The comptetition is the toughest out there because there is no challenge to it. Any moron can drive fast and turn the wheel left so therefore the competition is tight, all of the drivers have perfected slightly moving their elbows. Take a rally driver or F1 driver, put him in Nascar, watch the results. If the car doesn't break he will have about the same rate of podium finishes as every other driver. Now take a Nascar driver and put him in a rally car or F1 car, something that requires skill and finesse and see what happens. There will be one of 2 results.

1) He will immediately deposit himself and the car in the nearest wall/tree/barrier/off the mountain.

2) He will be so outclassed by the other drivers or cautious because he is so overwhelmed his own lack of skill that he will finish in the bottom 3%.

I have watched Nascar, a friend of mine was a huge Nascar fan. He finally convinced me to watch a few races with him.....it was the most boring 3 hours of my life. "And Bubba Joe Jim Bob turns left again" Then I got him to watch a Rally and a couple of F1 races with me. He was absolutely stunned. Even a hard core Nascar person like him said "Wow, you don't see anything like that in Nascar. The Winston Cup guys wouldn't make it past the first lap (referring to F1) much less survive the first stage of a rally. Now THIS is racing."

 

dude, who found and revived this OLD thread?

i grew up watching NASCAR - nothing wrong with it except i REALLY wish they can run most of the track with more than just left turns. let's see those cars take the chicane or blow past a competitor while making left AND right turns at 200MPH.

 

NASCAR - IMO = zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The only racing I truly enjoy watching is WRC.

 

WRC is da bomb

NASCAR is da z

 

Just to clear up a few things here...

Yes, Nascar did develop from southern boys runnin' moonshine, and until about 1993 was mostly populated by drivers from the south. Therefore the prevalent southern accent.

Now driver's are being recruited from all over, much like other sports' pro athletes. Not only are they looking for talent, but now they are looking for youthful good looks, articulate speech, and physically fit- basically your all around, corporate sponsored, clean imaged poster boy. If you want to learn more about how Nascar drivers are changing try looking at Ganassi Racing's Nascar racing program. They are changing the face of driver recruiting.

As for talent, you would not expect Jerome Bettis to pick up a basketball and score 50 points a game or expect Kobe Bryant to run a 150 yard running football game, just because both sports use balls? The differences between each type of race car is significant, and to be the best at all is unrealistic. But to be a race car driver, you have to have pure talent. Plain and simple. And yes, that talent can be transferred from one type of car to another. Take Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon, for instance- you can put them in just about any type of car (F1, Indy, Rally, Sprint, etc.) and they can run in the top 10-30% percent of the field. They, and other Nascar drivers have done this. Its the same for the reverse.

The car is hot. Very hot. And the "cool suits" are not that cool. The inside temp still runs 115+ and your body is still feels 100+. Just ask any Nascar driver how cool the suits are as they are getting treated for 2nd degree burns on their back, butt, and feet.

Nascar fans are a bit smarter than you think. I won't bore you with the stats but lets just say that most have a college degree, many have post grad. work, and frankly, "Bubba" has a lot of money. Sorry, but rally sport's main demo falls way below (were talkin' high school teenagers, here). F1 and Indy are similar to Nascar but the biggest difference is they are almost an all male viewed sport.

No the "stock" cars do not look like the show room cars anymore, but the engine and body still are mandated by manufacturer templates.

Yes, taking an F1 car going 250 to 70 mph in 50 meters through a corner is difficult, but so is taking the left turn at Bristol with 43 other cars, less than a meter next to you. I believe you pull 3-5 (I'm not exact on this number) G's consistently in the corners throughout the race.

This is a bit long, but frankly, to say that Nascar is not a difficult type of racing is BS. Ask any driver, from any type, and they will agree. I can say this with a fair amount of accuracy; I have met with fighter pilots, Indy car driver's, F1 driver's, etc. who have taken turns in driving a stock car, and they all are surprised at how difficult it is.

But I suppose its fairly easy, safely sitting on your couch, watching your flat screen TV, to make ill-informed opinions, based upon watching two minutes of a Nascar race.

A true race fan appreciates all types of racing.

 

Yeah I'm sure it takes an enormous amount of skill and talent making left runs all day long and run around in circles. And I would love to see Jeff Gordan go to F1 and be the top 10%, racing right along with Montoya and Schumacher in F1.

NASCAR may be a sport for rednecks, but for the rest of us, its a joke.

 

When Montoya and Gordon swapped cars:

"The amazing thing about each driver is how similar were their their fastest lap. In the stock car, Gordon's best time was 1 minute, 38.8 seconds around the 2.606-mile course and Montoya's was 1:39.9. In the Formula One car, Montoya's best time was 1:15.2 and Gordon's was 1:16.5."

Like I said, a true race fan appreciates all types of racing.

 

Sorry, but 1 second behind per lap, and I'm going to assume both drivers are consistent pros, will put Jeff in the ~Minardi league in F1, and 20th out of a field of 20~22 is usually not considered top 10%. But then again, same can be said for Montoya in stock cars

so the conclusion from this is that we all have our own favorite sport to watch, and if we like it, that's great. if we don't, we don't watch it.

 

NASCAR is the last "white" sport left, next to crash derbys, and moster trucks and rednecks like that. I know the drivers have skills, I went to highschool with Jimmy Johnson and I know he started out with desert racing like all the other kids I went to highschool with. With that said it's still boring to watch and I don't care about all those rednecks, they boo Jeff Gordan when he wins just because he isn't a redneck like the rest of those losers.

Sam

 

Best statement in the entire thread. I'm not a huge Nascar fan, I definately prefer Formula One over it...but I respect and admire the Nascar drivers for what they do. They are just as talented and hard-working as anyone else out there.