I watched a 400-lap race today. I did not, however, get to see anywhere near 400 laps, but instead had to set through about 400 commercials. I understand the business part of racing and know that bills must be paid and profit must be made, but for this long-time fan it is getting totally out of hand. I have been a fan since the cars were real stock cars with doors, but I'm not sure I will be much longer.

 

Truth - The bigger something gets, the more commercialized it becomes and loses touch with the original community.

Ryan

 

just do what i do and tape it. then fast forward thru the commercials and the repetitive stuff they feel they have to tell over and over. i know what tight and loose is. i don't need BP telling me that every 30 min. whew! i feel better now thanks.

 

I haven't watched much nascar for years, I lost interest when they quit using "stock" cars, now they are all the same wind tunnel tested body and no different than formula 1 cars etc (tube chassis etc), I would much rather go watch a bunch of kids running dirt tracks locally than to watch that joke of a series of racing. And when the guy that places last place at daytona, and only finishes a couple of laps makes quater mill its gotten way to much money to be worth much. Same reason I don't watch pro sports of any type, they are all a bunch of over paid whiners that I just can't bring myself to support anymore.

 

NASCAR is not about racing it is all about business; to their credit they have built one heck of a business. Extremely successful.
IMO not fun to watch but it is thriving.

Go figure this coming from an F1 guy….OK now I really opened the door.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. I have better things to do now with my Sunday afternoons.

Duncan

 

This goes for me also.

 

cars going around and around in a circle 400-500 times fails to excite me, it's like watching a merry-go-round.

 

When they took Darlington out of the circut, that was it for me.
The indipendant guy dosn't stand much of a chance.
I agree with Monsterbaby.

 

+1 to all the above.
I grew up about an hour from Talladega. I used to go to time trials, practice and a few races way back in the mid - late 70s. I have been to quite a few races there (NASCAR, ARCA, Busch) as well as a few races at Atlanta and Charoltte.

I haven't watched a race in years now.

Tim nailed it - to an extent at least. I do believe it is, and always will be, all about racing: to the GUY DRVING THE CAR.
And, his pit crew as well. But beyond that, it's all business and $$. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, I applaud it, as that is part of American free enterprise. And looking at the current popularity of NASCAR, they appear to be managing their "business" pretty well.

It just don't excite me any more. I lost interest about the time Davy Allison was killed, although not because he died.
That is, in my mind, about when the face of NASCAR really started to change.
I was there for quite a few of the tumbling crashes that lead to today's restrictor plates. I HATE restrictor plate racing. I HATE the crashes that have resulted from all the cars being bunched up. I got tired of seeing so many drivers caught up in 20 car crashes.
Darlintong, and so many of the original tracks are gone. Now we have Texas and Las Vegas. Again, nothing wrong with that. It's all about making good $$ decisions

It still frustrates me that it is refered to in any shape, form or fashion as "stock car racing".
I have seen stock bodied cars run at Talladega.
This just ain't the same.

As for me, give me a steady does of AMA Motorcycle races, Moto GP races and some WRC stuff, and I'm good to go.

 

Nascar???...........I don't get it?

 

I sure doesn't seem like it is about the racing any more that's for sure. Thelast ten years have been a nose dive in my opinion. Although, I do enjoy watching the truck races it seems more like the racing used to be.

 

I used to watch more races too, but remember what Nascar stands for:

Non
Athletic
Sport
Created
Around
Rednecks

No offence to anyone, but hey, I am best at non-athletic sports (now what does that say about me?)