Why does everybody like nascar?

I mean the races go on forever, all they do is drive circles, and the same handful of rednecks win every race.. WOW!

LMAO So true. I have only ever watched for the crashes, or if i want to watch the same thing OVER and OVER and OVER...

don't start this! I don't go bashing around other forums making fun of them for absolutly no apparent reason, neither should you.

Hes not bashing anything. Its a simple question, Either answer the question or move onto the next thread, very simple. I stated why i woudl watch them, and its for the crashes. I find it entertaning because when one crashes the hole feild of cars tends to be right behind it. But i do not on the other hand enjoy the crashes that lead to serious injurey or dead.

I use to watch it alittle bit when I was a kid but then I grew out of it, realizing that there is races that I think are more entertaining such as Rally, Gran Prix, and LeMans.

Overall, I dont think Nascar is that bad. The only reason I dont like it is because there doesnt seem to be any excitement in any of it. It takes at least an hour (sarcasm) for someone to get ahead of another where as in GT races it happens every second.

the races go on forever

That's kind of the point of endurance racing, is it not? NASCAR also has sprint series, though, if you're interested. Just visit your local dirt track on any given Friday night if you want a shorter NASCAR race.

all they do is drive in circles

They're usually ovals, tri-ovals, or some variation on that theme, actually, which means they have turns and straights, just like a road course. If you think it takes any less skill, you're kidding yourself. They just happen to all be left turns, and most of the time are very high-speed left turns. Although if you watch the race at Martinsville, they're much slower, tighter lefts. NASCAR's major series also run five road races (one in the truck series, two in Busch, and two in Nextel). Plus, the driving in circles makes it so that you can watch the whole race at once instead of just one little snippet of the course at a time, and drivers have to deal with lap traffic more often which makes the race much more interesting and difficult.

and the same handful of rednecks wins every race

Joe Nemecheck won this past weekend. Last time he won a race was last year sometime. The closest finish in NASCAR history (less than four inches, after ten or so laps of back and forth lead changes) was won by Ricky Craven last year, and he's not good enough to even have a ride this year. Granted, the same ten or twelve guys win eighty percent of the races, but ten or twelve guys is a quarter of the field. What other major series has the percentage of winners per racers that NASCAR does? There are forty some-odd races in the NASCAR calendar, and everybody was amazed when Ryan Newman won eight of them last year. Granted, you occasionally have a Petty or a Gordon come along and just dominate for a year or so, but then everybody else catches up. It's the same in every other racing series (Schumacher, Said, Solberg).

Plus, the top ten are hardly rednecks anymore. The standings as they are as of this posting, and their places of origin:
1) Kurt Busch - Las Vegas, definitely not redneck.
2) Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - South Carolina... OK, he's a redneck. But a popular redneck.
3) Jeff Gordon - Southern California, anti-redneck.
4) Elliott Sadler - West Virginia, and a country boy no doubt.
5) Mark Martin - Arkansas, but not really redneckish.
6) Tony Stewart - Started his career racing carts in Indiana, not redneck.
7) Matt Kenseth (reigning champ) - Wisconsin, Yankee.
8) Ryan Newman - Indiana, not redneck.
9) Jimmie Johnson - California, also not redneck.
10) Jeremy Mayfield - Kentucky, country boy.

So we can see that only four of the top ten are even from the South, and Mark Martin and Jeremy Mayfield are so far outside the redneck stereotype that they shouldn't count as rednecks. Elliott Sadler and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., are the only two that could even possibly be considered redneck. However, Junior runs his own business (Chance 2, not DEI) and builds racecars as a hobby (could Schumacher fix his own car if it was broken?). Sadler is a really stand-up guy, but I dont' know what he does in his spare time. Junior and Sadler are both really country, but I wouldn't call them redneck. Neither of them stands around in a wife-beater and a John Deere hat smoking a cigarette and drinking a Coors, nor do either of them drive jacked up trucks (nothing against jacked up trucks or Coors). Both of them have prettier dates to the movies, drive better cars, and live in nicer houses than anybody on this forum. If you want redneck racing, check out the monster truck circuit or your local tractor pull.

I mean the races go on forever, all they do is drive circles, and the same handful of rednecks win every race.. WOW!
Like it or not, it is by far the most watched motor sport in the US, how many people do you see watching open wheel racing?

Nascar has close racing, some contact, and damn good marketing, thats why people watch.

