What's the appeal of Nascar?

First off, I'm not trying to troll any Nascar fans (some of my friends are) or stock-car racing in itself. I'm trying to understand what's so appealing about it.

See, I'm a motoring enthusiast, I like magazines like Top Gear or Evo, I like it when I see a M5, a 911 Turbo or even an Evo X or an R32 in the street, I appreciate it. I play a lot of Forza 4 and GT5. I'm also a Formula 1 fan.

There are many things working against NASCAR : The tracks are all basically oval, and that nullifies a lot of driving skills a driver could have, the races are way too long, the scoring system seems overly complicated, the cars themselves aren't even stock cars, which makes the name itself sounds like a big lie (like World Series or NBA World Champions, and I'm a HUGE NBA fan). Seriously, have you ever seen a stock Camry equipped with a 850-hp V8 at your local dealership?

Are there any fans out there who would like to explain why the thing is so freaking popular? I can watch whole F1 races without blinking, but I can't watch 3 minutes of NASCAR without going completely mad and/or bored. Maybe there's something I'm not getting right. Am I missing something?

EDIT : And please don't take it personally. I mean, I wouldn't care if you told me you thought F1 was stupid and basketball/tennis/soccer were for sissies or something, I can honestly see why each would get dissed and disliked.

crashes

Just apply a fresh dip of Vagisil and just turn to the left. :P

The skill of the drivers. Yes the tracks are oval, but they are driving 175 mph 6 inches from each other for 150+ laps, thats intense. The strategy, when to pit, who to pit with, how much gas to take, how many tires to change, does the car need a wedge tweak so on and so forth. The fact you never know whats going to happen, every turn is as dangerous as the last. Lastly the fact the rubbing isn't frowned at. Nothing like seeing a good fight for position. It's the only racing event I know of that lets people hit each other legally. Maybe it's because I was raised around the sport, but I love it.i5750at4Ghz

I'm glad to hear (well, read) a reasonable explanation. But wouldn't they be showing more driving skills (because I'm pretty sure those guys can do more than "turn left FAST") by constantly accelerating and decelerating on various corners at different angles, with straights and hairpin turns?

As for the strategy and not knowing what can happen at any turn, I can understand, since we have it in F1 as well.

But I can't wrap my head around the fact it's still called stock car racing. That's a blatant lie. To me it's like saying Slam Ball is "good ol' basketball" or that professional wrestling is 100% genuine.

[QUOTE="i5750at4Ghz"]The skill of the drivers. Yes the tracks are oval, but they are driving 175 mph 6 inches from each other for 150+ laps, thats intense. The strategy, when to pit, who to pit with, how much gas to take, how many tires to change, does the car need a wedge tweak so on and so forth. The fact you never know whats going to happen, every turn is as dangerous as the last. Lastly the fact the rubbing isn't frowned at. Nothing like seeing a good fight for position. It's the only racing event I know of that lets people hit each other legally. Maybe it's because I was raised around the sport, but I love it.BaraChat

I'm glad to hear (well, read) a reasonable explanation. But wouldn't they be showing more driving skills (because I'm pretty sure those guys can do more than "turn left FAST") by constantly accelerating and decelerating on various corners at different angles, with straights and hairpin turns?

As for the strategy and not knowing what can happen at any turn, I can understand, since we have it in F1 as well.

But I can't wrap my head around the fact it's still called stock car racing. That's a blatant lie. To me it's like saying Slam Ball is "good ol' basketball" or that professional wrestling is 100% genuine.

Nascar has road courses, but imo the super speedways require more skill. It's all about the speed and how close the cars are to one another. Watch a few laps of the two events and I dare anyone to say a road course requires more skill.

The teamwork aspect is often overlooked as well. But belive it or not Nascar is a huge team sport. You can't do a damn thing alone on that track, it's always at least a dual effort.

Perfect example of the teamwork and skill involved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry4nyYCiM98&hd=1

What driver skill? You race on a track that's wide enough for 5 cars to get next to each other. They stop racing when it rains. It's not like they run on winding tracks were sometime you pass or get passed by someone when there seems hardly any room for both cars. They don't have to decide between hard, soft or wet tyres.

What driver skill? You race on a track that's wide enough for 5 cars to get next to each other. They stop racing when it rains. It's not like they run on winding tracks were sometime you pass or get passed by someone when there seems hardly any room for both cars. They don't have to decide between hard, soft or wet tyres.

CADMAN_3

Do you even watch the races?

What driver skill? You race on a track that's wide enough for 5 cars to get next to each other. They stop racing when it rains. It's not like they run on winding tracks were sometime you pass or get passed by someone when there seems hardly any room for both cars. They don't have to decide between hard, soft or wet tyres.

CADMAN_3

Jimmie Johnson's won the cup 5 years in a row (I think), that's not just dumb luck. It definitely takes some skill.

I'm a fan but I couldn't tell you...:lol:

[QUOTE="kingdre"][QUOTE="rawsavon"]Racing... Athletic ability or learned skill??? What say you people?monkeytoes61

hey you never know.... what if they need to "drain the pipes" during the 3 hour race? takes ALOT of heart to pull that off.......

I don't doubt the mental aspect of the race, since it's very, very long (too long?) and to stay focused during a few hours while sitting down but going at 150-200 MPH is something else.

As for the physical aspect, endurance is key, but the toll taken on your body is not as hard as it is in Formula 1, where G-Force is sometimes twice as strong and it's more constant, since the accelerate and decelerate a lot and there are (obviously) many more turns on a F1 track.

Although, I was playing GT5 and trying NASCAR stuff for the first time (No appeal to me at first), and it is harder than I thought to make a decent turn at 150+mph, so it does require some skill (it's a game, I know, but it's a simulation nonetheless).

endurance requirement =/= athletic ability or an athlete IMO ...I don't count endurance runners as athletesrawsavon

How are endurance runners not athletes?

[QUOTE="rawsavon"]endurance requirement =/= athletic ability or an athlete IMO ...I don't count endurance runners as athleteshkhatir

How are endurance runners not athletes?

Rally car > Nascar

Rally car > Nascar

RexHoles

It is the easiest sport to follow while drunk. Also, it helps my dad sleep.

Thats all I got

To me, NASCAR and F1 racing is more of a competition than a sport. We all have "raced" our friends here and there in our lifetimes. I know it must be hard to sit in a car for 5 hours, going 150 mph or whatever, and race strategizing. And you have to be in good shape to handle that...haven't there been drivers that have done back flips? Not in the car.

You are missing (at least part of) my point.

-nowhere did I say those in the NBA or NFL don't practice/work their ass off to get there. It requires BOTH skill (honed over time) and athletic ability (genetics).

-I could make the Nike golf tour through skill alone (practice hours every day) and not being very athletic...that makes it not a sport to me.

-no matter how much I practiced, I am never making the NFL or NBA b/c of the part of the 'job' that requires athletic ability. NOWHERE did I say that that 'job' does not require skill. I said it requires athletic ability in addition to skill (where Golf just requires skill...see Tom Watson or John Daly)rawsavon

Oh, now I understand where you're going. I still think it's possible to become a professional athlete even if you're not born with crazy genetics, but it's about 72x harder. But yeah, I get what you mean.

Who needs sleeping meds when you have Nascar?

Crashes for the most part and I guess the thrill of fast cars.PunkAntiHero

Who needs sleeping meds when you have Nascar?

sherman-tank1