Perspective is a funny thing

[NJSPEEDER]

And the NFL is really the same as the neighbor kids playing football down at the park.....

I oversimplified to make my point, but with everything being so spec'ed there really isn't room for them to do anything ground breaking any more. Even the power they make is so capped that when NASCAR dyno's the cars if anyone has made an advancement that gives them an advantage the sanction comes in and takes it away.

NASCAR could advance itself a lot by getting back to at least being silhouettes of the cars that the stickers say they are and giving a lot more latitude with the drive trains and power plants.

On the big tracks they even specify what spring rates and compression damping the shocks have. That is absolutely absurd!!!

Like I said, it can make for some exciting racing, but the rules have them so tied up they aren't making any advancements that will ever make it to the streets. That is why so much manufacturer money has found it's way back to sports car racing, because things developed there actually have the potential to be pertinent in real world street cars.

If anybody wants to see some real fun check out ASA stock cars. They mostly run ovals too but they also turn them loose on dirt twice a year. Now that is some exciting stuff.



-Tim

[shortrack]

I oversimplified to make my point, but with everything being so spec'ed there really isn't room for them to do anything ground breaking any more. Even the power they make is so capped that when NASCAR dyno's the cars if anyone has made an advancement that gives them an advantage the sanction comes in and takes it away.

NASCAR could advance itself a lot by getting back to at least being silhouettes of the cars that the stickers say they are and giving a lot more latitude with the drive trains and power plants.

On the big tracks they even specify what spring rates and compression damping the shocks have. That is absolutely absurd!!!

Like I said, it can make for some exciting racing, but the rules have them so tied up they aren't making any advancements that will ever make it to the streets. That is why so much manufacturer money has found it's way back to sports car racing, because things developed there actually have the potential to be pertinent in real world street cars.

If anybody wants to see some real fun check out ASA stock cars. They mostly run ovals too but they also turn them loose on dirt twice a year. Now that is some exciting stuff.

-Tim

Ok - First thing many people need to know and Nascar is right up front with it is that they are in the entertainment business, not in business for the advancement of the automobile...in their mind their competition for your entertainment dollar is the NFL, the NBA, the PGA etc.....they want the races to be decided on the track by the drivers not won by one teams superior car (that theory has been put to the test in recent years by Jimmie Johnson however haha).....many people say why dont they have fuel injection (they do now) and why dont they have carbon brakes and on and on and on.....they way they look at it is.....ok, we could do that but its going to drive the cost of racing up for our teams but is it going to improve the show???......and that approach of keeping costs down is one of many reasons why in the slow economic times we have now there are FORTY THREE cars on the grid every week.....not two races on the track at the same time.....hey, you said yourself, it makes for exciting racing!

Oh and the ASA touring series, I think thats what you're referring to, the one that spawned Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin. Alan Kulwicki etc...has been gone since 2004....out of business. There still is ASA but its a blanket sanctioning body for tracks that run conventional Late Models. They run under the ASA banner to standardize rules, payouts etc, that is still going.....but the ASA Touring Series, like how Sprint Cup goes to Martinsville one week then then Richmond the next then Talladega etc......yeah gone since 2004.

[k5warwagon]

I think you can give racing fans a lot more credit than that. I don't cut NASCAR any slack because for all their claims of being this and that and so advanced and everything else they are really just carb'ed small blocks in an old pick up truck frame.

There really isn't anything ground breaking about NASCAR to "grasp". It can be entertaining, but entertaining doesn't automatically mean it is in any way too advanced or too complicated for fans of other forms of racing to understand.

-Tim

I would like to see anyone on this forum take their 850 hp 3400lb "stock" car (camaro, nova, chevelle...whatever) with a cage of course, and go run what these guys do in their carb'd small block cars with truck frames. Heck I'd even give you 15 seconds a lap for "areo" issues. You can't do it. If you could you be would racing in some of the other series mentioned or maybe even running in the bland, boring and low on technology NASCAR circuit.
I'm building an '87 C10 truck and I am converting it to truck arms. Just cause it's cool!

[HarleyR]

Ive found this debate is pointless......

[shmoov69]

And the NFL is really the same as the neighbor kids playing football down at the park.....

True...true!!! Lol

Honestly, NASCAR or whatever, these guys are GOOD. Period. They are there because they are good! Even the "shoe in" big money boys are GOOD. They can do things with cars that I would say 99% of the people on this board could only dream of.
NFL, MLB, PGA, NBA....those guys ARE at the top of their game and waaaay better than 99.9% of people. That is why they are there....just like the NASCAR boys!

Edit, I just watched the Boris Said interview after the race, THAT was awesome!! LOL