NASCAR..I just dont get it
 

Back in the day of the stock car you ( IF $$ were no object) could buy something close that was actually campaigned....Now NASCAR is not even a hybrid of a S. car, a breed of its own. I just dont get their following @ all !! What am I missing ?? Is everyone on the stands think they are seeing something close to what Detroit sells ??
I dont get it:eek:

No, NASCAR fans don't believe the cars they see on the track have much similarity to the car in their driveway. I used to root for John Paul's JLP-4 935 even though I knew most of it never saw Stuttgart.

NASCAR is close racing with a lot of passing. Nothing wrong with that.

I agree, it is not about the cars in NASCAR. I have never owned an 800 BHP car myself; however, enjoy the fact that there is an 800 BHP car out there that is going 200 plus MPH.

I was privileged to see those cars as well. Not what you saw on the show room floor.

much more fun at the glen than on an oval track. would crawl over broken glass to see them run at lime rock.

And NASCAR added two more road coarses this year, so that you have... FIVE.

Nextel series:
6/24 Infineon Raceway
8/12 Watkins Glen

Busch series:
3/4 Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
8/4 Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
8/11 Watkins Glen

I really dislike NASCAR, and was surprised when I read the comments on the NASCAR website by one fan: Ditch the road courses. If I wanted to watch follow-the-leader, I would turn on an F1 race.

Re: NASCAR..I just dont get it
 

The shell of my old 1994 T-bird was the same shape as the T-bird they raced. The faster I went the more down-force the car had, over 45 MPH rain would not hit the rear window. I miss that car, too bad it started falling apart around 100K miles.

I don't see any similarity in the shape of the track car and street cars anymore.

You may be the only person in the world to ever "miss" their '94 T-bird:D

How come VIR has the NASCAR bend but NASCAR doesn't race there? Things that make you go hmmm.

well i may never get it...........

Think of it as a one-design racing class that allows modifications limited by a "box" rule aimed at keeping racing as close as possible but allowing tweaking.

Sailboat racing has done this to its' best success in the TransPac 52 fleet. Want more weight in the keel, gotta give up some mast height for example.

"The TP52 box rule is flexible so that ‘development is allowed in such factors as hull shape, foil shape, construction, interior, deck layout and rigging. However speed producing factors such as length, minimum displacement, maximum draft, and maximum sail area are strictly controlled."

Where NASCAR loses me is the pushrod and carbed engines (there has not been a carbed engine sold in the US since the mid-'80's), mostly only turning left and the development of a bunch of yahoo drivers with minimal race-craft. Toss in phantom yellow flags to keep things tight and the championship "chase" to drum up some interest and I am left with a racing series that has given up all sense of being a race series and exists only as an advertising venue.

The pushrod engine thing comes from the fact when the series first started specing engines, they were all pushrod. None of the teams want to run anything else because that is where all of their tooling and expertise is. Keep in mind, Chevy still runs pushrod engines in ALMS.

ROFL! :D Sadly, the Nastycar fan is right. Thankfully not all road racing is as boring as F1.

I never liked nascar until I watched a couple of races out of boredom. I find it easier to watch than Grand Am or ALMS races; whoever is in front is winning. The fans sitting in the stands can see the entire track and know what's going on. ALMS you can see a corner, two if you're really lucky. Driving is the exact opposite, I'd much rather be on a road course. Just MHO of course.

Give the man a cigar.

Oh-oh, another NASCAR thread...

Carbed engines are supposedly only allowed to minimize cheating. NASCAR, quite rightly, say it would be virtually impossible to police electronic injection systems to prevent traction control. That said it is widely believed that traction control is being run in some way (probably be changing ingition timing) while using carburettors for the fuelling. So what's that worth?
It does add the 'low tech' image to NASCAR, but I have to say that isn't really fair. It is starting to get more analytical and the level of engineering is increasing dramatically. I suppose it just isn't that visible. Think about it though; to get a pushrod engine, running a carburetor revving to around 10 to 11k rpm, developing 800+ bhp, and still running a 500 mile race is pretty good going.

I don't think there is much to get in NASCAR, it is more entertainment than racing IMO. A lot of 'fans' probably go to watch the wrecks, which are practically guaranteed.

