The State Of Auto Racing

[outerlimits]

as the 2009 season is about to start, i am depressed at the sad state of affairs in auto racing. the organizational powers have killed the sport.

take F1-the pinnacle of motor sports. a few drivers get killed and the technology gets suppressed. the engineers figure out ways around it, but the organizational powers just change all the classic race tracks so they are nothing but big parking lots. it sux.

then there's drag racing. since before i was a kid, they raced the quarter mile. a few drivers get killed and nhra starts limiting nitro and stuff to reduce speed. after another death, nhra decides to race 1,000 feet. boring.

then there's nascar. cars start flying at super speedways, so they put restrictors on the carbs. speeds decrease, but then nascar wants to rein in costs and now every team has the exact same boxy looking POS car that runs the exact same speed. boring.

oh well, enuf rant for today. sure glad i have tivo of racing in the past to remember.

[davidwiz]

I haven't watched a Formula 1 race in two years. I used to religiously watch an tape every qualifying session and race (even went to Monaco for the GP in '94). Now, I think that F1 is a joke. The beginning of the end was when Senna and Ratzenberger died at Imola (and then Wendlinger had that nasty shunt in Monaco 2 weeks later). First it was the aero restrictions, then displacement restrictions, then the groove tires, more aero restrictions, then #of cylinder restrictions, more aero restrictions, mandatory standardized engine control electronics, mandatory 2.4 V8 engines, more aero restrictions. Not to mention that because of all these restrictions, there is very little over-taking, it is just a conga line. Ugh.

[Neomet]

I used to be a fan of all three of your examples. The nerf-world phenomenon has overtaken all of these disciplines. I mean, we don't need Nikki Lauda being fried alive, but this is real live racing where squishy bags of ectoplasm are traveling at speeds far above that which they were designed to withstand. Bad things will happen. If you want perfectly safe stick to Playstation.

The only auto racing I watch now is WRC and Le Mans.

[rvb]

Used to watch a LOT of auto racing. In the last 5 yrs? None.

Only thing worth watching now is MotoGP, FIM WSBK.

Hadn't heard that about nhra going to 1000ft. That's just damn depressing.

I quit watching nascar when the t-bird went away. Since when does any "STOCK" car they are racing have a V8, 2 doors, and RWD? screw it. it's a commercialized joke. So much for "win on Sunday, sell on Monday."

-rvb

Edited February 5, 2009 by rvb

[AlamoShooter]

Sounds like SS class

[DMAC]

I still enjoy the American Le Mans series and try to make it to at least one race every year.

My neighbor is a retired engineer and he was the crew chief for an Indy car team in the late 70s and then went to work for McLaren in F1 for several years. He has several friends on the current McLaren F1 team and I enjoy his e-mail correspondence that he has with the team engineers. It's hard to keep up with the rule changes every year that take place in F1. The behind the scenes info with Hamilton and Alonzo a few years ago was very entertaining.

I hope to make it to the MotoGP race at Indy this year.

I enjoy playing Forza Motosport on occassion on the XBOX 360. It's less expensive than turning a $90,000 Porshce into an anchor. Even having production, limited, and open class guns and traveling for 3 gun matches is a much less expensive hobby than racing.

[JThompson]

I quit watching a couple years back.... was a huge Nascar fan as well as open wheel... used to hit the Brickyard for both every year. To much money and not enough racing now. Oh ya, they have a tight group and there will be a big wreck, but that's not racing.

[Neomet]

Even having production, limited, and open class guns and traveling for 3 gun matches is a much less expensive hobby than racing.

99% of the time racing feels like standing in a cold shower as you tear up $100 bills. The problem is the other 1% is like crack on steroids.

[JoshF]

Moto GP, WSB and WRC are where it's at. You'll never see more talented drivers/riders struggling to maintain control at insane speeds. That's what racing should be though right??

Nascar is like a Giant loud billboard with crashing metal from time to time..... F1 has been neutered and apparently NHRA just became that much closer to a bunch of 1/8th mile club racers..... It is a sad state.

Edited February 5, 2009 by JoshF

[davidwiz]

How do you watch WRC? AFAIK, it isn't shown on any american teevee stations. Speed used to carry it.

I watch WSBK and MotoGP a lot now. Too bad that AMA Superbike has become NASCAR'ized.

[JFlowers]

F1 was better last year after they did away with the traction control systems and made the drivers actually drive. But it is still very much a "He was leads first, leads all day" race.

