Where does Nascar rank In your Opinion?

[flamehothead]

I read an Interesting story in a Magazine while I was waiting to see the Doctor yesterday and it made me think, Why is it that Nascar still carries that Hillbilly/Redneck Image around? Of course they were comparing Nascar to Formula-1 but IMO they are NOT even close in comparison or at least as far as the cars are concerned. This year Nascar Introduced Toyota and Red Bull which are a big part of F-1 racing and of course Nascar now has Juan Pablo Montoya and that is about the only two simularities unless you count the part about both cars have Four Tires LOL. I think that F-1 having all of the Super Cars backing them is what makes F-1 fans and everyone else feel Preemminent over the whole Nascar community. Alot of F-1 fans look at the Monte Carlo or the Ford Fusion like they are not worthy or something LOL. Maybe someone else could ring in on this and let me know what you think. Is/Will Nascar always be the Hillbilly/Redneck Sport that it has been known in the past?

[Earl]

Nascars rule of the week doesn't help their image.  Neither does racing at restrictor plate tracks

[DodgePower]

The rule changes from week to week is not good and drives me crazy....  I don't like the lucky dog rule and I would say most drivers would agree... You work you a$$ off as a driver to lap someone and he gets it back by being 1st car lap down..... Imagine that in other sports.... Then the chase seems a little crazy.... Should be for the whole year or at least give the guy that worked to finish number 1 a bigger advantage.... Now they have top 35 guaranteed a spot in race.... Kinda makes qualifying worthless as a spectator....

I know they did the chase to get folks interested late in the year but when College Football starts most don't follow the races like they did before College Football..... Nothing better then tailgating with a cooler full of adult bevs and plenty of college girls for the scenery......

Nascar is still my number 1 sport but my significant other loves football season..... The races are too long for her and the older I get I might agree....

[HUDSON HORNET]

Is/Will Nascar always be the Hillbilly/Redneck Sport that it has been known in the past?

By Golly! I hope so.

I guess I'm a Hillbilly/Redneck, but I'd rather bump elbows with the like than be any part of a snooty, highbrow crowd.

As far as comparing NASCAR with F-1 --- it's apples and oranges. I don''t for the life of me understand the attempt to do so. The only reason I can think of is the sports writers and talking heads don't have anything intelligent to say, so they try to do the impossible and unthinkable. I haven't heard any worthwhile explanation of how NASCAR and F-1 compare, but yet they keep trying.

What's next? Comparing talking heads with race car drivers?
How about auto racing and bicycle racing?
What if?
Yeah but!
But on the other hand.
Could it be said?
Do you think?

I think not!

Really! I don't. 

[falcon325]

I guess I'm a Hillbilly/Redneck, but I'd rather bump elbows with the like than be any part of a snooty, highbrow crowd.

You're absolutely right about the differences in Cup and F-1.  My sister lived in London for a few years.  Her husband was in marketing for a tobacco wholesaler and took clients to F-1 races.  She asked him about taking me to a race.  He said that it costs about $1,500 to take clients to an F-1 race.  A big part of that expense was the fact that the British F-1 venue is out in the middle of nowhere with just a two-lane road (hmmmm.  Is there a North Wilkesboro in England?) and all the F-1 mucky-muck fans wouldn't THINK of sitting in traffic.  So the place looks like Viet Nam on race day, with a steady stream of choppers lifting corporate-client “fans” into the area.  Once there, much champagne is drunk and a fair amount of fish-eggs are consumed and, every fifteen seconds or so, an enraged bumblebee zips past.  After an hour or so, three guys get up on a platform, hose each other down with champagne and then everybody gets on their choppers and flies home.  Yawn.

Don't get me wrong, the engineering that goes into an F-1 car is amazing as is their performance around the track.  And it takes the reflexes of a cat and a lot of nerve to drive those things.  It's just that it makes for lousy racing.

I think I've told this tale before, but I once had the opportunity to meet and old-school car owner before a Cup race.  I was taking my second daughter to a race at Lowes for her birthday.  The car owner offered us suite tickets.  I told my daughter that it was her birthday, do she could choose whether we sat in the suites or up in our usual seat in turn 2.  She thought for a moment, and then thanked him and told him she would rather be out where she could hear the engines and smell the tire smoke.  She could have thought for a hundred years and not come up with something that would have impressed an old-school car owner more.  He actually looked embarrassed for offering them as he blurted out, "Oh.  You're a REAL race fan."

I don't think it's that we're southern or redneck so much as it is that Cup fans want to be in the stands where we can watch some racin'.

[flamehothead]

By Golly! I hope so.

I guess I'm a Hillbilly/Redneck, but I'd rather bump elbows with the like than be any part of a snooty, highbrow crowd.