Don't worry afterburn, We work in the sport and still don't get it. BTW our new sloagan is "Can't wait to say 'Remember that car of tomorrow thing"

You don't have to. If you don't like it, don't watch.

From what I understand, one of the NASCAR regulars in the 70's wrecked there during a trans am race and thus the corner was named Nascar bend. I also know that many Nascar teams test there. A few years back, the teams that finished in the top ten had all tested at VIR.

I used to hate Nascar until I drove Lowes Motor Speedway in my Porsche. It was then I realized that it wasn't just driving in circles. I think the fact that Nascar drivers do really well at the Rolex 24 speaks volumes. What also impressed me was that during the autograph sessions, they stayed longer than many of the sports car regulars. In fact, Kyle Petty stayed to sign autographs and take pictures while they were cleaning up the tables and chairs.

once nastycar was a good thing
it brought us hemi's sideoiler's and mystery motors
that the factorys had to sell [mostly at a loss ] to joe fan
on monday to race on sundays

saddly there is no stock left in the tube frame cars
that use motors we can't buy in a show room
driving wheels on the wrong ends from ''stock''
and the show is like the WWF or whatever thats now called
with the same fan base

btw the nastycar ''family'' screwed homestead in the track deal
we had a 4 corner indy copy that their ''pro's'' couldnot drive!!
they called it a 4 cornered "ROAD COURSE" like that was a bad thing and made the track redue the corners TWICE to get the current banked no skill configuration and made the city/track pay the bills so now the taxpaided for track gets no return
on it's investment as all funds go to nastycar

WORSE they killed the promisted drag strip
that was to be part of the complex
to get the kids off the streets and on a safe track
but as nastycar wants no other non owned races at ''their'' tracks so local kids street race and die

I find F1 to be fascinating. The technology, and all the behind the scenes make races so much more interesting. If you ignored last season you missed an epic one that will be looked back at years from now as one of the best.


I tried to watch Juan Puablo at Homestead this year. My discussion on here about what I saw resulted in my new sig. :D

If I never hear another announcer say " they're in the pits and just made a track bar adjustment", I think I can find peace. Yes, maybe NASCAR is good racing, but it is really boring. To sit and watch a race for 3-4 hours of round-de-round just does not suit me. I like sports cars and lots of them.

Like I said, those who don't like it don't have to watch. I think NASCAR beats a golf match or a basketball game all to hell.

Heres an example of a "low tech" 2100 HP pushrod motor out of a 38' offshore race boat. While it is fuel injected, I can show examples of carb and p-rod motors that put out well over 1200HP.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1168399233.jpg

I've been to the Hendrick's facility in Charlotte a couple times. I was very impressed with the technology. They were even nice enough to roll one of Terry Labonte's cars over the "do not cross line" so we could get a close look. I was amused to see a mechanic at this multi-million dollar facility roll an engine out in the parking lot so he could drain the coolant :D

Round and round and round, wait...piece of dirt on the track throw a yeller flag...Do it again for five laps repeat.

I wish Nascar was more like Austrailian v8 Supercars. Now that's cool v8 racing. Road Courses, cars handel well, sound awsome and don't throw yeller flags everytime a piece of gum wraper hits the track.

I dont have to " watch it" I realize that, just trying to figure out what makes it interesting....as it is slightly more then gulf

I guess I'm just not sophisticated enough to join you "elite" fellahs...If Nascar & F-1 were on opposite channels? I'd choose Nascar. Matter of fact, I doubt I'll ever watch F-1 again since it's usually follow the leader, and then toss in the Indy fiasco. I really don't care if those upper class elitist twits ever return to the USA. But I'm weird...I also enjoy drag racing.

I fully understand that the NASCAR engineers are doing some very sophisticated work with the engines as are many other racers; boat, drag, heck monster trucks. Obviously the V8 motor platform has proven to be a very capable in many race series and even carbed and push rod motors can put out some big power numbers. No argument from me at all on that.

As I sit here and ruminate on my problem with NASCAR is, my criteria in judging interest in a race series is less on the design of the engine and more how a racers deals with acceleration and not just velocity. I hold in higher esteem a racer who can start, stop, turn left and right. NASCAR is trying to keep racing close for the sponsors and the fans and if they need to use what I see as somewhat anachronistic engines to do that, then so be it.