Indy got shook up a bit last year with all the CART drivers coming in. Suddenly someone other than the same three guys were winning. But large format ovals are still fairly boring races. Hopefully Indy will go back to some of the CART road races.

NASACR... what can you say. Other than the truck races and maybe the smash-mouth race at Bristol, its basically only good for sleeping on Sunday afternoon. The cookie cutter cars do make it more level than the old days when NASCAR changed rules weekly trying to find a balance between car makes, but they are so ... well .... alike. Its hard to pick a car out of the pack anymore. I firmly expect to see Honda in NASCAR soon as NASCAR searches to find $$$$ the US Car Makers can no longer supply.

Personally, I think the club level 1/8 mile small town Saturday night drag races are still some of the best shows for the money! Where Joes Pool Hall can actually afford to sponsor a car. Man, I miss Shuffle Town in Charlotte, NC and racing there on the weekends.

[Scooter]

How do you watch WRC? AFAIK, it isn't shown on any american teevee stations. Speed used to carry it.

There are sites you can download the WRC. PM me if you want them. Don't want too many people with knowledge of the site because FIA might get a hold of it and shut them down or they run out of bandwidth.

WRC will effectively be dead at the end of this year. It's down to Citroen and Ford. Suzuki and Subaru both pulled out at the end of last year. Next year, they are going to use the Super 2000 rules which effectively ends the WRC cars.

[Tiny Warrior]

My dad got me into auto racing when I was young. Got into Nascar only a couple years ago. Went to my first race last year at Michigan international Speedway.

I watch CART/IRL mostly. Been to races at Las Vegas, California(fontana) & Texas. I was diappointed to see that IRL has cut a lot of races from their sched, especially from the tracks I like.

Can't stand F1. talk about the same guy winning? Michael Schumacher winning every race when he was on top was boring. Not to mention the GREAT race weekend fans at Indianapolis had in 2005!!

Not a fan of Toyota entering nascar.

Overall, I try to not pay too much attention to the political BS & try to enjoy the race. I like to watch fast cars & close racing.

[Dave Gundry]

WRC: I'm too young to remember what it was like when Group B died, but I have a feeling this is kinda like it. It will bounce back though.

F1: I'm still going to watch. There's not much else on this side of the pond that actually gets televised worth watching that has decent coverage.

LeMans: (ALMS) Awesome racing, but I don't have time to keep up with 4+ hour races. I've been to Road America several times, and will continue to go if the scheduling works out. (ELMS) We don't have very good coverage here, and again, I'm short on time.

NASCAR: Never really cared for going in circles.

Drag racing: Never really cared for going in a straight line.

I hate that Speed didn't cover much DTM or Australian V8's this winter - to me, those 2 are the best part of winter TV. Hands down the best racing on the planet short of WRC. At least we've still got decent racing in MotoGP and WSBK!

[DMAC]

Despite all the complaining (which this thread is supposed to be about) I'm feeling a sense of affirmation that others enjoy some of the same motorsports that I do.

Once I moved to North Carolina, all I ever heard about was NASCAR. I could think of nothing more boring (with the exception of watching golf) but I decided I would go to a race and check it out. I went to a race in Charlotte and then it started to rain. I was trapped between dozens of drunk, chainsmoking, drunk (I know I mentioned this twice) rednecks for hours in the rain while they tried to dry the track. I thought I had died and gone to hell. Try everything once, the good things twice. I won't be going to another NASCAR race unless I get hooked up with seats in a suite.

Attending the Monaco Grand Prix and the 24 Hours of LeMans are on my bucket list. My neighbor owns the Ducati Dealership in Indy, so I also need to get to the MotoGP there next year.

Edited February 5, 2009 by DMAC

[scirocco38s]

Whoever said that WSB, MotoGP, WRC is the only good racing left is 100% correct.

Indycar is crap and always was.

F1 has turned to crap. It is also the most political BS I have ever encountered in the last 2 years.

Nascar was and still is, just a bigger stinkier pile of crap.

I never could stand Drags because it was just too little action for too short a time.

I cant be a couch potatoe if I want to, because there is nothing worth laying around and watching anymore.

[boz1911]

Let's see. Nascar: I love the fact the drivers are extremely talented and run cars to the very edge. The days of just hanging around to the end are over. They race from the drop of the green to the checkered flag. I don't like the cookie-cutter cars, announcers with absolutely no sense of grammar (The leaders is coming), or all the stupid graphics that look like they should be on condom dispenser.

