NASCAR is basically a regional sport. It got popular for a while, but I think the rise of F1 has showed NASCAR to be an inferior product.
OT: NASCAR is a mess!
- Thread starter WhiteBus
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F1 was big when I was little, then not. Indy car was popular in the 70's/80's and then faded. NASCAR to me used to be the best racing because of the bumping and grinding. F1 and Indy cars can't take that. NASCAR just needs to get their head out of the asses and go back to how it used to be.
I tried to watch F1 because of the Netflix series Drive to Survive but unfortunately it didn’t appeal to me as much as the behind the scenes doc did. A new season is about to release in a few days.
Feels like a Big 3 (Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari) to me in my short time paying some attention to it. That’s part of the problem for me as a pedestrian viewer and the other part is the lack of drama in the individual races and then points standings in the drivers and constructors championships. That Ver Stappen Hamilton controversial dramatic finish was great but moments like that seem few and far between. I had the same issue with Nascar when I tried to get into it a decades ago.
Very cool! I grew up in the 1980s and went to the Flemington dirt track as a kid for years. My uncle raced there in there from the late 70's through the 80s. As I recall, pretty much a bit of everything through the years, starting with Late Model, Sportsman and then Modified. Lots of good memories. I remember Jimmy Horton and a bunch of other names from that era. Great times!
Easy to stay grounded when "racing" single file through the streets of Paris
Yes, Jimmy has lost a step, but for this being his 50th year of racing he still does pretty good for an old man. He is such a good guy, I became a fan of his when I was a young kid and have been so glad to have the opportunity to work for him and become family. Funny as a kid I never liked Billy Osmun much but don't mind Willie or Billy III. Have made lots of friends in 50 plus years of being around the sport and a few enemies as well, lol.
Yep they ruined it. Get woke go broke.
When he wasn't cheating, not sure there was ever a time he wasnt! I've got to know Billy pretty well over the years as he and Jimmy have been friends along being fierce competitors since they both started in the mid 70s and especially now that he is retired he visits us a lot at the races and I bust his balls about cheating all the time! Of course he denies it every time. Both of those guys were super talented and lots of great memories watching them and others battle for 50 years. It's been fun!
Stage racing has killed the sport. More stages than a summer rock festival. I became a huge NASCAR fan in the mid 90s at the height of the Gordon-Earnhardt rivalry. I was all in as a member of the Rainbow Warrior team.
I planned vacations that centered around races. My last NASCAR vacation was at Phoenix in 2016, the final year of non-stage racing.
I planned vacations that centered around races. My last NASCAR vacation was at Phoenix in 2016, the final year of non-stage racing.
The guys playing music on the Titanic had a good audience too! Great ratings until the boat cracked in half and sank.
Hey 216. He was Mike Corcoran, in the #357 car. He raced there for quite a number of years, and I believe a few races here and there at the other tracks like Nazareth maybe. Predominantly in the dirt track days.
Man, I had so many of those Modified Country programs from those years in the 80s to early 90s. I probably tossed most but have a few. I still have tons of pictures, even going back to the 70s and all, before my time going there in the 80s.
Once upon a time around New Brunswick................
“Douglas Fisher, the former Rutgers football captain, had to make quick connections on Saturday. At the finish of the Vanderbilt Cup, Fisher motored back to town in time to act as the field judge in the Rutgers – Franklin & Marshall game in the afternoon,” according to the October 3, 1910 Daily Home News. The game finished in a scoreless tie.
The seventh annual Vanderbilt Cup car race was run at a course out on Long Island. Harry Grant was trying to defend his title and was in the lead by less than a minute when he experienced a tire problem before the final lap. Local New Brunswick employee of the Michelin Tire Company, Bob Clelland, performed a commonplace action in today’s racing world that was an unofficial world record for 1910. Clelland changed the race car tire in an astounding 15 seconds. Grant beat his closest competitor by 43 seconds and told Clelland, “You helped win this race for me.”
The Vanderbilt Cup was America’s first major auto racing trophy. It was awarded up until 1916 and then in 1936, 1937 and 1960. In 1996, it was reactivated as the CART U.S. 500 Series Championship Trophy.
