In my opinion theres no point writing to a forum if you dont have an opinion. How else do you propose to rate NASCAR if not by comparing it to other forms of motorspot?

Not necessarily better/worse but say more/less exciting more/less demanding of different driver qualities etc.

Schumacher recently turned down a challenge to a two part race in WRC and F1 I think it was from McRae. There are numerous events in which drivers from different championships race against each other on "equal" terms. My guess is the drivers themselves like to compare if not among the different series, at least the drivers from those different series.

You people have to stop blerting out ego driven comments. There are many types or racing, they are all different and are not designed to be compared....Do they all have the same car, NASCAR, F1 and WRC???....No so dont compare them. Would you like it if they all raced the same car, apparently you people would so you can waste your time comparing them. And when your giving your opinion on a matter say " IN my opinion........"

OK an F1 qual lap at Monte Carlo is as good as WRC. What about an F1 qual lap at any other track this year? Any good?

They keep scrapping the good F1 places - old Silverstone, Nurburgring, Spa - all the new cicuits look like outsized toy tracks...

The races are incomparable. NASCAR is one of the last top level forms of motorsport where tactics, pit crews and ALLROUND driver performance are important. The cars actually overtake each other, which is not usual elsewhere anymore...

Most drivers good at CART or elsewhere dont make it in NASCAR, NASCAR drivers dont often try other racing... Difficult to compare. Some OLD people race in NASCAR but so they do in WRC and Le Mans and CART. That makes me guess F1 drivers are still the most competitive in terms of outright speed and motivation.

BTW Monte Carlo IS awesome i walked around the track and its amazingly narrow and tight, the whole place is really small. But the old oval track at Monza is just as impressive...

Yes I would have to agree that Nascar is not all that entertaining. Not to say these people aren't skilled competitors. I personally don't get too excited by looking at cars drive in a circle. The Monaco Grand Prix on the other hand is pretty intense. Someone posted a video of a qualifying lap for the monaco grand prix done in the first person and if you think nascar might take some focus you should take a gander at that.

It troubles me to see men belittling themselves from defining objective concepts with subjective reasonsing.


This comment was edited on Feb 18, 00:18.

Nascar???

Oi vey...

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Teddy: You don't know who you are anymore.
Leonard Shelby: Of course I do. I'm Leonard Shelby. I'm from San Francisco.
Teddy: No, that's who you were! Maybe it's time you started investigating yourself.

for some reason i cant stand michael waltrip

There is a very clear mental barrier, or leap of faith, that one makes when really pushing the limits. Concrete is hard and you are risking your life every lap, every turn. Thats a leap that some people just cant make. True racers do, even in the face of injury or even death in some cases.

There's a story I heard about Greg Biffle when he was driving at our little track here that really shows what a difference a real driver makes. Seems he had been dominating here for some time and after one race a local yokel (loser) started whining about how Biffle only won because he had more money and could afford better equipment. So Biffle promply borrows the guy's car and wins the next race by nearly a lap - he may have even let the other guy drive his car in the same race but I can't remember. Either way, it shut the guy up.

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Of course I could be wrong... but really, what are the chances of that happening twice?

It continues to amaze me how Blues interests correspond with my own, it must have smthing to do with age

I get the same fun from watching nascar as i do from WRC.
Same goes for playing N 2003 and Colin McRrae R II.

CART and F1 and sportscars are not as good a spectacle at the moment and the games on offer are just not as good...

Other series are mostly for retired/upcoming drivers so dont really compare...

F1 was great in the 60s and 70s since then it has only had a few good seasons, costs are way too high, technical rules all wrong. Interesting competition rules for 2003. Car performance much more important than driver ability.

Rallying has always been exciting. It made it on TV only recently. Sometimes the technical rules get weird and the differences between makes are important. Great in-car shots. Cool how the driver and co-driver have to cooperate... Great if they speak estonian or finnish...

CART has a great mix of tracks and good rules, fun to watch but obviously not making money. Easy to spot the good drivers.

Nascar appears to have good rules and management in all areas and racing is quite complex and compelling to watch. Races are LONG though. Easy to tell who can drive, easy to tell who can think...

Watch for Roman Kresta in WRC and i still hope Tomas Enge makes it into CART rather than DTM though he is not quite fast or rich enough (hes proved in the past to be better than Schecter from IRL though)...

BTW M. Schumacher does throw his helmet on occasion, he has also been disqualified from the F1 championship in one season for taking out a competitor with his car (definitely more than a tap you could see in a nascar race).

just because something is hard does NOT make it a sport. Watching NASCAR is like watching a book that spends most of it time in character's heads made into a movie, it doesn't translate well at all. The announcers try and get uyou into the head of the drivers, but it's just not the same as doing it yourself. Plus even if it was a sport, solo sports don't appeal to me at all. (pit crews and such don't count)

F1 had such a terrible season last year, and something really drastic will have to change, otherwise no one will bother to watch it anymore. Launch control took all the skill out of the most tense part of the race (the start), and traction control took away some of the driver's skill. These are extremelly talented drivers (no, really, they are), but the sport has become a parade of technology.