To me, a race car is either a platform from what is available to John Q. Public, or a complete foreign platform any way you want to make it. Nascar by their rules says ( If I read and understand what the ruling said here on the Internet is correct ) that a roof part or some part need to be from the "look like" car so as to hold the same design line....Why bother? as under that -there is nothing there that comes off a Detroit assy line. It maybe a great race car but I believe it is a Detroit advertising plot, Just a bunch of parts to resemble some thing it is not.
If someone likes Nascar then Cart racing ought to be as exciting to them....and I dont get that either.
It used to be Detroit or any manufacturer could get schooled at the races and passed dwn the assy. line. Not no more.

Can someone explain to me how ignition timing can be used as traction control?

Less ignition advance = less horsepower produced = lessened chance to spin tires

Second on the dragracing, until you been to one up close...
Some of the Nascar drivers do quite well on the road/ past 2 Rolex 24's show that,
Ringers brought in to run the roadcourses for Nascar races have yet to win, that includes my boy Boris (he ran in a bobsled race this winter, think he won that) Robby Gordon running Baja & Dakar.There are some true drivers in Nascars, and for the $ some get...I would turn left all week also, then you do what E. Jr did, past vette driver
'I went a bought me Porsche..got tired of being passed by them'

Rika

Quote:

WORSE they killed the promisted drag strip that was to be part of the complex to get the kids off the streets and on a safe track but as nastycar wants no other non owned races at ''their'' tracks so local kids street race and die

Right, because obvioulsy "Nastycar" is to blame for stupid ass kids with no talent racing and dying on the street. Are you serious?

Who cares whether or not you can buy any part of a Nascar "off the showroom floor." When is the last time you tried to buy an F1 motor at a BMW dealer?

Nascar hasn't been about cars close to street cars for a long time...think maybe it might be time to get off that horse?

Hey VINMAN, what does one of those motors sell for? I'd like to put one in a 911:-D

In Joliet, the Chicagoland Speedway (used by NASCAR, IRL, and ARCA) is part of the same complex as the Route 66 Raceway (drag strip). They only opened a few years ago.

If NASCAR had a "no other event" policy, it would have showed here.

Pretty reasonable, about $60,000

NASCAR is auto racing. Auto racing is auto racing. In NASCAR, the cars are all virtually the same, though there are small opportunities for the technical crew to create slight advantages. But mostly, the cars are the same so it is, actually, a driving challenge. At 200 mph.

I prefer road course racing also, but automobile racing is automobile racing. I'd draw an analogy between racing and sex, except that it's not analagous. It's a contrast. Bad sex is......bad. Bad racing is.......still racing.

but only because the drag strip was THERE FIRST
and they havenot finished taking total control YET!!!

''INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY TO ACQUIRE ADDITIONAL 37.5 PERCENT INTEREST IN CHICAGOLAND SPEEDWAY AND ROUTE 66 RACEWAY
- Will Exercise Right to Purchase Remaining 25 Percent Interest -

- Transactions Expected to Close in Early 2007 -

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - November 1, 2006 - International Speedway Corporation (NASDAQ Global Select Market: ISCA; OTC Bulletin Board: ISCB) ("ISC") today announced it has entered into a purchase agreement with Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation to indirectly acquire an additional 37.5 percent interest in Raceway Associates, LLC ("Raceway Associates"), owner and operator of Chicagoland Speedway and Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Illinois. The purchase price for the transaction is approximately $69 million in cash.''

Is it still racing when that technical crew that got it right is penalized with phantom safety issues that require a safety car to be brought out so any lead that team may have etched out is negated?

NASCAR in the old days was racing, now its just a show and it kind of insults me when I attempt to watch it in the same manner I find "Pro Wrestling" a big joke. I am not that stupid and refuse to buy into the ploys to make the race more interesting. I say if a team is faster let it walk away from the pack and win. All this regrouping the field BS makes it 100X more boring than ANY follow the leader F1 race.

How does the old sports car saying go? (this is also a slam to F1)

If it does not race in the rain, at night, or turn right its not a real race car.

pwd72s - Its not about being elite. Its about good racing. I actually like the speed TV SCCA coverage, I wish there was more of it, over any other form of racing.

It dose take away from those who can do it better...kind a like gummy them all dwn to no talent. Why not make them remote controlled or put robots in them ??
I think I will for ever "not get it "