NHRA: As an ex-drag racer, I understand the sport this sport the most. It is very indeed realistic and for me, enjoyable to watch. I understand and appreciate the 1000 ft mark for the fuel cars. 330mph crashes are f-ing dangerous, I don't care how safe the car is made. Physics just don't allow crashes at that speed.

F-1: I enjoy the technology, who couldn't like motors that are revved out of the frame, but hate the fact that once someone is in the lead the race is pretty much over. I also hate the races are broadcast at the most unusual times of day.

My 2 cents

[bulm540]

Still watch F1 expecially when the weather forecast calls for rain. Last year was an excitng finish.

[Jman]

Open wheel only here. Loved ESPN's old Thursday Night Thunder series from years back. IRL is at times incredibly exciting. Anything NASCAR is completely unwatchable. Seriously, I play recorded stock car races on nights I can't sleep. Ten minutes I'm out. Speed Channel sucks huge except F1 which I still love. Used to regularly carry some great British and German Touring Car coverage. I guess they decided the world needs endless input from Kenny Wallace and other luminaries.

Jim

[goneracin]

I was involved with drag racing on a professional level for 12 years, before I started my own biz 2 years ago. I built Pro Stock engines for a living, and have seen many very close friends crash. I was crew chief on one ps car that crashed. I stood on the starting line and watched a guy get killed in Louisiana about 8 years ago. Thats very hard to do. I have seen the footage of Scott Kalitta dying at Maple Grove last year. I can totally respect and understand their reasoning for shortening the tracks to 1000 feet for the nitro cars until they get the shut down areas scienced out better. If you have a car going 330 MPH, and stop it really fast, bad things happen to the body inside. Kalitta went through the shutdown, got airborn, and hit a few very large crane type things. I think they are hoping that the extra 300 feet gives the cars a bit more time to slow before going into the gravel. They are still going well over 300 at the1000, so they havent reduced the speed, but they did give hem a bit more distance to stop safely. yes, racing is dangerous, but if you have a problem with something, and you know you have that problem (technology for the emergency area, gravel pits catch fences etc) you need to do something even in the short term to try to fix it, you cant just run the cars down there like nothing is wrong. I feel, and they say, that once they get the run off areas more suited to catching a 2000 car going 330 mph, they will return to the 1/4.

I agree, 1000 foot racing isnt quite the same (its only for top fuel and funny car BTW) but it beats getting people killed when you know you have a problem. Insurance, and do gooder legislation are not just a pain in the ass for us shooters, its everywhere.

Bob

[38supPat]

I'd say you all need to get out to your loacal tracks and watch the support series or local racing. Most are far better than the "big show" because they are now set up around the lowest common denominator...the TV viewing audience. The average TV dolt wants to see cars going really fast, as fast as possible BUT can't stand it if theres no passing so the faseter cars have to be slowed down to make it fair and a good show...then complain that the cars have been slowed. I can sympathize with the race organizers having trouble meeting this two way issue.

I too can't stand the way top level racing has gone for some of the same reasons as the rest posted here. But get out to your local tracks and see some of the up and comers and others that couldn't put together a sponsor package because they didn't have the right face for Wrangler jeans ads. There is some awesome racing out there in the Formula Ford, Formula V, Formula BMW, Porsche cup, Spec Miata, Spec Focus, GT (1,2,3 or A,B,C) Touring Car classes or even the local ovals.

[Carlos]

NHRA restricted to 1000 feet?

Sad. I never thought much of "drag" anyway.

[SharonAnne9x23]

I loved the Daytona 24 when it was part of the world sport car championship. What the heck is a Daytona Prototype? Prototype of what? Daytona sports cars, just porsche racing porsche, no different than Nascar amoebe cars

Hated to see Trans Am die in the early 70s. 1969- Mustang, Camaro,AAR'Cuda, Parnelli Jones, Mark Donohue,Dan Gurney; that was racing.

CanAm, now THAT was incredible racing. McLaren, Chapparal, Lola, wow.

ALMS is great racing.

[davidwiz]

Once the France family took over the Daytona 24 Hrs, it has become yet another version of NASCAR. Thankfully, IMSA/ALMS is still active.

[rr4406pak]

I like watching the Dakar Rally and the Pike's Peak Hill Climb. Now those are interesting, great races!

NASCAR: Boring

F1: Boring

I used to love NHRA drags. This is the first I've heard of the 1000ft thing. Very disappointing...