The Secret to Loving NASCAR.....it's personal

[Red State Rebel]

If you turn a NASCAR race on the TV and watch for a few minutes for the first time, chances are, you are going to draw the same conclusion that a lot of people on this board make - how boring!

Now consider turning on the TV to watch a NASCAR race knowing that your best friend, brother, favorite cousin, etc. is driving one of the cars. You pick him out of the crowd of cars by his paint scheme, you watch the list of drivers positions at the top of the screen to see if he is moving up or losing ground. When it's time for pit stops, you watch to see how fast he gets in and out (15 or 16 seconds to get a full tank, four fresh tires and your windshield clean should be enough to excite most people by itself, but I digress).

What makes NASCAR fans so fanatic is they make it personal by having a favorite driver. They choose their drivers for a number of reasons. It could be a friend told them about one that they liked, it could be the drivers reputation for being aggressive, a crowd favorite, attractive (if you are female or gay), or maybe he's from your local area.

NASCAR fans don't turn on the TV or make the trip to the track to watch cars drive in circles, they go to watch THEIR driver finesse a car that has been made to the exact standards of the NASCAR rules to the winners circle. Each track has a different configuration and requires a different set of skills - super speedways, short tracks (my personal favorite) and road courses. Each different configuration requires not only a different set of skills for the drivers, but for the mechanics that build the cars. The cars set up and suspension determine how well it hugs the track and does what needs to be done. A fraction of an inch in shocks, a bit of tire pressure, or sometimes a $2.00 part can determine whether a driver is up front or lagging behind praying for a pit stop to make an adjustment or repair.

This is just a minute part of it all. I've been a race fan since I was 15 and my mom took me to a local track to see a male friend of hers who raced a car. Being at that boy crazy age, I asked her if there were any drivers close to my age and she pointed out 2 - Rusty Wallace and Kenny Schrader. A couple years later Mike Wallace joined his brother and at that time Dad also drove. I then realized that I went to high school with Rusty and Mike - Kenny went to a neighboring school. Since then, I have followed their careers and watched them race. I've driven as much as 9 hours and flown to watch races at Martinsville, VA, Bristol, TN and Indianapolis to see these guys race.

I'm not a hick, I live in a suburb of St. Louis, my husband and I own a thriving business and before that, I was an accountant for 15 years. All four of our children have graduated college - the youngest is doing her Masters work at St. Louis University. I'm also the director of a non profit group and in the University of Missouri/Missouri Botanical Garden's Master Gardener program.

I hope I have shed some light on what NASCAR is all about - it's not what most people outside of the sport (and yes, it is a sport) think it is. It hurts me to see people make snap judgments and ridicule what they really know nothing about - it makes us all look bad when we generalize and degrade such a large contingent of people.

[Spentastic]

1. Not to dismiss your

Finely crafted post :)

But people going to watch "attractive" people go fast still seems pretty facile. Furthermore, would you assume that most people share your in depth knowledge?

In my not very humble opinion all sports are to one extent or another dumb (and I love sport). From steroid laden footballers to EPO'd cyclists. NASCAR gets a bad rap because some of its followers take pleasure in their stereotype.

Of course if you don't like cars NASCAR is boring. If you believe that burning oil and making noise are not necessarily good things then it's more than boring.

[Red State Rebel]

2. The attractive part comes in the...

pre and post race interviews, commercials, personal appearances, etc.

I'm not sure about people loving that stereotype...maybe some but I'd say it's a small percentage.

[LostInTheMaise]

6. I love burning oil and making noise

And so do most of my Democrat friends.

[Spentastic]

8. I'm sure you do

Plenty of people will characterise you as a selfish idiot for doing so.

Who is right?

[YNGW]

17. Who Cares?

>Plenty of people will characterise you as a selfish idiot for doing so. Who is right?

The last thing I'm going to do is live my life worried about what someone who doesn't even know me thinks about me.

[Spentastic]

20. Good on you

Just be aware that when confronted with these people's objections your defence will be "Who cares what you think"

I believe that's a Bushism

[YNGW]

21. Exactly!

If I wanna watch racing, I'll watch racing. If I want to buy and junker and participate at the local track, I'll do it. These people who go around trying to tell me what I can and can't do when what I'm doing is perfectly legal are an affont to our whole concept of freedom, and I'll gladly tell them "Who cares what you think".