WRC... oh my. What an incredible thing that is. Hurtling through a forest at 80+ mph over loose gravel must be such an adrenaline rush. I love to watch it. The main problem over here is TV rights. F1 used to be a regular sunday event, WRC has only just come back to our screens a couple of seasons ago, and much of the rest is lost in a jumble that's shown every now and then.

Please dont critisize something you have never tried, or at the very least, seen in person.

The biggest disadvantage that racing (in general) has is the difficulty for the "average" person to play and experience it firsthand. Even as a kid you can play sports like baseball, football, hockey, tennis, ect, ect. Not too easy to jump in a race car and tear up the play yard.

I raced stock cars for two years before selling it for a down payment on a house (dang priorities ) I can tell you firsthand the part about non-athletes is pure BS. Secondly I will go on to say that at least at a local level, there *ARE* a few drivers, at first, that just drive around the track not really pushing the envelope or really putting thier foot in it. There is a very clear mental barrier, or leap of faith, that one makes when really pushing the limits. Concrete is hard and you are risking your life every lap, every turn. Thats a leap that some people just cant make. True racers do, even in the face of injury or even death in some cases. We joked that it was "growing some balls" that was the rite of passage for those getting into the sport at first. The closest thing (other than getting in a real one) I can suggest is riding a top rated rollercoaster WITHOUT STOPPING for an hour (and in the case of cup drivers three to four) NONSTOP and then tell me they are not athletes. You have absolutely no idea the physical, and mental strain that takes it's toll, trust me. Thats the disadvantage of some to accept it as a sport. You cant do it, and therefore truly understand it, so instead you discount it as "just a bunch of rednecks going in a circle"

Put your money where your mouth is and go do one of those stock car "driving experiences" and see for yourself. Then, if you still subscribe to your opinion about racers not being atheletes, me, and the 60 million plus other NASCAR Fans, will respect it.

This comment was edited on Feb 17, 07:35.

only racing I bother to watch now adays is F1, JGTC, Le Mans, and WRC. WRC is by far one of the most exciting thing to watch.. the people that race in these are some AMAZING drivers...

Nastycar, I never seen such poor sportsmanship in my life... people need to learn to control their temper.. it's so embarassing to watch it.. didn't know people behaved so poorly...

sas i agree partially with ya, road courses are better than circles, but i liked how cart used to have lots of ovals and road courses, but good ole tony george killed indycar racing.

about nascar, it is kind of half assed but it does lead to good racing (except with the goddamn restrictor plates). I wish it was like the old days where they would use ACTUAL production cars, instead of just pretending to. Then maybe car companies would actually still make rear-wheel drive cars. Imagine if nascar used real ford tauruses.....

For reals......i am shocked (and saddened)too....

Nascar is too much like pro-wrestling. The actual sport is secondary, the PERFORMERS are the #1 thing. Who's the CUTEST....is he single?.....all that crap.

Things like (the soon to be defunct)CART and F1...good tech, LOTS of skill, and TURNS (not just left ones). Plus, it is much more of a gentleman's sport. You will never see the highest paid athlete in the world (Michael Schumacher) throw his helmet in anger at another driver (ala NASCRAP).


Slow, very old tech machines that have pictures of modern family sedans painted on them.....driving in circles.....by hillbillys? No thank you

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Kiss my shiny metal butt

blue what is your phone number so we can set up a race

Oh... my... God... I'm in shock... fredrickson made a.... SOMEWHAT COHERENT POST?! Anyone have any news on the temperature in hell? I mean, he quickly reverted back to form, but is no one else shocked?

I sure hope this doesn't start a trend!

~Jedi

This comment was edited on Feb 17, 00:20.

I don't consider driving around in circles a whole lot of fun, but how about something like Baja? Rugged cars driving across rough desert, lots of hazards to watch out for, ever-changing conditions (having to consider everything from overwhelming heat to cold rain and mud)...now that's interesting racing. Not this 'Hey, let's drive around in a circle 500 times while expending thousands of dollars worth of fuel and high-end racing gear! Whee!'; I don't even like the games. I'd take Baja over Indy/NASCAR any day.

This comment was edited on Feb 16, 22:47.

I do fucking drive, and I think it's fun. But it's not fun to either A) drive around in a circle, or B) Watch other people do it. There is like nothing interesting about watching cars race, I'm sorry. Do it once maybe to benchmark engines or what not, but what the fuck is the real point? I wish they would stop the dumb sport, then maybe my gas wouldn't cost a fucking dollar seventy five. And, I can't really say I'm sorry for anyone who dies in that bore, they are basically asking for it.

Martial arts is so different. You actually move your body! That takes an infinite amount more skill than racing. Shit, I would even call (certain) competitive video games sports, but not racing.

Most of it has to do with the fact that they are not really on a level playing field. Whoever has the best car will win. Why not just test the engines in a lab and save those hicks the time and boredom?

CART is better than both F1 and nascar