NASCAR is it a sport?

Bothwell · Post by **Bothwell** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 10:11 am

We dont see much NASCAR but I hate Formula 1 with a passion, braking controls, traction controls, electronic gearboxes, tracks so narrow that the leader always wins unless he cocks it up, etc etc, 200 mph cigarette advert.

Put them all in the same cars with proper gearboxes and no traction controls and I might watch it again

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 10:36 am

I have a hard time with the 110 octane consumed at the rate of about

4 1/2 mpg.

I know so many love it, though, and that says something about the

worth as a "Sport". Would be awful for all those who do love it to

be asked to give it up... and costly to all the support people, vendors

and such...

:yh_questn

Jives · Post by **Jives** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 11:05 am

They say it's replacing Baseball as the National Sport, but I too, have a problem with watching it. I just lose interest after about ten minutes. A similar thing occurs when I watch Soccer. (Sorry Bothwell.)

Being at the track in person is a very different thing, though. When I was in college, I worked the food stand at Mesilla Valley Raceway in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Nor that was a good time! My girlfriend worked in the beer stand and we traded food for beer all night!

The track was a dirt track and every so often pieces of cars and tires would fly into the crowd. After the races (which were held every Saturday night) My boss let us stay and finish off any kegs that had been tapped but not finished. (so we always made sure to tap one right before closing.)

It was a good thing he did this too, because the entire intoxicated crowd took off right after the race and it was a four lane highway, dead straight for twenty miles, on a 5% grade back to town.

And we thought the race was exciting! The real races were after the track shut down! :rolleyes:

Bothwell · Post by **Bothwell** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 11:34 am

No problem jives I am a rugby fan, soccer = overpaid, nancy boys who have to go off injured if their hair gets damaged

Jives · Post by **Jives** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 12:31 pm

Bothwell wrote: soccer = overpaid, nancy boys who have to go off injured if their hair gets damaged

ROFL! "Nancy Boys" I love that. Toooo funny!

Rugby is a real sport, those guys have my respect. I saw a game once where a guy went running at another guy and ended up (unintentionally) flying through the air and kicking him in the head. The guy got knocked unconscious...but when he woke up he got up and jumped right back into the game! Outrageous!

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:00 pm

having once lived several years in the Daytona ("sleaze capital of the east coast") area, here's my take on the annual influx for the speedway.....aggggghhhhh!!!!!!! it's a redneck festival of the first order, thousands of beer-bellied hairy corncob-smoking characters in overalls parked in the infield and sitting on the roof of their RV drinking beer and grilling possums...and those are just the females! all to watch people drive around in circles and hoping for a good crash that sends someone to halifax hospital in little tiny pieces. then they get out on the local roads and try to emulate their favorite drivers. the carnage is something to behold. :driving: :driving: :driving:

Jives · Post by **Jives** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:10 pm

lady cop wrote: ]it's a redneck festival of the first order

lol@LadyCop :wah:

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:30 pm

VAAROOOM--------VAROOOOM-----Round & Round & Round----BORING!!!!!!!!

Just as exciting as watching grass grow.

Sport???? You gotta be kiddin.

jahamaa · Post by **jahamaa** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:32 pm

I am a member of a family that eat drinks and sleeps NASCAR They know who is leading in the points, know the names of owners and even some of the pit crew. They absolutly hate Jeff Gordon ( no idea why).

Me? I never had any desire to go 200 MPH and I already know how to turn left. So I make myself scarce on race day.

Rugby, May a deviate from th e thread a little. Now there's a sport. Was watching a game from Australia a while back and LOL the American broadcaster didn't know much about the game. He made the comment that he was suprised to not see more injuries. The Austrailian caster said the reason there are not more people carried of the field is because Rugby players eat their dead. :wah: :wah:

Sheryl · Post by **Sheryl** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:47 pm

While I'm not pot bellied, corn cob smoking redneck, I do like to watch Nascar. I don't watch all the races, for I prefer the short tracks like Bristol. As for Nascar being a sport, yes it can be considered a sport. It's not everyone who can drive at such highspeeds, be able to communicate effictivley any possible problems with the car, and take directions from a spotter. The drivers are also in a very hot environment with no air conditioner and have several blind spots. I think the reason the names keep repeating is because those who fathers and grandfathers who raced grew up with the love of the sport and had great teachers.

Ok someone else asked about how the cars were set up, each team have more than one car. Each car is set up for the weather and track conditions for each race. It's hard to explain espicially since I'm a female and some of the terms are still Greek to me.

What I want to know is how fishing is considered a sport. You stand there throwing a baited hook in the water and depending on chance to catch a fish!

I guess I just wanna know is there some sort of special talent to being a pro fisherman??

Sheryl

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:55 pm

skittles2004 wrote: That's funny. I'll give you that. But grass dosent grow at the rate of 200mph. (slower I think) and grass dosen't crash and cause fatel deaths(unless the bugs in the grass happen to be poisnous. There's more to going Round & Round & Round. You got have some technique in it being able to turn at the same time pass a car that is going 200mph. i dont know. More exciting then watching grass grow.
Hey---you wanna see blood & guts and have some excitement? Stand on a Santa Monica Freeway overpass and watch the 5:30 PM commute traffic. It's a blast. Not 200 mph, but damn near. You might even get to see a helicopter chasing burglers with the California Highway Patrol in full pursuit. Technique???

