Seriously, deep down inside, we're all NASCAR fans

There are two things we love:

1) Vicariously living through someone who's good-looking, strong, fast and has nerves of steel.

2) Watching that person crash and burn.

Bill France was a genius, smarter than almost any Ivy Leaguer.

Just an observation I had this morning.

What do you guys think?

I get plenty of enjoyment watching politicians crash and burn who are NOT good looking, strong and fast and don't have nerves of steel.

By comparison, if you made me watch a NASCAR race, I'd fall asleep long before anyone crashed.

I've never enjoyed watching someone crash and burn - physically, intellectually, or socially. I even get embarrassed for stupid characters in film.

But I'm sure it's true for some folks!

"...smarter than almost any Ivy Leaguer."

It's also the strange but very real emotional appeal that results from putting extraordinary marvels of high tech engineering in front of people who really don't give a shit about the brains it takes to make one of those things.

Granted, they're about as advanced as OHV engines could be, but not all that interesting as a sport. F1 intrigues me far more. I think things get much more interesting when you add in lighter weight, far higher specific outputs and right hand turns.

Or the engineering of the suspension, etc.

But you may truly have the other part of the dialectic.

But F1 has NASCAR trumped in terms of suspension geometry and such as well. It's hard to top open wheel racing for extreme cornering. Throw some chicanes into the typical NASCAR oval and I'll watch :)

exciting. The Qualifying (Q3) for Abu Dhabi was pretty exciting. The race was so so.

I can't stand rubberneckers. Absolutely loathe that behavior.

but, I enjoy racing!

Wrecks are just part of the race. They happen on the track, just as they do in real life.

I also think it's amazing to watch the guys and gals walk away and realize that many of those safety innovations make it to our everyday vehicles.

I've ever seen. Now if only someone other than Seb Loeb would win a WRC title. . .

No we're not. Not since they stopped useing stock vehicles in the race.

1) Vicariously living through someone who's good-looking, strong, fast and has nerves of steel.
Nope. Those are not my criteria for admiration.

2) Watching that person crash and burn.
Nope. I cannot watch certain movies, because my nerves cannot handle it.

Not a fan at all.

1) Vicariously living through someone who's good-looking, strong, fast and has nerves of steel is not at all something I need to feel good about myself..

2) Watching that person crash and burn. It just wouldn't do a damn thing for me.

wrong on all three points, insultingly, stupidly wrong.

1. we're NOT all fans of ANY of the stuff that makes up automobile racing, and there's no secret "deep down" where we are.

2. Some of us think that living vicariously is an unhealthy side effect of too much mass media, and the way we do it has little or nothing to do with what it meant in Shakespeare's time. It's the difference between having a nice dessert after dinner once or twice a week, and living on high fructose corn syrup.

3. Schadenfreude is a choice, not a wired-in universal. We all like seeing "deserving" criminals fry in the electric chair too, right, or is it okay if they're innocents?

In fact if any sport could be replaced by video games it is auto racing.

If I was gonna live vicariously through someone it would be The Rock, the Most Electrifying Man on the Planet. :)

I enjoy both fomula one auto racing and fomula one moto racing.

serious motorcycles!

The last I checked, formula GP bikes are not for sale and cost over one million dollars a year to lease. Also, the manufactures won't lease them to just anyone with money. You not only need the money, but, also the racing credentials/history to show you won't make the bike look bad.

They are awesome and I would love to ride one. :)

But I find it dull on TV. When you are actually at a race ... wow ... totally different experience.

But ... it is not everyone's cup of tea.

Ihate NASCAR.

1) I've never cared about celebrity worship. I look at celebrities no different than anybody else. Also, I enjoy doing things myself instead of watching others do them or fantasizing about it. Doesn't matter if I'm not a paid pro. The activity is what's enjoying.

2) I've never loved watching someone crashing and burn no matter what sport they're playing. However, I can say I do enjoy watching a repub/conservative crash and burn politically or legally.

Anyway, that's my 2¢

not ever

in NASCAR except for the first 2 laps. They all like drag racing only.

I think I would get bored after the first circle.

i enjoy all forms of motorsports to one one degree or another. nascar is not at the top of my list but it's alright,

Boston traffic is far more exciting.

But, to me, NASCAR still blows.

These 'two things we love'? Yeah...not much into that. As Axl Rose put it, 'Vicarious existence is a fucking waste of time' - Don't Damn Me, Use Your Illusions I

Also, is it bad that I've no idea who Bill France is?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfdIDLql0wU

:wow:

Lee Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Fireball Roberts, Brad Keselowski,.....

...Good Looking? :shrug:


Now THIS is "Good Looking":

YUM!

Many people are very unique and have different points of view on all things. "Projecting" is a common but error prone process on the internet.

On a real dirt track, the way it was when moonshiners ran the ridges. If you don't have clay in your beer, it wasn't a race... I would love to see the D.U. NASCAR car, with ads for MoveOn and OWS, etc. B-)

I hate NASCAR. I barely tolerate my husband watching the Indianapolis 500 every Memorial Day.

Loud, smelly, waste of fuel and lives
and so on

Hate crashes

Well I am all for good looking and nerves of steel are fine... but there are better things to use bravery for

To each their own. Obviously many like it a lot

I'm not really sure what that means, but I heard it on a beer commercial and it sounded good.

Have you watched a race before? The drivers are a sad looking bunch. To call some of them "athletes" on par with say basketball players or even football players is a joke. These guys have bodies of a middle-aged pot-bellied dude. They have the ugliest "athletes" of any sport.

You can't put Bill France on par with Einstein.

..was selected by President Obama as one of the top athletes in the nation,
and is currently a member of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports, & Nutrition.



http://www.fitness.gov/about-us/who-we-are/council-members/carl-edwards/

I am a NASCAR fan who started watching back in the 50s.
I am reluctant to call Stock Car Racing a "sport",
but to compete at today's level does require a superbly conditioned athlete.

I've often wondered how driving a car can be considered a sport, or the driver an athlete. Stipulating that success does require extraordinary reflexes, and I suppose a bit of hand-eye coordination could come in handy, but I don't see how a car driver requires any other athletic conditioning, any more than say, a pitcher.

-- Mal

Kick a ball down one end (fake a flop)... kick a ball down the other end (fake a flop)... rinse, wash repeat... Goooooooooooooooooooooal.

Hate hate hate the hype, celebrity worship, and that the cars aren't "real". It's just another spectator sport, which I hate with every fiber of my being.

The only good thing is that I live at pretty much ground zero of NASCAR, and so I enjoy needling all the fans by being an iconoclast and shitting on it every chance I get: I cheer and gloat when races get rained out, that sort of thing. I hate those people. I can't legally whack them upside the head, so I can only take solace in whatever knock their pastime gets.

I love neither of those 2 things.

Were farmers who were broke during the depression. They decided to "occupy"stills and flip the bird to J edgar and friends who made any way out of poverty for them illegal. I loved "days of thunder". :-)

Also . . . I really hate NASCAR.

why am I in GD?:scared:

Who the hell is Bill France?