[Spentastic]

22. Well at least you're honest

Is everything legal good? Obviously not.People may have criticisms of legal activities

like here for example.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1130110

[Hubert Flottz]

3. Rusty was sucking up to Bush Big time!

Rusty was the only driver who I saw and heard PRAISE Bush on TV sunday! The whole Bush visit reminded me of the Nuremberg Pollitical Rallies in the 30s! It spoiled the race like Bush spoils everything else he touches!

[Red State Rebel]

5. I missed all of that - I tuned in just in time to see the race start...

I'm gonna have to have a talk with that boy :)

[Hubert Flottz]

11. Bush makes everything including dead GIs, political!

Bush turned everyones American dream into an American nightmare! I miss Dale and Davey!

[Lugnut]

31. Missed that.....

I expected that of Michael Waltrip since he's usually the guy who is heaping praise. I don't think we'll ever hear that stuff from Mark Martin, though. :)

[LostInTheMaise]

4. Some argue they waste fuel

Nevermind that they burn about .0000001% of all fuel burned in the US and those that whine about it waste more fuel on their SF to DC flights to promote their other environmentalist causes like banning snowmobiles, leaf blowers, off-road motorcycles, NASCAR tracks etc.

Some people still like to impose their values on others.

[Hubert Flottz]

9. How much fuel did AF1 burn going to Florida?

Oil's well that ends well, if you get everything for free like Shrub does and has his entire lazy life!

[Red State Rebel]

25. Probably not any more than it took when

President Clinton attended 7 different baseball games during his tenure. Why is NASCAR forbidden when baseball, etc. is not?

[gulliver]

10. "Some people still like to impose their values on others."

Yes, and it's not just Republicans and TV commercials.

There are a few Dems who make the math mistake you are talking about. I've read maybe one post on it. Scolding about wasted fuel is silly, but I wouldn't call it an "imposition of values on others." It's just complaining -- silly complaining.

Personally, I love the main posters points about NASCAR. I now see it in a different light -- not boring after all.

[Racenut20]

7. U R right on, Fenton girl...

Yes you can see a lot more and learn a lot more by watching tv. But in July of 2001, to feel the energy of the 180,000 fans when Junior first brought the red/white 8 to the front was a rush that cannot be adequately put into words. Didn't matter who they were a fan of. Guy with the seats next to mine is a North Carolina Dodge dealer who sponsors other cars on the track. He and his wife were up screaming.
Or to see Tony Stewart and Junior bumper locked going into the first turn over 190 mph Sunday.

I think either you get it or you don't. And you and your family obviously do. Glad to be on your "race team". (And I love Rusty and Kenny Schrader too).

[Red State Rebel]

15. The first time I heard the cars live at Bristol.....

was an experience I'll never forget. We stayed at the track in a motorhome and got in late at night. When I woke up the next day and could hear cars taking laps on the track it was fantastic!

Staying at the track on race weekend is another experience every race fan should try. What a party! Race fans are some of the greatest people I've every met.

[LeftHander]

12. turn left, turn left, turn left....

I like road racing better. F1 is too cool. Nascar drivers are good but they aren't the best drivers in the world. F1 and certainly pro Rally drivers....I would have to tip my hat to rally..150 mph on snow, mud, gravel in the trees....insanity....

The one thing about Nascar is that is a spectator sport. YOu can see the whole thing for the most part. F1 your better off watching it on TV.

I like the road courses in NASCAR. It's fun to watch them muscle those cars around a twisty road course.

F1 and rally fans in Europe are as fanatical as US nascar fans...

F1, Nascar, Rally, Bike racing, Sailboat racing.....it's all fun...

OTN and Speedvision rocks....

[October]

13. Left and Right Turns in F-1

F-1 Season starts soon!

[Red State Rebel]

14. I like the road courses too....

The area we live in is very hilly and some of the two lane roads out here are wild - I can see very easily how drivers get into racing like that.

[Ready4Change]

19. I'm with ya

Love F1 and pro Rally, and Speedvision.

And there is perhaps my one true gripe about NASCAR. It is SO popular and profitable here in the USA that it's often hard to see any coverage of any other form of racing. I far prefered Speedvision back when it seemed focused on showing anything BUT NASCAR. Now that Speedvision has become the Speed Channel, it's mostly NASCAR, with other forms of racing as filler.