Just watch those guys and gals switch lanes. Whoooeee EXCITING!!!!!!

jahamaa · Post by **jahamaa** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 2:59 pm

If we all liked the same things there would only be one sport, music would be boring etc. different stroke for different folks

I can see where it would take a lot of skill to do it but I'll still never like NASCAR.

And easy on the redneck potbelly jokes those are my family out there LOL :wah:

Sheryl · Post by **Sheryl** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 3:09 pm

Lon wrote: Hey---you wanna see blood & guts and have some excitement? Stand on a Santa Monica Freeway overpass and watch the 5:30 PM commute traffic. It's a blast. Not 200 mph, but damn near. You might even get to see a helicopter chasing burglers with the California Highway Patrol in full pursuit. Technique???

Just watch those guys and gals switch lanes. Whoooeee EXCITING!!!!!!

No thanks, if I turn tv to news station I'm sure they'll break in with footage of the police pursuit.

I like Nascar, but get bored watching the long races. I wouldn't want to be a Nascar driver either. Give me the European off road races with the Audi's and such. Obstacles would be more fun to me.

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 3:16 pm

after some have been here a while they become accustomed to my weird cop sense of humor

.......it isn't ONLY the females who meet that description. LOL . i suppose fishing is a sport in the same way hunting is. i know big gamefishing down in the Keys and Caribbean is definately more than baiting up a hook.....and hey, those police pursuits are DEFINATELY a sport! Whoo Hooo! CODE 3, light 'em up!

valerie · Post by **valerie** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 8:52 pm

How about the PBR?!?!? Maybe some of the same "ladies" LC was talking

about... watching, anyway, but definitely NOT boring. An awful lot of

money for 8 seconds of doing your "sport"!!!

:yh_cowboy

Sheryl · Post by **Sheryl** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 9:11 pm

tis ok LC your police humour doesn't bother me. My husband's best friend is a cop also. So your remarks don't bother me.

Sheryl

Bothwell · Post by **Bothwell** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:34 am

Whilst I love rubgy my first sporting passion is boxing, so how does everyone feel about the noble art

jahamaa · Post by **jahamaa** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 11:32 am

Bothwell wrote: Whilst I love rubgy my first sporting passion is boxing, so how does everyone feel about the noble art
used to eat sleep and drink it. But when your raised on Ali and Fraizer and Norton

Sugar ray, marvin and Foreman, boxers like that and raised on stories of Joe Louis it is hard to stay interested in today fighters.

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 11:53 am

Sheryl wrote: tis ok LC your police humour doesn't bother me. My husband's best friend is a cop also. So your remarks don't bother me.

Sheryl Thanks Sheryl!

we do tend to have rather an irreverent sense of humor!

Bothwell · Post by **Bothwell** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 1:45 am

Janamaa, spot on , the middle weights of the 70's and 80's. Sugay Ray leonard, Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns, Roberto Duran (was he not called Stonehands), "Marvellous" Marvin Hagler.

I was never that keen on the heavyweights although it pains me that I never saw Marciano fight. Having said that I watch We were kings a least once a month.

LottomagicZ4941 · Post by **LottomagicZ4941** » Thu Mar 17, 2005 3:52 pm

I have a ex-coworker who left to go to work for NASCAR. Guess he gets to hold one of the camaras and he is totally psyched about it.

He stated that the people who work the races consider it a show.

He was more into the football, basketball and those type of sports before getting this job.

I've since learned that Kiss has a car in it.

I generally watch one race a year. Going to see one live would probably be more intresting then just watching it on TV.

Lotto

http://www.flalottomagic.net/cgi-local/ ... elcome-344

MagicZ4941

K.Snyder · Post by **K.Snyder** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 5:31 pm

You drive and compete at over 190Mph then tell me it isnt a sport.Haaaaa

BTS · Post by **BTS** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 5:45 pm

Now this is the Sport of REAL men.........

nvalleyvee · Post by **nvalleyvee** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 6:20 pm

K.Snyder wrote: You drive and compete at over 190Mph then tell me it isnt a sport.Haaaaa

Absolutely this is a sport. If you have to train and have a crew that backs you up (coaches) it is a sport. If you think that sitting in a car does not involve some sacrifice and training.......wrong

K.Snyder · Post by **K.Snyder** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 9:21 pm

nvalleyvee wrote: Absolutely this is a sport. If you have to train and have a crew that backs you up (coaches) it is a sport. If you think that sitting in a car does not involve some sacrifice and training.......wrong

