NASCAR: Why?
Posted on Apr 5, 2021 in Racing | 3 comments
I know, it brings in a lot of money even though attendance keeps dropping. It’s a spectacle, yes, though so was throwing Christians to the lions. It takes some skill to drive 200 mph in a pack. Skill does not equate to sport.
The recent series of fiascos at the Daytona 500 just confirms what we all know from watching South Park’s 2010 send-up of NASCAR (wherein Cartman gets Vagisil to sponsor his car after he ingests a tube to make him stupid).
The race was first postponed because of rain, which the media made much of (“first time in 54 years the race has been postponed!”). They also made a continual big deal over Danica Patrick, who’s pretty but not a very good driver. Where are the black drivers, by the way?
Anyway, after a restart, one Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into a track dryer that spilled 200 gallons of jet fuel and caused a massive fire and a two-hour cleanup. Then more crashes, 12 caution flags, and more left-turning in cars that all look the same and use old technology to keep speeds down.
What it’s really about is pack racing, meaning large numbers of cars running full out and very close:
Once everyone got the jitters out of their systems the race settled down and the fan were treated to a return of the pack racing of old. No more 2 car dances going on all over the track, this is what the fans came to see. An old school pack race, with 43 cars all trying to out manouver each other, chasing the glory and even a mid race bonus of $200000.
In other words, they want to see them crash—which they do, frequently. NASCAR races are cleaned-up, sanctioned demolition derbies.
A guy named Matt Kenseth won, but so what? The final big story was Brad Keselowski, who, while the race was halted, tweeted pictures of the fire and texted back and forth with some of the 130,000 additional followers he had accumulated by virtue of his stunt.
NASCAR didn’t penalize Brad, as he was not actually driving at the time. Of course they didn’t. This opens up a whole new audience segment, and we would not be surprised to see drivers actually texting and driving, inches apart, at 200 mph. It’s the next logical step.
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I’m a NASCAR fan, Yes. I get ragged and jokes about it all the time like “their turning left…..oh, they are turning left again…” I’m a gear head to the core. I love cars and racing so much. If NASCAR isnt a sport then neither is Formula 1, NHRA Drag Racing, Le Mans, or any other type of 4 wheel racing. They all have the same repetitive motion. They do on the other had have one BIG thing in common, endurance. Every form of racing require some kind of endurance, obviously some more than others. I would love to see any one of these people who say NASCAR is not a sport go out and race 500 miles at speeds up to 200 mph and having so many G’s put on your body in the turns and see if they are not tired after they get done.
You say they use “old technology”. Since when is fuel injection old technology. Yes, it has taken them awhile to get to it, but they finally realized that is was time to move on from the carburetor and into something “greener” for the environment. Two years ago they moved to ethanol so they could get away from fossil fuels and help out with the recession that was going on. They do restrict the speed for pack racing, but it is also for safety reasons. Formula 1 has some rules for speed limitations as well so I don’t really see what your argument there is.
All in all, NASCAR is a working mans sport. It started out like that. I think NASCAR has come to realize that and that is why they made the changes they did to the cars from the stupid COT with the carbon fiber splitter and wing, to a more natural looking street car which is what it is all about. I have a lot of more things I could say but couldn’t find ways to fit it in. I just leave you with one thing, Nation Association for STOCK Car Racing. That’s what its all about, think about it and let me know how you feel now.
To start off, I’m a road racing fan. Grew up watching F1 and WSBK. I am also a professional driving instructor on road courses and have worked in NASCAR with a couple of teams.
Driving a stock car at 200MPH at Daytona is not an easy feat. The car is almost constantly trying to swap the rear end with the front, and the front end is liable to wander around with little warning. When you’re behind another car, the front gets even worse (due to less downforce), and now you’re going even faster. Since you’re going faster, you’ll inevitably begin rubbing, or bump drafting the guy in front, you do that wrong, you get an accident. Then when you’re running side-by-side, the airflow is even more disrupted, and it tries to pull the car up and down the track. Talking with the pros who do it and have raced open wheel, Max Papis and AJ Allmendinger come to mind, they’ve told me that running Daytona in a pack is one of the most difficult things they’ve done.
Then you have to factor in the strategy of getting the front, and staying there, along with 150 degree cockpit temps.
You don’t have to like it, but respect that it is not an easy task.
Also Juan’s wreck was due to a mechanical failure. Granted he shouldn’t have been racing around under a yellow, especially near safety crews.