Heck, I started watching Speedvision because it covered AIR Racing! That's gone out the window of the NASCAR Cha, er, Speed Channel.

Sorry, just a bit despondent about that.

[Ready4Change]

16. I still don't "get" NASCAR

I'm not saying there's anything really wrong about being a NASCAR fan. There's a LOT of people getting enjoyment out of it, and that's ok by me.

But the personal factor espoused by NASCAR fans is something that is applied to ANY sport by it's fans. A World Rally fan would be amazed if you have no idea who Carlos Saintz is, and an American football fan would be astounded if you didn't know how many passes were completed in the last Superbowl. I'm sure Red/White number 8 means something to you all, but since I haven't committed myself to NASCAR fanship, I just don't care.

Personally, I prefer either Formula 1 or World Rally racing. I'd go into why, but that would just be a fan of one sport trying to win over the fan of another, and that's a bit pointless.

The REAL point should be, are we having fun? If so, more power to us.

Enjoy.

[radwriter0555]

18. Hmmm. Guys driving around in circles, trying NOT to die, are ...er HEROES.

somehow...

Like that ernhardt guy? Like he's some sort of god? Cause he drove round and round in a circle really really fast and crashed one last time until he was dead? A hero?

You guys make heroes for strange reasons, I tell ya.

Lost on me.

[Red State Rebel]

24. Workplace deaths happen all the time...

thats like saying "why did that ironworker walk around on those high beams till he fell off.

That is the line of work Dale E. chose, he knew the hazards of the job just like an Alaskan Fisherman or Police Officer knows the hazards of the job they take.

In reality, a lot of the safety mechanisms that have come about in the racing world have carried over into regular passenger vehicles.

[Heyo]

28. You're right about one thing...

It is lost on you... totally.

[Bombero1956]

29. funny

But as a firefighter I'm trying not to die when I enter a burning structure. I could die, but I knew that going in, so did Dale Earnhardt, Neil Bonnett, Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin.

[radwriter0555]

30. As a firefighter, your job is to protect and serve. As a race-car driver,

you drive around in circles while people pay you LOTS AND LOTS of money, and while corporate sponsors of some of the most damaging companies and industries on the planet advertise all over your clothes and car, promoting such GREAT values as slavery, oppression, capitalism, imperialism and war.

yes, oil and gas companies.

A firefighter is a hero.

A racecar driver is a corporate whore. he isn't a hero.

Sorry if you don't like the reality.

[Heyo]

32. Thanks...

For showing us reality. We all know that you yourself are the one who determines what reality is, and the rest of us are delusional. Because, we all know you are so much smarter than the rest of us.

Reading your post makes me like NASCAR even more... because of how it pisses off the likes of you.

When will you and those like you figure it out? It's not YOUR PLACE to choose for the rest of us what is proper... it's none of your business who other people view as a hero.

Either you'll figure it out one day, or you won't.. either way, I'll be at the races.

:9

Heyo

PS. I love how you have "Capitalism" in there as one of the supposedly evil things promoted by racing sponsors. That is really telling right there. Good, I think it's great that they support capitalism! Thanks for pointing that out.

[radwriter0555]

33. Racing doesn't piss me off. Supporting corrupt corporations who sponsor

war, oppression, imperialism and silly things like that is something I choose, with a reasonable conscience not to do.

I choose not to promote values that glorify aggression, capitalism, slavery, violence and death. You can though, if you want to.

I'm just presenting a point of view you hadn't thought of is all. NO need to get all testy about it.

[Spentastic]

34. Well I think Stalin is a Hero

And I'm not listening to you telling me I'm wrong.

Calling people who race cars for a living heroes devalues the term when applied to others.

If I had to go further I'd say it's crass.

[radwriter0555]

35. Ah you bring up capitalism and are defending it? What is the good of

capitalism?

Capitalism isn't about fostering betterment through competition. I bet you can't even think of the last time something BETTER came about through some alleged corporate competition...

Capitalism is about conquering, buying out, leveraging out, swallowing up, buying up, and running smaller companies out of business so that the bigger companies can be conglomerated into giant monopolies.

Then you end up with walmarts. Oh goody, they're so good for us!

