http://www.autoextremist.com/page2.shtml#Rant
Couldn't have hit the nail on the head better. Every word is perfect.
Anything bashing TRASHCAR gets a thumbs-up from me.. but that link gets two or three thumbs-ups!
I might actually show a little more interest in racing in general if Ford pulled itself away from the roundy-round and spent more of that time and money elsewhere in racing.
NASCAR car's should NEVER be called Stock cars. Stock what? Didn't the rule with NASCAR used to be that the company had to have the exact vehicle they were racing on the market, available to consumers? If using the same name is all that counts then what's the point? I've never liked NASCAR and in my opinion anyone who does is no car enthusiast but would be better off watching WWE wrestling.
yeah, it was cool when they used to have to actually sell x amount of the car to the public before it could be used. Now it's a bunch of plastic cars that all look the same and don't exist off the track.
Has anyone here watched Australia's Supercars? It's what NASCAR used to be, just on a road course. If only. That's why they still had RWD V8 family sedans, when the US was producing the Taurus, Pontiac 6000, Celebrity, and K-car. They had stock car racing that used actual STOCK CARS.
You can almost see the exact point where it fell apart. Pretty much just before GM stopped making the RWD Monte, Cutlass, and Grand Prix.
Excellent article, Eric.
Yeah. When's the last time you saw a RWD version of a NASCAR on the street. Or a two door Taurus or Intrepid. It's been BS for years. Why do they drive in circles? To hypnotize the public into thinking it's actually good racing. :grinno:
NASCAR is to racing what the Special Olympics is to sports.....
NASCAR is a joke..period...it's all marketing
I had a much more enjoyable time watching the SCCA run-offs that were on Speed over the weekend than I ever would watching a NASCAR race....I'd rather watch golf...and I HATE golf....
Because they can cram more mindless goofs into an arena-like space, sell then $10 beers and $30 Tshirts and it's easier to get everything on TV and you can see the sponsors names easier...NASCAR blows dogs for quarters....
NASCAR is not a sport---it's an event. A sport involves running, or a puck, or a ball, or a baton, or parallel bars, or similar object. NASCAR is more a test of endurance than actual racing and the drivers are not really "atheletes", although admittedly you do need a certain physical condition to fit in one of the cars, let alone drive one for hours on end. It has a checkered history and thus, people try to justify it as something worthwhile. They miss the point: great drivers go in a straight line. Even greater drivers go on a twisty road course for hours. I LOVE to hear people bitching and moaning when the next NASCAR race is on a short road course. They just don't get it.
What has NASCAR provided? Especially lately, they've given us unprecedented insight into the equipment, physics and science that goes into every race and every car. There are fans that probably know more about the cars than some of the builders! It is absolutely unreal how people can make those cars run. They've also elevated their racing into the biggest advertising vehicle in modern history. I've never seen anything get so big, so quickly. But since I'm pretty much anti-advertising, that means nothing to me. NASCAR has also homogenized cars to the point where nothing matters. Remember when our aero 'Birds kicked GM's ass all over the track 20 years ago? That prompted GM to respond with actual street vehicles (Monte Carlo SS Aerocoupe, Grand Prix 2+2) to try and gain ground. I never saw anything like that before, and unfortunately I probably never will again.
But most importantly, NASCAR racing has done something I never thought possible: it can clear out a Wal-Mart on a Sunday afternoon. Man, when it's football season and NASCAR season at the same time, I can waltz in my local Wal-Mart and get all my shopping done without having to see a single stump-jumper wearing a #3 jacket. And this is in Western Pennsylvania to boot! Miracles really can happen. :giggle:
Gotta love autoextremist.com. That guy always speaks the truth. :)
Uhhhhh... duh... I loves mah Dale Junior... GO DAYUL! Make yer daddy prowwwd!
I have not been a fan of "stock car racing" since it became the Winston Cup. In the early days it was basically stock cars used by moonshine runners who raced Sundays. Then it bacame racing somewhat modified stock cars, but by the 80's it was about money, marketing, and all sorts of bs that had little to do with I want to buy the car that won Sunday on Monday. these days everything you see has NASCAR on it from phones to radios to car parts. Most fans these days do not know or care about cars the way the did years back. Just another money and marketing thing I'd rather not be a part of, and certainly can not enjoy.
I have never been a fan of Nascar. I don't know who drives what brand, nor even which brands actually race. I do know that an '87 T-Bird set a lap record that apparently still stands, but I only know that because it was a T-Bird. I don't even know who was driving the ed thing.
The identical bodies are bad. The fact that they call the "Taurus", "Monte Carlo", etc when they don't even vaguely resemble their namesakes is bad. The fact that a roadgoing Taurus has more in common with a roadgoing Monte Carlo than it does with a NASCAR Taurus is bad. The thing that bugs me the most, though, is the fact that Ford is still being forced to use an engine design it has stopped using in road cars almost a decade ago simply to keep it on par with GM. Chrysler is barred from racing its Hemi to keep it on par with GM. Toyota has been working on entering NASCAR and is being forced to develop a pushrod, 358CI engine instead of using its production-based DOHC designs in order to keep it on par with GM.
Just because GM has refused to use modern engine designs all of their competitors have been forced to stay behind. Ford can't use its mod engines, Chrysler can't use its Hemi, and Toyota can't use its i-Force (or whetever they call it) DOHC engines, all because GM is stuck in the 50's. Forcing everybody to stick with an outdated engine design is like keeping an entire class behind because one student hasn't learned the lesson.
Racing is supposed to PROMOTE engine development, not stifle it. Technology used on the race track is supposed to trickle down into production vehicles. If everybody else has a better design, the one who doesn't shouldn't set the curve.
Personally, I'd love to see something that places more emphasis on actual racing than it does on fairness. A 200 MPH parking lot is boring. If somebody can gain an advantage over his competitors he shouldn't be stifled as long as he stays within the rules. If this person laps everybody on the track and ends up winning by a long, long margin, then his competitors should either catch up or go away. The sanctioning bod should not be able to say "You can't race that car because it is more aerodynamic than the others", or "You shouldn't be able to use that engine because it's more efficient than the others". It is just stupid.
Rally comes to mind, where technology plays a larger part. Class B of the 80's for example Audi makes a 1000hp hill climber? Company competition was huge, why cant NASCAR be that way?