I love NASCAR, been bleeding Petty Blue since '72. NASCAR is not a bunch of overpaid egomaniacal morons playing kids game. Case in point, the basketball fight the other night, I giggled might butt off when I saw that. People who pay ridiculously high ticket prices for lousy seats, in statdiums built with your tax dollars for a team that hasn't made the playoffs in 10 years deserve everything they get. Granted NASCAR has had a few moments in the last few years but they handle them quickly and effectively. We as fans may not agree with some of the punishments and fines, but thats just the way that goes. I have a son and hope he gets into motorsports when he gets older, just 1 now. Well thats what i have to say. Thanks.

I watch all kinds of racing drag, WRC, F1, GT, NASCAR, any thing competitive. Trying to say NASCAR racing is not difficult or complicated is ignorant. It may be a simple contcept with a big superspeedway(except for few road courses) racing in circles, these arent fuel injected, loaded with technology cars with live axles. Thats grassroots racing and many incredible drivers have done NASCAR and gone into other types of racing. This type of racing is just as competitive as any other if not more, going around at 180 plus mph, dealing with traffic while passing people, and deal with understeer and oversteer, and other stuff just LIKE IN OTHER RACING. its all the same, some motorsports are more appealing to other people. keep on burnin the rubber

This type of racing is just as competitive as any other if not more
Yeah, I'd love to see jeff gordan strap into a 400hp citroen and plow through a rally course :rolleyes:
(where btw, they have to make right hand turns)

well, he did stap in a F1 car and do some laps if i'm not mistaken. And lets reverse that, let a rally driver, strap in a martinsville, and make his car last, or at talladegga, and not wreck.

WRC cars are limited to 300HP.

Yeah, I'd love to see jeff gordan strap into a 400hp citroen and plow through a rally course :rolleyes:
(where btw, they have to make right hand turns)

Should I mention that Gordon HAS strapped into a Rally car for the Race of Champions (along with Jimmy Johnson) and was able to beat the best in the world including Marcus Gronholm?

And that he's going to be doing it again, except also against Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Bourdais, and Tony Kanaan?

And that he drove a Williams F1 car (FW24 chassis I believe) at Indianapolis and was quick enough to qualify within 107% of the top time for the gran prix the year the car was built, and Sir Frank Williams thought enough of Gordon to put him on the list of people he'd want driving on his team (didn't materialize because Gordon felt he didn't have the conditioning for the drive nor that he had enough time left in his career to be competitive).

Or let's talk about Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Both have competed in Grand Am and ALMS races. In fact, both have contested for class and overall wins in Grand Am. Earnhardt Jr. has often said he wants to live out his daddy's dream and go to Le Mans, and if it weren't for the fact that the glut of the NASCAR season was around the same time as Le Mans, Chevy has said they would send him over as part of the Pratt & Miller Corvette factory team.

Tony Stewart frequently runs with Terry Borcheller in Grand Am races. He started in SRP1 with a Crawford LMP chassis and now runs with the #54 Crawford/Pontiac DSP team when NASCAR's schedule allows.

Don't dismiss NASCAR drivers as being somehow inferior to drivers in other disciplines simply because they're in NASCAR. Need I remind you that Christian Fittipaldi, John Andretti, Scott Pruett, and Hideo Fukuyama all proved more or less inept behind the wheel of a NASCAR stock car?

So far, Boris Said has proven to be the only modern day road racer that can competently wheel a stock car, while most stock car drivers have proven competence if not excellence behind the wheel of a road racing machine.

I feel that several of the top NNC drivers could be competitive in F1 if they had chosen to go that direction. These include Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, and Robby Gordon (fast, though I don't know how well his red-misted attitude would fly). They won't go to f1 because they're too old now, and that they'd have to take a pay cut to run in F1.

If you look at the top teams, Roush Racing and Hendrick Motorsports both have significant road racing backgroundand are in it because it's the biggest (and most profitable) form of motorsport in the USA.

Speaking of Race of Champions, when does that happen again? I heard all the Gordon vs. Schumacher hype, but I don't remember when they said the race was happening...

That's some amazing facts, I have to check out ROC and see what happens next time. I'm not all that surprised that NASCAR drivers would perform very well elsewhere since they drive heavy cars with no electronic assists, driving a formula 1 around must feel like playing mario kart with all the traction control and what not.

I have to remind myself to follow next year's NASCAR season, at least to make an opinion for myself.

Yay!

