Dear LL,
Your question (and conclusions) are pretty much the same as asking why anyone
would possibly like to watch Cricket over Baseball -- sort of like saying that
American Baseball requires much more skill than Cricket and is therefore an
inferior sport.
I don't think anyone who knows what they're talking about would argue that F!
drivers are not the best in the world. They'd better be -- they're driving the
most expensive and fastest vehicles on the planet. Whether or not F1 is a
"better" sport than any other form of racing is, however, purely subjective. I
used to think that F1 was an exciting sport. I don't any more. It usually ends
up being a parade around ultra-tight, chicane-ridden courses where passing
amongst the frontrunners almost invariably occurs during pit stops. I still
watch it, but it's just not the same. I'd rather watch touring cars or
superbikes.
Actually, there are 34 races in Winston Cup and only two are run on road courses
(at Watkins Glen and Sears Point)
I know you don't want to be told, but facts are facts. Except for a couple of
breaks during the season, races are run every week. The ovals do vary
drastically. The lengths, bankings, surfaces, and yes, configuration varies
from track to track. Each track requires different strategies in fuel and tire
management and in some cases brake management. The frantic frammin' and bammin'
of Martinsvlle is quite different from the strategic restrictor-plate racing of
Talladega or Daytona. My understanding of these factors makes watching the races
every week far from a bit of the same.
Every track (or corner) in F1 looks different to you because you're thoroughly
familiar with all of the courses. To people who are unfamiliar with Grand Prix,
or are just casual watchers, TI Aida looks like Interlagos which looks like
Barcelona which looks like Hungaroring, etc.
NASCAR certainly has its share of unseemly nudging, but they're nowhere near as
bad as British and Australian touring car racers. At times these races make a
NASCAR race look like a funeral procession. Seems to me even F1 drivers are
guilty of this. (Schumacher, Hill and Senna have all put somebody off in the
quest for the championship, and there are many many others in F1 history.)
I certainly respect your opinion. But what I don't understand is why you feel
the need, no matter how subtlely you do it, to scoff at oval track racing.
Comparing NASCAR to F1 is like comparing American football to European Soccer.
It makes no sense. They are completely different sports, requiring different
skills, equipment, and venues. That it all looks the same to you is due to your
unfamiliarity with the sport.
In my younger days, I used to feel the same way. I looked down my nose at the
roundy-track racers with their hulking beasts and huge V8s and necks of color. I
thought only Formula One and International sports car racing was worth watching
and all else was merely amateur city. But as I became older and more familiar
with motor racing, however, I grew to enjoy all forms of racing. Once I
understood the particular sport, whether it was sprint car racing, World Rally,
Trials, motocross, or drag racing, I could appreciate the skill and appeal of
each type of motorsport much more. I have my favorites, of course, but I gave
up pooh-poohing others' sports a long time ago. Not only does it smack of
elitest snobbery, but it's ignorant as well.
I can't stand American Basketball. I just can't see how hard it is for a
seven-foot guy to put a ball into a basket that's only ten feet off the ground.
My opinion is based on total ignorance. My opinion does not make the sport
inferior to any other except in my own ill-informed mind. I think that if you
took the time to understand NASCAR Racing, although you may still not like it,
you wouldn't pass it off as casually as you do now.
--
Bob Curtin
Worcester Area Strategy & Tactics Exchange
http://www.racesimcentral.net/
"If God had intended men to join the Army he would have given us green, baggy
skin"