I THINK YOU HAVE MIS-UNDERSTOOD MY REPLY.I own a race car and my two brothers and father own them as well.My father was a back up driver for the A.R.C.A Re/Max Series and competed at Daytona,Talledega,Pocono and other big tracks.Our race team is "Combined Racing" and compete in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series.My Rookie year will be next year,but my father who currently owns the track record for our class at Kil-Kare speedway with a time of 13.94 seconds around a 3/8 mile track.In simpler terms thats an average speed of 100 Mph.In less than a half mile that is extremly fast.He tells me how the G-forces around the turns pin you down in the seat to where all you can move are your arms(while maintaining control of the car),and people say "oh its not a sport because your just sitting in a car".I have to laugh.You have no idea the amount of talent goes behind keeping the car on the track.Fighting the steering wheel to keep the car straight through the turns constently fighting the racecar,and not to mention trying to fight a "loose"racecar(which is twice as hard to keep straight).To be able to hold your line lap after lap without coming down on someone or going up on them side by side going over 100MPH on a 3/8 mile track.I cant even imagine what i am instore for next year,but I believe i can do it.I cant waite to get out there on the track.You can say it isnt a sport all you want.As for me I think it most deffintely is.

actionfigurestepho · Post by **actionfigurestepho** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 10:59 am

I think NASCAR is more of a sport to the people who do it than to the people who watch it. The goal of the spectators is to see some violent crash, and that's NOT the goal of the drivers. I think it's great if you love to race, especially the people who build their own cars. It's not so great to watch. Plus, you don't get to see guys in hot pants like you do with football or baseball.

BTS · Post by **BTS** » Sat Sep 03, 2005 11:14 am

K.Snyder wrote: I THINK YOU HAVE MIS-UNDERSTOOD MY REPLY.I own a race car and my two brothers and father own them as well.My father was a back up driver for the A.R.C.A Re/Max Series and competed at Daytona,Talledega,Pocono and other big tracks.Our race team is "Combined Racing" and compete in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series.My Rookie year will be next year,but my father who currently owns the track record for our class at Kil-Kare speedway with a time of 13.94 seconds around a 3/8 mile track.In simpler terms thats an average speed of 100 Mph.In less than a half mile that is extremly fast.He tells me how the G-forces around the turns pin you down in the seat to where all you can move are your arms(while maintaining control of the car),and people say "oh its not a sport because your just sitting in a car".I have to laugh.You have no idea the amount of talent goes behind keeping the car on the track.Fighting the steering wheel to keep the car straight through the turns constently fighting the racecar,and not to mention trying to fight a "loose"racecar(which is twice as hard to keep straight).To be able to hold your line lap after lap without coming down on someone or going up on them side by side going over 100MPH on a 3/8 mile track.I cant even imagine what i am instore for next year,but I believe i can do it.I cant waite to get out there on the track.You can say it isnt a sport all you want.As for me I think it most deffintely is.

K.Snyder:

I think NV knows it is a sport and was rebuking those who thought otherwise not you. I too think it is a sport whether you watch or participate. If you had to participate in something to qualify it to be a sport, what would we we have?

I watch NASCAR to see if my 2 drivers are up to the task that day, not for the wrecks.

actionfigurestepho · Post by **actionfigurestepho** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 10:35 am

BTS wrote:

I watch NASCAR to see if my 2 drivers are up to the task that day, not for the wrecks.

Well it goes without saying that you're much classier than the type of NASCAR fan we have in Ohio. They just want to see hot girls in tight t-shirts, flaming car wrecks and to get plastered before noon.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 2:01 pm

I don't think NASCAR is a sport, but it's a fun event. I think a sport is when you are doing some kind of physical activity, the car is obviously doing that. And before anyone howls too much, I do not believe horse racing is a sport either-at least for humans.

*said quietly being close to the home of the Preakness*

K.Snyder · Post by **K.Snyder** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:19 am

chonsigirl wrote: I don't think NASCAR is a sport, but it's a fun event. I think a sport is when you are doing some kind of physical activity, the car is obviously doing that. And before anyone howls too much, I do not believe horse racing is a sport either-at least for humans.

*said quietly being close to the home of the Preakness*

I dont mind anyone saying that NASCAR is not a sport,because everyone is intitled to their own opinion.I would just like to respond to the "physical" comment you have posted.

A NASCAR driver consumes more energy in one race than an entire baseball team does in one week(excluding practice of course).For anyone to say that NASCAR is not a sport,They are saying Baseball is not a sport either as well.

I believe baseball is a sport as I do (Auto Racing).The G-forces in Racing are physically demanding.I would never compare the physical aspect of a game like Football,Basketball,and most deffinetly Hockey with NASCAR,But as far as the talent level needed for each I would have to say is exactly the same,if not more in NASCAR.

K.Snyder · Post by **K.Snyder** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 9:24 am

BTS wrote: K.Snyder:

I think NV knows it is a sport and was rebuking those who thought otherwise not you. I too think it is a sport whether you watch or participate. If you had to participate in something to qualify it to be a sport, what would we we have?

I watch NASCAR to see if my 2 drivers are up to the task that day, not for the wrecks.

Sometimes it is hard to know what someone is saying when it is written,because I believe part of understanding conversation is in how someone says something as apposed to what they say.So I appolagize for the posts that I miss-interprate.