The July 15, 1907 New Brunswick Home News reported one of the Vanderbilt Cup race routes being considered that year was through Middlesex County. The layout would have gone from Cranbury to New Brunswick (using Commercial Avenue, which is Paul Robeson Boulevard today onto George Street) and proceeding to Old Bridge, Union Valley and back to Cranbury. Instead, New Jersey politicians frowned on such a race and no Vanderbilt Cup was held in 1907.
“Douglas Fisher, the former Rutgers football captain, had to make quick connections on Saturday. At the finish of the Vanderbilt Cup, Fisher motored back to town in time to act as the field judge in the Rutgers – Franklin & Marshall game in the afternoon,” according to the October 3, 1910 Daily Home News. The game finished in a scoreless tie.
The seventh annual Vanderbilt Cup car race was run at a course out on Long Island. Harry Grant was trying to defend his title and was in the lead by less than a minute when he experienced a tire problem before the final lap. Local New Brunswick employee of the Michelin Tire Company, Bob Clelland, performed a commonplace action in today’s racing world that was an unofficial world record for 1910. Clelland changed the race car tire in an astounding 15 seconds. Grant beat his closest competitor by 43 seconds and told Clelland, “You helped win this race for me.”
The Vanderbilt Cup was America’s first major auto racing trophy. It was awarded up until 1916 and then in 1936, 1937 and 1960. In 1996, it was reactivated as the CART U.S. 500 Series Championship Trophy.
The July 15, 1907 New Brunswick Home News reported one of the Vanderbilt Cup race routes being considered that year was through Middlesex County. The layout would have gone from Cranbury to New Brunswick (using Commercial Avenue, which is Paul Robeson Boulevard today onto George Street) and proceeding to Old Bridge, Union Valley and back to Cranbury. Instead, New Jersey politicians frowned on such a race and no Vanderbilt Cup was held in 1907.
Definitely remember Mike, he was a real good sportsman driver, one of the tops at Flemington. Don't think he ever raced modifieds or if he did just a few. I could be wrong thought that's a long time ago for my old mind!
Haha, that was a long time ago! Yeah, he raced late model a while and then sportsman for quite a number of years and that's when I went the most as a kid. Won both points championships. He did race modifieds eventually and I was there when he won a race and bought one of those Ace Lane (?) photos. But that's about when I was getting into high school and went less. He might have won another modified race or two, but that period I don't recall as much. And then they paved the track so that was pretty much the end of his racing soon thereafter if I recall.
Great memories though! I have to dig out some of my old photo albums one of the these days. My mom had so many pics going back to the prior era too.
This is ironic because current F1 is terrible from an entertainment aspect compared to where it was 20-30 years ago when it wasn't too popular in the US. That Netflix documentary was incredible for the boost in popularity. On the flip side, NASCAR's new car has brought the best racing on the whole in the past 20 years and has eliminated the common templates that everyone hated, yet it still continues to loose traction.
Been a racing fan my whole life, follow all forms. Personally I think NASCAR has made pretty darn good decisions as an entity since 2017. 2008-2016 were the "dark" years of the sport and drove the interest out of me; terrible decision making and management practices. The sport was run by a cokehead alcoholic and the results spoke for themselves.
I love the new car and as long as they correct some safety issues with the rear of it it will position them strongly going forward. Guys like Bubba, Kyle, Denny, AJ Allmendinger, Ross Chastain, Kevin Harvick, Truex, and Gragson all have old school, colorful personalities people claim the sport is lacking.
I love the new car and as long as they correct some safety issues with the rear of it it will position them strongly going forward. Guys like Bubba, Kyle, Denny, AJ Allmendinger, Ross Chastain, Kevin Harvick, Truex, and Gragson all have old school, colorful personalities people claim the sport is lacking.
The have to get rid of "segments" and overtime for me to get back in.
Ironically the segments indirectly brought me back in. Starting in 2004, NASCAR started throwing cautions for debris thst didn’t exist to tighten up races and favor certain drivers if they fell victim to trouble. It started as a slow drip and outright turned into blatant race manipulation week in and week out. Eventually I threw in the towel, no sense in following if you aren’t allowed to lap too many cars or get too big of a lead.