As far as comparing NASCAR with F-1 --- it's apples and oranges. I don''t for the life of me understand the attempt to do so. The only reason I can think of is the sports writers and talking heads don't have anything intelligent to say, so they try to do the impossible and unthinkable. I haven't heard any worthwhile explanation of how NASCAR and F-1 compare, but yet they keep trying.

What's next? Comparing talking heads with race car drivers?
How about auto racing and bicycle racing?
What if?
Yeah but!
But on the other hand.
Could it be said?
Do you think?

I think not!

Really! I don't. 

I just wanted to let everyone know that I AM part of the Hillbilly/Redneck Family LOL.

[Sue Johansen]

Na$$car used to be the best thing ever but now it is lower than commie vomit. 

[nascarbabe2U]

I just wanted to let everyone know that I AM part of the Hillbilly/Redneck Family LOL.

Me three ! ! !

Heck I'm even sounding it more than ever since I've been hanging out here in Georgia.

[Checkeredflag]

Unless they can get noticed by the mainstream media on a regular basis, they just don't enter the consciousness of a lot of large markets.

If you're not a fan, and you never hear anything about them (except for possibly a quick  highlight of a spectacular crash on FOX or (last year) NBC's sports report) on TV or in the newspaper, you won't care.  And with those markets already crowded with multiple teams in each professional league, it's hard to get their attention.

So, I would say it's not the reputation, but rather the lack of awareness that hurts in some parts of the country. JMO

[DotheDew88]

I live in a town that has the attitude of the people in WA state. Our local newspaper has a comment board where you ban comment on any story published. Whenever I would post something the next day the comments would include a "Yeehaw" or "How many teeth does the avg Nascar fan have" I have just plain given up! This is why I love all you guys so much!

[smyler]

I will never apologize for being a NASCAR fan.  I may sometimes be embarrassed by either Brian France or some fool at the track, but by and large the people who are fans are good people.  Most of the drivers are admirable people and I'd bet that 100% of them do not have junky cars in the front lawn or grass growing 2 feet tall in the summer time. 

Ignorance is not bliss.  Ignorance of this type is elitist.  People always have to have some other group to look down upon so that they think they are superior.  I used to be of the mind that racing was a foolish past time but I learned about it so that I could make an informed decision.  That is what one is supposed to do before they open their mouth about any topic.

I'm finally moving back home to the NW in 2 weeks.  I will be hanging out with my racing fan friends, there.  All of them have their teeth.  None of them chew dip but some of them do smoke cigars... oh wait, isn't that an elitist thing?  NO!  It's just something to do to relax, lol.  None of my friends have rabbit ear antenna's but all of them do have wide screen with HD.  You know, the more I think about it the madder I get at those fools. 

LONG LIVE KING RICHARD!!!  If he is redneck, God bless rednecks!

As to the topic at hand, I'd rather go to just one race at Bristol than any 3 races in F-1.  This isn't a class thing.  I personally know a couple dozen millionaires and 3 billionaires.  Some are cool people and some are not.  The point is that who you are when you are poor is who you are going to be when you are rich.  You don't get nicer just because you add zeros to your bank balance. 

F-1 may be technologically fascinating, but it boring to watch.  I don't dislike the people who watch it (unless they put on airs).  I've said it before, but over half of the fun of racing is the people you get to associate with.  My friends don't show off with helicopters, although some of them could.  It's the joking around, giving each other a hard time, like we do here, about the others driver.  It's about knowing all the details if you feel like it or not knowing them cuz you just like hanging out with other race fans.  Maybe they do have that in F-1, but that isn't the way it comes off. 

Anyway, I like NASCAR.

[flamehothead]

I live in a town that has the attitude of the people in WA state. Our local newspaper has a comment board where you ban comment on any story published. Whenever I would post something the next day the comments would include a "Yeehaw" or "How many teeth does the avg Nascar fan have" I have just plain given up! This is why I love all you guys so much!

AWWWWW, Ain't that Sweet. As I smile to show off my ONE Toof in front LMAO.

[HUDSON HORNET]

Those who laugh at folks with no teeth lack only two things,.... a brain and sensitivity.

[sugar]

What's wrong with Hillbilly/Redneck?  Some of my best friends are pretty much Hillbilly/Redneck.  Doesn't make me one, but hey who really cares?

I think I would much rather associate with them than uptight, snobby, "highbrow" stuffed-shirts - and I don't just mean rich people.  I know some poor people who act that way too.

I think the appeal of NASCAR is that the fans are real, the drivers are real and it's just plain fun, so who cares what anyone else thinks.  If you like something then you should not feel inferior to something else.  I like to watch F-1 races on TV too, but I would guess they would be very boring in person.

I'm rambling - got a headache today!

[flamehothead]

Those who laugh at folks with no teeth lack only two things,.... a brain and sensitivity.

I never said I was Laughing at people with No Teeth. Heck you never know, I might have just ONE Tooth.