Can someone (preferaby a fan) please explain the appeal of Nascar?

Question

My perception is that it's a bunch of cars going around in circles for hours and wasting tons of fossil fuel. If you're a fan, please tell me what it is that you like about it. What am I missing?

This is a serious question, so please, don't anyone get their undies in a bunch. I really don't get what's interesting about it, and I'm trying to understand.

Answer 1

I never understood it either untill I saw it live its like a 200 mph dance almost

Answer 2

Well I am a fan, and have been since I was a little kid. I like the fact that you get to see cars passing each other and race for the win all the way up to the checkered. I like the night races under the lights with all the people standing up in their seats. I like the excitement of seeing the cars go 3 or 4 wide into a corner and not causing a wreck, and I like seeing the repercussions of the wreck if a wreck is caused. I like seeing the cars spin and the wrecks as their is never a dull moment and the wrecks are never the same. Some are harder then others. I like the passing and the blocking and the aggressiveness of the sport. I like everythign about it. I like the cautions, and the cars flying through the air on a rare occassion and knowing that the drivers are okay, I like when the cars hit the wall, or the road courses are amazing fun to watch. I like seeing the Big One, and I like the short track races, like Bristol and Martinsville. I like seeing what happens on the racetrack and seeing what happens between drivers after a wreck or after a race, and seeing what happens, and then the race for the Chase. Then the last lap of the last race of the season something happens, as the anticipation to make one final move occurs, and it just goes wild, and the charity events. The charities that are sponsored and the charity events like Eldora, and then the All Star Race, and the Bud Shootout. I love everything about it, and I like seeing who wins the championship, because it could be by a few points or it could be a landslide. It's just really really exciting, and in the IRL league they dont burn fossil fuels as they run their cars on all ethanol, and in NASCAR, they use all unleaded fuel now, instead of what they were using, so they are trying to make it safer for everyone and trying to help the enviornment.

Answer 3

Everyone has their likes and dislikes. You can't understand why anyone would set for hours to watch a race, while I can't understand to appeal of soccer, hockey, and especially golf. What's the point of watching someone hit the heck out of a little ball just to hunt it down so they can hit it again? However I do have to agree with the fact that using all that fuel doesn't exactly help an already hurt environment. Let's just hope the oil industry can finally get their hands off the government officials and let cleaner type cars be developed. The cars may not go as fast but then again it might make the race more interesting. That's where skill and talent would really show up.

Answer 4

NASCAR is a great famiy event. I went to an NFL game last year and I sat on the opposing teams side...of course wearing my teams jersey. I watched as drunk idiots yelled at little kids....calling them a**hole...the whole crowd would chant this as an opposing fan walked up the steps. I have been to many NASCAR races and I have sat next to fans of other drivers. I have made so many friends at races and NEVER experienced the rudeness that I did in football.

You will never appreciate NASCAR until you go to a race and see it in-person. They are going at speeds up to 200 mph and they are within inches of their opponents. How many sports have you watched where an opposing team member has gone over to another team and helped them out. Example: Jr. jumped into Kyle Busch's car this season to help them finish the race...because Kyle left the track early.

You won't see that in any other sport. Just imagine sitting in a car and having to drive 300 miles at 170-200 mph.......with only pit stops to get you along. You can't stop and switch out with another driver if you are tired or have to use the restroom. It's about endurance and adrenaline.

If you like the wrecks only, then you are a sicko. Does anyone remember the wreck that killed #3? It's not cool. Yes, it does add action when you see the driver come out walking after flipping his car over 3 or 4 times. Has anyone ever tried flipping their car that many times and then got out an was able to walk? Not me!!

I would give NASCAR a shot. You will meet some really great people and the drivers are super nice.

That is the appeal of NASCAR!!

Answer 5

It is kind of like 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'...it is a sport that more and more people find appealing for many different reasons. NASCAR has several of the same aspects of other sports: competition among players (drivers), among teams, strategy, success, failure, endorsements, prestige, championships, single wins, and superstar athletes, just to name a few. What started out as a small sport with what seemed like regional following (the south), has become multi-national among millions. It's history is no different, in simple terms, than the evolution of other major sports, but it has come on dramatically in a relative short period of time.