Should I mention that Gordon HAS strapped into a Rally car for the Race of Champions (along with Jimmy Johnson) and was able to beat the best in the world including Marcus Gronholm?

And that he's going to be doing it again, except also against Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Bourdais, and Tony Kanaan?

And that he drove a Williams F1 car (FW24 chassis I believe) at Indianapolis and was quick enough to qualify within 107% of the top time for the gran prix the year the car was built, and Sir Frank Williams thought enough of Gordon to put him on the list of people he'd want driving on his team (didn't materialize because Gordon felt he didn't have the conditioning for the drive nor that he had enough time left in his career to be competitive).

Or let's talk about Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Both have competed in Grand Am and ALMS races. In fact, both have contested for class and overall wins in Grand Am. Earnhardt Jr. has often said he wants to live out his daddy's dream and go to Le Mans, and if it weren't for the fact that the glut of the NASCAR season was around the same time as Le Mans, Chevy has said they would send him over as part of the Pratt & Miller Corvette factory team.

Tony Stewart frequently runs with Terry Borcheller in Grand Am races. He started in SRP1 with a Crawford LMP chassis and now runs with the #54 Crawford/Pontiac DSP team when NASCAR's schedule allows.

Don't dismiss NASCAR drivers as being somehow inferior to drivers in other disciplines simply because they're in NASCAR. Need I remind you that Christian Fittipaldi, John Andretti, Scott Pruett, and Hideo Fukuyama all proved more or less inept behind the wheel of a NASCAR stock car?

So far, Boris Said has proven to be the only modern day road racer that can competently wheel a stock car, while most stock car drivers have proven competence if not excellence behind the wheel of a road racing machine.

Race of Champions is on right now, Jeff Gordon pulled as he is unwell, Casey Mears is standing in for him with Jimmie Johnston


http://www.imp.mc/rocwebsite/index.htm

Guys if you haven't realized NASCAR engines make 700+ horsepower with NO traction control. Taking off in one of these bad boys is no easy thing. And its not neccesarily grassroots racing. These cars take days to fabricate from hand. Something the rally guys don't do. And to say Nascar isn't competitive i ask you what race did you watch? Theres constantly bumpin and bangin all around the race track for position with a crap ton worth of competitive racing. Just watch a Talladega race where theres been up to 70+ lead changes. You've got to know your stuff when racing 3 and 4 wide at 190 mph and only inches away from the car next to you and bump drafting the car in front of you. Its not simply strapping on your racing harness and sitting there for 3 and 4 hours just turning left. And they do have road courses. Not many but 2 is more than none. Also when these bad boys wreck it isn't while doing 60 or 70 through a turn while rallying. God no its doing 160+ through a turn and slamming into other cars as you go, these bad boys know how to race. And NASCAR is the fastest growing and most watched sport in AMERICA.

"I mean the races go on forever, all they do is drive circles, and the same handful of rednecks win every race.. WOW!"
if it were as simple as you say it is then there would be no fans. first of all the only rednecks left in NASCAR are dale jr. and not many other poeple. only 2 of the top ten drivers in the points are southern people, and they were dale jr. and elliot sadler, but elliot is far from a redneck. the reason why people like NASCAR is because of the excitement, technology, accomplishment, competitiveness, the danger, the people, the machines, the history, the manufacturers,.... NASCAR is the #1 motorsport in the world for a reason, because its just great to watch, oval tracks and tri-oval tracks allow for much better racing then road coarse layouts, and thats because you get side by side racing on ovals, sometimes 4 wide, and thats something you never get with F1 or champ car or alms. in those series people make a big beal about a lead change, but with stock car racing its non-stop side by side action. and another great thing is its american and there are american drivers, theres no stuck up english guys with confusing accents and no personalities. you can pick your favorite driver based on them being from your homestate and that not possible with F1, there isnt one driver in F1 thats american, and i dont see how anyone can watch that F1 these days, theres absolutly no action at all, michael shumacher is the only guy that ever wins, and there is no passing because no one can keep up with the ferraris. and how can anyone like word rally over nascar, i mean c'mon its not even racing, its just time trials and the guy with the least amount of time wins the stage, that sucks, and again there are no american drivers to relate to. another great thing about NASCAR is that the teams actually handbuild the cars and engines. there is no other form of racing other then stockcar racing, drag racing, and dirt oval racing were the cars and engines are built buy the teams. all other series have the teams buy the engines and cars from the manufactures. people who say they dont like stockcar racing are fools because they obviously dont know or understand it at all.

