe as the rules dictate in this day and time when drivers are doing 220MPH inches away from a concrete retaining wall and inches away from another racer, FORCED them to change from multiple chassis to one standard.

Different Engines and transmissions and anciliary pumps, brake packages, and gear manufacturers are still allowed, so there is still a very minor element of the original idea of "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" that was a big part of "Stock Car Racing" in the 50s.

Naturally, with the elimination of the "Stock" sheetmetal, coupled with the elimination of "Stock" chassis and running gear from any car now running, they had to change the focus away from My brand is better than Your'n, and begin to emphasize the Drivers.

It will tighten up the competition, much like when Sailboating split from "Run What You Brung" to Dinghy racing, Lasers, and the Twelve-Meter Formula.

Just like in ANY type of racing, Stock Car racing began with "Run What Ya Brung", then progressively, over the years, as teams brought more Engineering and Money to their efforts, the speeds and Costs began to rise. Then after complaints from the competitors, rules about speed or cost began to bring in more rules, restricting the formula. It is like this in EVERY racing Formula, even down to the Claimer racing, where if you win, you MUST sell the car to the first person who offers the agreed upon "Claim Fee". Many a claimant has bought the winner for $200, only to discover that it had an intake manifold that cost more than the claim fee!

F1 is an example of having let the formula run till there are really only three or so teams IN THE WORLD who can bring the requisite amount of money to the races, the rest are driving two or three years old chassis, motors, or technology, and are just "Hopeful" of garnering some attention, to get invited into the inner sanctums of one of the aforementioned Three teams that have the resources to win their Championship. The costs of Winning an F1 Championship for a single team in a single year are enough to send half the (not small number of members) team to Outer space!! "Astronomical" - truly.

Stock Car Racing as it once was called, has kept the costs low enough that there are six to ten teams in a given year that are contenders for their Championship. This makes it more fun for the spectators.

Every decade or so, nearly any hotly contested formula has a breakaway group of competitors who try to "get back to racing's roots" where they start up a New, "Affordable", formula - Witness the Bandoleros and Legends classes, where they started with small chassis, and Junkyard Motorcycle motors...Now go and try to buy a competitive car - it is getting too expensive already, after whatever it is, ten years or so...

All that maximum verbiage above, is probably "Preachin' to the Choir" - if you are reading this, you are probably some sort of MotorHead, and I like ya already.

I have been a spectator in F1, CART, NASCAR, NHRA and many other forms of racing since I was very small, in the early 50s. I like and can appreciate nearly any good effort in nearly any of the motorsports, from go-karts to F1, with stops in Reno/Sparks for the National Air Races, to speed records as diverse as control-line models to Bonneville Salt Flats, and have participated in many teams and attempts. Each has its attractions.

I kinda like some of the pre-race shows for NASCAR,as it educates the audience about the history. It makes for fond remembrances for me. Maybe it adds to the experience for those too young or new to the sport.

NASCAR is going through a "Passing of the Torch" just like many successful businesses where there is a dangerous transition period when those who initially had the vision pass from this plane of existence. I hope it goes well, and that the sport prospers.

I've written enough for now.

 

[F107plus5]

Well said KYTguy! I agree with just about every point you make!

Really! Very well written indeed!

....and the rest of the folks too!

But; I'm afraid I got away from my original question a bit, though.

And that's whether NASCAR as has gone from being a sport watched "mostly" by the gents, and has become more like figure skating and ballroom dancing what with the emphasis far more on the personalities of the sport rather than the mechanical aspects, and is now aimed more and more towards the ladies!

Not that that's a bad thing from the sponsors standpoint considering the gals do most of the household spending!

 

[KYTGuy]

It is Marketing - why reject more than 50% of your possible market - (if "She Who Must Be Obeyed" doesn't want to watch it, some Men will want to watch, but not be "allowed")

Same reason one racing team is now "paired" with Fenway Park - I mean, there are probably fans who LOVE Fenway Park, and want to watch a race, ......aren't there?

And the Ladies LOVE to look at Kasey Kahne, and Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr, don't they?

My wife Loves to growl at onscreen images/interviews of either Busch boy, and used to get really animated at Dale Sr. Marketing peeps like any sort of attention - it is better for their sales than apathy. Lots of good-natured ribbing goes back and forth between antagonists' supporters. Makes the whole thing more fun!

 

[F107plus5]

Yup; I guess my original premise may well be correct.....

....the ladies are indeed taking over another "male-only" sport! Arrrrrgh!!

Looks as though my wife has lots of good company!!

 

[KYTGuy]

That's OK - she can look at the driver's butts, and comment on how nicely the outfits match the sponsors' colors, and we can look for Jesel Valve drive gear, and MSD ignition units, and worry about tire compounds.....AND WATCH THE SAME TV!

 

[Tuberoller]

F1 will never allow Lewis Hamilton to get away. He's poised to become the highest salaried athlete in the world (since MJ's one-year 36 Million deal). I think the only reason he'd leave F1 is because he's disgusted by some of the fans of F1 racing. He already took the time to post on his site and he seems really upset when he should be on top of the world today after a truly dominating win. That's a shame.

Nascar really is in transition right now. I think the rulers of the Nascar world see the need to appeal to a broader range of fans but want badly to retain the hard-core southern fans. I thinking when folks like me see Jeff Gordon win and get booed and have stuff thrown at him while he's racing we see that the sport has a very, very long way to go. It was deplorable to see people cheer at his really scary crash a few weeks ago and the see responses like "I was hoping he gets killed" posted to the Nascar fan sites.

Please don't get me started on the whole Confederate flag issue. When southerners or those who wish to honor the Confederate flag stop using it as a device of intimidation, then I'll no longer have a problem with it. Drive down south on april,4 (the day Martin Luther King was murdered) and see how many Conferderate flags are flying high and proud and you'll get a good idea of the true meaning of the flag and why it is flown.

 

[oicdn]

Nascar has always been stupid, you've just now started to see the light.

F1 is also pansy. It's light year cooler than Nascar, but it too is boring as hell to watch people chasing Shumey. There are never wrecks and there are hardly any passes....it's impressive how they're going so fast with such precision, but it's boring as hell to watch.

Real racing is MotoGP. AMA is almost as boring cause it's just like F1, everybody is chasing Spies or Mladin, and well, they're just not as buttery like the GP guys...

Meh...to each their own.

As far as the highest paid athlete....that would have to be Shumacher. Followed by Tiger Woods. Single highest salary of an athlete was LeBron James, at 90 million from Nike fresh outta high school.

 

[Tuberoller]

By salary I mean as paid by his primary employer (team). MJ's actual salary in 1998 as paid to him by the Chicago Bulls was 36 Million. This was before the hard salary cap of the current NBA. Tiger Woods isn't salaried and Schumacher's salary was tied to his points standing. He earned 31.4 million in his best year. Note that I'm talking salaries and not winnings or endorsements.

As far as MotoGP goes. I love it myself........But. I like Superbike racing best. Superbike rules dictate that the rides but be fully production based and all factory built or issued parts have "fully availability". Which means anybody with the cash can build a Superbike (at least in intent). You and I couldn't get a GP bike if God signed a consent form. Besides, MotoGP bikes use ABS, traction control, and electronic feedback adjustable suspensions (self-adjusting while on-track). I hate when tech lessens the impact of rider/driver skill and talent.

 

[setmenu]

I prefer prototype racing not based on production machines myself.
I also prefer closed circuit to road circuit for safety reasons.



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