You ask what is the attraction or interest, and all I can say is it is up to the person watching or following it...you either have that interest, in varying degrees, or you don't. I find tennis boring, but I occasionally watch it for different reasons, maybe who is playing, the seriousness of the match, or the ultimate prize of what is at stake. You may love tennis and can not understand why I am not a fanatic over it. Thats human nature.

I don't consider NASCAR a redneck sport. It is true that it originated in the south, but when you look at all of the fans, drivers, owners, crews, sponsors, etc. as a whole, you can't pin it down as being a sport that only exists in one segment of our society, as people (men and women) from all over the world are becoming more and more involved in this sport, at some level, daily.

I agree with what some of the others have said...take in a race sometime and watch not only the cars, but the crews, and more importantly the fans.

Answer 6

I dont really enjoy watching it all that much, I would much rather drive but NASCAR is a little out of my price range. However it is supposed to be the very best you could do if you "MADE IT" as a circle track racer. I dont know if you ever go to your hometown track and watch the races but alot of people race and come to watch in my home town so I think its only natural that BIG TIME circle track racing is appealing to us. If you know any drivers personally you become much more involved in watching a race, so I guess some people really connect with some of the drivers and want to see them run and do well or survive a really nasty wreck.

Answer 7

Nascar got its start in the south about 50 years ago. The Moon Shiners would load up their cars with hooch and try to make their deliveries as fast as possible without getting arrested. There is a lot of planning during a race too. You have to plan for fuel and tires at the right time of the race so you don't loose track position. Every track is different too. Each has its own "groove". Theres a lot more to racing than just going in a circle at 180 mph. You should go to a race... Its amazing when 40 cars blaze by... the smell of hot rubber and asphalt, gas fumes and beer!

Answer 8

I read a lot of good answers here and to those who just don't get it, I can only say that I personally have never seen the interest in baseball, basketball, wrestling or football, but as long as there are numbers of people interested in any of the above there will always be somebody to provide the entertainment.
Mine is NASCAR.

Answer 9

A lot of people who don't enjoy it think that it is just cars going around in circles.

NASCAR, like any type of racing, does include cars going around in a circle. Like basketball is just a bunch of guys throwing a ball around, or men chasing a silly white ball around for hours and calling it golf.

It's desire is dependent on your own personal enjoyment. I am sure that you have things you enjoy that I may think are boring.

Anyway, the real thrill of this professional sport is knowing that these guys are doing something that you try to do regularly (driving) on such a level that you don't think you can obtain -- and yet -- there is always that possibility that you could be that good and you don't know it.

It's about watching your favorite driver pass by that jerk you don't like.

It's about remembering that it is more than just one race -- there are a whole series and if you are wrong on your judgment there will be a wreck, or you will not have enough gas to make it and you won't even be in the running at the end.

It's about a team of guys all working together to get to the winners circle.

It's about the drama.

And, for some, it's about watching these horrendous crashes, and then watching these guys get out of their car and just walk away, knowing they will be back here next week to do it all again.

Answer 10

Its the biggest sport next to football and it might soon surpass that. Its more than cars going around a track. I know that it seems that way but go to a race sometime. Say you are a JR fan and you sit next to a Gordon fan ( you know, your arch rival) and when Jr does something good everyone thats a JR fans jumps up and Screams and the same for the Gordon Fans, and so on. but you are sitting there just watching the cars go around the track. Then you realize that you are a part of 100,000 people all here for on reason and one reason alone, to watch your favorite driver out there on a track with 42 other guys who all have fans yelling for them. It would be like taking one guy from each team whether it be football, baseball or any other sport and putting them up against each other and the only time that their team can help them out is after about a half and hour to a hour at a time but they only get at most 14 seconds to help them with everything that they need for the next hour.

Answer 11

I long ago though the same way and sat and watched it with my husband.
My husband sked me to look at it differently than watching cars go around pay attention to how the teams work together to get to the front and to how they improve thier pit stops to get out qquicker to get to the lead.
I love this sport. I would go to every race if i could.
They just dont drive around , they have to plan how aggressive they need to be and when they need to be aggressive and when they need to watch for the wreck.
They also have to be a little wiser than the other drivers when they try and take the lead away, they dont just drive by and give it a little more gas as we would in a normal car, they have to out smart them and watch how they are racing.
Go to a race in person, you will feel the excitement.
I love love love it and I use to have that same view a bunch cars going around and around wow.
Some tracks are better than others as well, I like the road courses and the Bristol is awesome.