Around 2016 NASCAR more or less admitted to using these cautions as a way to shoehorn in more commercials, and the creation of the stages would eliminate those BS debris cautions which they absolutely have.
Obviously I’d prefer no stage breaks but if the two options are stages or back to arbitrary and random bullshit cautions ill take the clearly defined stage breaks every time.
If someone is good that day early, they get punished. There was no need to changed what worked. They changed to try to capture an uneducated audience. In the end they are losing both. Destroyed attendance.
I was there for the last Flemington 200 on dirt won by Danny Johnson and I made a few clay balls from the track that I still have somewhere and never went back. Not much of an asphalt fan but did follow NASCAR in the 80's and early 90's when my favorite dirt driver Jimmy Horton ran some NASCAR stuff and I do watch a little bit of the truck series now since our dirt racing teammate Stewart Friesen races that series. I can't even begin to tell you how long it's been since I saw a cup race, between spoiled brat rich kids as drivers now, segments and playoffs I have no interest.
Used to go to Dover and Pocono every year with a gang and camp out. They started making you buy tickets for all races that weekend to get a camp spot. You know what they got instead? A big middle finger.
Jimmy Horton over the wall at Talladega
Didn't he say he knew he was in trouble when the first person to him was holding a beer. . .
Didn't he say he knew he was in trouble when the first person to him was holding a beer. . .
Went to Dover once. Meh. Plus the traffic getting out and back to civilization was brutal. I went to Poconos 500 many times but only stayed for the finish once. It's too long of a day. We would leave early and go to that log cabin bar up the road and get the heck out of there as soon as the race finished. There was a nice motel about a mile and change from there. It became the greatest post race tailgate spot. And when the light went on in the parking lot the rule was no more drinking outside. It was always fun.
Literally none of what you responded to has to do with going "woke," but quite predictable someone would chime in with that tired buzzword anyway.
I'm not really a fan but my buddy is and he brought a bunch of us to Pocono a few years ago, and now I look forward to it every summer. I still find it almost impossible to follow in person once the drivers start pitting and everyone is on different laps, but being able to tailgate and especially bring your own cooler of beer into the stadium makes it a great day.
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Yes Tango, that is a true story, he got out of what was left of the car and a fan with a beer in his hand was the first to get to him then a state trooper with a big southern draw told him "boy you better sit down" Jimmy obviously in shock asked him why and he just repeated himself and said it to him again. After he came out of the infield care center he asked the crew if they had the car ready for him to get back in the race. He obviously was rattled. I was watching on TV and was scared to death when he went over the wall thinking I just lost a friend. His worst wreck of his career was in an ARCA race at Atlanta while racing for Ken Schrader. He started barrel rolling down the track and another car drove under him while he was flipping, drove right into his roof at speed and immediately flipped the car in the other direction which caused crazy force on his body and broke his neck. He was in a halo for a while but recovered fine.
They keep going down the wrong road.
www.foxnews.com
NASCAR star Kyle Larson ahead of Bristol race: 'We don’t need to be racing on dirt' | Fox News
NASCAR heads back to the dirt race on Sunday night
They keep going down the wrong road.
NASCAR star Kyle Larson ahead of Bristol race: 'We don’t need to be racing on dirt' | Fox News
NASCAR heads back to the dirt race on Sunday night
The dirt track is a terrible decision by NASCAR
Bristol is one of the best tracks on the schedule and they essentially took a race away from it. Replaced it with a gimmick idea.
It is, but turning Bristol into a dirt track is an immensely stupid idea.
They should have just held this race at Knoxville or Eldora and brought in as many temporary seats as they can. But that would mean stealing a date from somewhere else.
It is, but to take what would be a great race at Bristol and dump dirt on it just does not do it for me......as @T2Kplus20 said I just think it is a gimmick......
Running moonshine in NC. Souped up cars designed to hold cargo and go fast on dirt and gravel country roads to get the product to the market. On Sundays, the owners of these cars would get together and see who was the fastest. And dirt tracks or routes were created for the purpose of competing. Folks took an interest. After a fashion, shine was abandoned, and the focus was on the competition. A rural thing. Rubbin' is racin'. North Wilkesboro NC. Rockingham NC. Those sorts of ovals.