Capitalism sucks.

[Heyo]

36. Damn right I will defend capitalism....

Just look at the alternatives.

[radwriter0555]

37. You mean like socialism? Wherein SOCIETY cares for its children and

elderly and everyone in between so that none are lacking, homeless, starving, or ill without health care?

I'm supposed to NOT like socialism? What's not to like?

Socialism is for and about the people who make up our society, rather like those famous words, "by the people and for the people" in some founding document of the USA...

Capitalism is about greed, oppression, aggression, punishment, adversity, abject abuse of power, wealth, detriment, disparity and classism.

I think caring about people, and a government by the people and for the people is a lot more important than caring about corporations and a government by the corporations and for the corporations, as we have here under the bush regime.

And you failed to answer me. What is the good of capitalism? I've proven it certainly doesn't breed competition and improvements... so what good is it?

[Heyo]

38. Look...

You're apparently a socialist.. I am a capitalist...

It makes no sense to bash our heads against each other in a NASCAR thread. I will never convince you to accept capitalism, you damn sure will never get me to accept Socialism. So lets not even get too far into it.

I will answer your question though, you wanted to know what's so great about capitalism?

Well, for me it's the idea of basic fundamental freedom at the deepest level of humanity. I believe that each of us, as we are born.. (I won't say "creator" because this is not about that)... we are born as a free and individual person. We are born with certain rights that I feel NOBODY should have the right to take away. No person and no government. No government has the right to tell us how to run our lives. Nobody has the right to take all your stuff and give it to someone else.

See, I see the idea of socialism as so deeply fundamentally flawed. It makes the *state* your daddy...the claim that socialism is a way for everyone to get an equal chance is a lie, in my opinion. It's a way for a select few who think they are smarter than everyone to take away possesions, property, and wealth that DO NOT belong to them and distribute them as they see fit.

I see any collectivist system (socialism, marxism, you name it) as a total abomination that goes against what it is to be a human, and to be a free and individual human being. You can have your all powerful state if you want. But leave me out of it.

Let's not even get into the unvelievable horrendous human rights violations that we have seen as a result of socialism, and that are obviously the logical conclusion of any attempt to implement it anywhere in the world. Let me guess "that wasn't real socialism.. socialism has never been tried"... yeah right.

You can't have soclialism or communism without a brutal dictatorship.

And just because you don't have a big house and a Lexus.. doesn't make you 'oppressed'!!

Also, just so you don't get the wrong idea.. I believe in taxing people to help those in need, and especially to help people have health care.... but I'm for free market all the way... there's plenty of room for all that in capitalism... plus, look how much the system is being abused right now.

Heyo

[Jose Diablo]

23. Well said

Any description of the experience of "being at" a NASCAR event is just a shadow of the real experience.

In the mid 50's there was a dirt oval in the river bottoms of north Kansas City called Riverside.

The cyclone fence around Riverside had a split that allowed us 'poor' kids entry to watch the races. I think the track owners wanted the split in the fence to be there for us.

The cars were Fords, Chevy's a few big block Dodges with the fender wells cut-out to allow the exhaust headers exit room. The headers glowed cherry red.

The stands were protected by a tall chain link fence, like a baseball backstop, at the first turn. When the cars screamed into the turn the tires would throw clay clods into the fence and pepper us with clay.

And the smell, a mixture of burning oil burning rubber and dirt was like what I would experience much latter to be a drug rush.

It is impossible for me to describe the experience. I think the descriptions about NASCAR as being pointless left turns, wasting resources or other words that say more or less they don't understand is just that. They don't understand.

Much like not understanding a point of view from people forced by economic reality to live in crummy rental trailers and listen to others call them 'rednecks', 'trailer trash' and other terms that relegate the poor to permanent underclass status. But the rednecks are white. Could this be the difference in empathy?

Then to spout about being 'enlightened' to plight of the poor is just plain hypocrisy. Talk is cheap.

Even the Democratic Party has a long way to go before they can call themselves the party of the people.

[bleedingheart]

26. Everyone has something they like - I admit I am a Martha Stewart fan!

there...its out there.. i love her show and her books...its my secret vice...

okay...I feel better now.

[frylock]

27. very well thought out and articulated post..

if you're ever in California for the race, PM me. I'd like to buy you and your husband a beer!