Welcome, n00b. You understand very little about racing. NASCAR is awesome, yes. But don't put down other types of racing as inferior. NASCAR is simply more marketable than other types of racing.

F1 teams and rally teams most certainly do build their own cars. The outer shell of a rally car is about all that came straight from the factory. Everything else is custom.

i dont mean that there based off of production cars, the manufacturers are the ones that build and design f1 cars. the teams just tweak there f1 machines. ralley cars start out as production cars and get gutted and beefed up. i understand alot about racing and i absolutely love every motorsport, but nothing compares to stock car racing.

i dont mean that there based off of production cars, the manufacturers are the ones that build and design f1 cars. the teams just tweak there f1 machines.

The chassis manufacturers ARE the teams in F1. Each team is required by FIA regulations to design and construct their own chassis.

ralley cars start out as production cars and get gutted and beefed up.

They start as bare chassis, not production cars, then the chassis is strengthened prior to any parts being bolted on to it.

i understand alot about racing and i absolutely love every motorsport, but nothing compares to stock car racing.

Go see a SPEED World Challenge race in person. That will have you hooked, though NASCAR does a very good job of creating a good show.

Better yet, go to a local SCCA event and see the hand-built road cars that race there. Then meet the guy who built it from the ground up. Then try to tell me that a multi-million dollar F1 team wouldn't be able to do that.

Why do people watch nascar? Because it's the only big-league racing series where (are you listening bernie ecclestone?) a decent amount of PASSING actually occurs. Although, there need not be passing for it to be entertaining (WRC anyone?).

anybody who downs NASCAR is ignorant, NASCAR is just as competitive as any other form of racing. why does everyone like hot naked girls?!?

NASCAR owns any sport, and it's the most watched sport in the us

You all have to admit, as of late, that NASCAR is not as exciting as it used to be. Though it is a very popular sport, I enjoy drag-racing almost as much as I do NASCAR. I'm at the point now that I can't sit for 4 hours in front of my TV to watch a race w/o falling asleep. NASCAR is an awesome sport, but it needs to add more flair to keep my interests.

That is why NASCAR should race at more road courses.

that or more short tracks like they did back in the day. It would be really great to see them racing on the dirt tracks, but hey, you can't always have your cake and eat it.

Yeah, I'd love to see jeff gordan strap into a 400hp citroen and plow through a rally course :rolleyes:
(where btw, they have to make right hand turns)

just when i think i need to lay the smack down on someone... laylas keeper is one step ahead of me. also you might wanna keep in mind that many nascar drivers have lots of oval dirt track experience too. and in the 24h at daytona the roush teammates raced a car, and the owner (forget his name) said greg biffel is the best driver he has ever seen. and yes that is road racing.

just when i think i need to lay the smack down on someone... laylas keeper is one step ahead of me. also you might wanna keep in mind that many nascar drivers have lots of oval dirt track experience too. and in the 24h at daytona the roush teammates raced a car, and the owner (forget his name) said greg biffel is the best driver he has ever seen. and yes that is road racing.
Forget that, how about this year in the 24 hours of Daytona and Tony Stewart?...when it was pouring rain in the dead of night, he was the fastest guy on the track...by a second a lap...also a couple of weeks before he passed away, "good 'ol boy" Dale Earnhardt won his class in a C5-R at daytona...if you listen to any of the "road race aces" that race the nextel cup events at Infineon and Watkins Glen, they will tell you that the advantage they have over the regulars is shrinking with each passing year.
P.S. TheStang, the roush drivers raced in a multimatic ford owned by...crap...that one entrepreneur that does driving himself...I forgot his name, Layla would know.

ok, so the drivers are getting more acclamated to driving on road course b/c they do that part time, that's encouraging. The sanctioning body of NASCAR needs to add more of these races. As was mentioned before, more needs to be done in order to liven NASCAR. The Pepsi 400, had the lowest rating and viewers to watch it since the Pepsi 400 was first held at night in 1998, though there was a rain-delay had an effect, NASCAR was determined to carry out the race, at night. If they would have postponed the race until Sunday morning, they would have had more viewers. Maybe it's just my perception of things, but they excitement level of NASCAR is not like it used to be. I've shifted my attention from stock cars to drag racing. Until there are more road courses and short tracks, other than Bristol, Martinsville, & Richmond, my interest in NASCAR is not going to be that great.