Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

I watch NASCAR on my DVR to speed things up a lot. I'm slowly losing interest though.  I hate chasing their races around the TV channels. It would be nice if there was a racing channel with all the bigger events on it even as replays only.  No I'm not likely to pay to stream NASCAR.

Do you watch NASCAR?

What divisions?

How can they improve it?

I was losing interest 15 years ago and haven't watched a single lap in the last 3 years.   You're probably losing interesting because of the way it's evolving, and it's slowly being turned into sports car racing.   Their new car sucks, and you'll probably get to see it more and more on street courses and road racing tracks.   They own IMSA and they are slowly going in that direction with it.   

The cars stink and the racing sucks. I think I read that it boils down to 9 races I can pick up on my rabbit ears in 2025. If there wasn't a driver named Blaney in the field I wouldn't pay attention at all. 

I've had zero interest in it for 15 years. And that is saying a lot from a kid who would sit in dads car on Sunday to listen to Barney Hall on MRN. And after I got old enough to drive I'd drive my 69mercury cyclone spoilerII to many nascar races.  I wouldn't walk across the street for it today.   Still have the cyclone too. 

I'm not disagreeing with you, because I've lost interest too.  But I have to ask, why did you lose interest?  I've lost interest because I find other forms of racing, like sprint cars, to be more exciting.  The Nascar races aren't less exciting than they were 30-40 years ago---quite the contrary.  Back then, it was common for only 2 or 3 cars to finish on the lead lap with almost no side-by-side racing.  

I always use one driver to prove just how boring Nascar really was back when everyone says it was exciting.  JD McDuffie.  He had 106 Top-10's in his career------but NEVER ONCE finished on the lead lap.  Let that soak in.  He also had a career best points finish of 9th.  9TH!!!!!  Without ever finishing on the lead lap!   Almost every single Nascar race was a complete snooze fest from the 50's through the 80's.  We just have a few highlights in our brain of great finishes that make us believe it was this torrid battle, week in, and week out.  It wasn't.  It was boring.  1-2 cars finished on the lead lap in most long races.  It was not uncommon to get a top-10 and be 5 laps down.  So it begs the question:  Did Nascar really get more boring, or has our culture changed the way we are entertained?  I'm leaning towards the latter.  If anything, Nascar has given us more side by side racing over the past 10 years, and we still claim there is no passing.  

I agree I'm not as interested.  I disagree with most on why.  

I watch. Only the cup and probably 10-15 races a year. Gives me a good excuse for the wife to allow me to take a nap on Sunday afternoon. I hate trying to find the channel and if it doesn't start early afternoon on Sunday I don't tune in. I tune in for Larson mostly but watched well before Larson and would probably still watch without him. Briscoe, Bell, Bowman, Wrecky (I mean Ricky S)   and some others have lots of open wheel under their belts. It's just something to pass the time. Not a have to.

Kenny Wallace had a pretty interesting thought on this. He isn't wrong. We the fans conplaining are the reason we get stupid things like "the playoffs" in NASCAR Making it more of a show for the fans. It's not just NASCAR.

https://x.com/kenny_wallace/status/1729900655236505901?s=46&t=PIqMWzl1fHKJgAt7SpgNLA

Agree 100%.  And I usually only watch it until the weather gets nice!  Otherwise, it has to be raining, or I have to be hungover. 

Too bad NASCAR CUP doesn't race on Fridays...........LOLOL

That's no joke!  Poker again tonight!   

I never was a big NASCAR fan and some of the information here is very interesting. Thank you all.

Nascrap today is terrible. The next Gen car is a joke with the independent rear axles, and let's talk stage racing, LOL and LOL some more. 

Too many races determined by the pit crew, not on the track. 

Within hearing distance of Tri City Speedway

I don't disagree that it's tough to watch a Nascar race today.  However, if today is terrible, there is no word for how terrible it was prior to today.  It's always been terrible.  All of the exciting highlights of Nascar's first 50 years can be watched in less than 1 hour.   The rest are runaway races won by multiple laps.  Many of the "exciting" races from Nascar's yesteryear were good storylines, but terrible races.  Take the 1990 Hooters 500 for instance.  By many, it is considered one of Nascar's greatest races.  The race was terrible and was won by 1/2 a lap.  But somehow the storyline makes us forget how terrible the actual race was.   Most of the races, if played in their entirety, were just aweful.  Yet, it seems like die-hard Nascar fans yearn for the days of past..............

Seems to be a pattern with today's sprint car fan as well.  Man I remember some terrible, runaway sprint car races back in the day, mixed in with a few fantastic ones.  I remember domination of a few cars.  Somehow though, everyone seems to remember side by side racing, non-stop, with 15 of the greatest drivers of all time battling it out from last place to first place every night.  It wasn't the way it was in Nascar, and it wasn't the way it was in sprint car racing.  Our memories only capture those unforgettable moments and we base what we're seeing in the present, on those things we remember from the past.  

Some excellent points so far. I'm disappointed in NASCAR for many reasons. First one is the cars all have the same shape. All the parts used to build every car come from the same supplier. Many races are won on the pit lane or by race strategy and some just dumb luck.There is no inovation coming from the race teams other than an occasional one that is often called cheating.

I wish the races were all on the same broadcast TV channel. I will not pay to stream them.

Sprint Car racing should be on broadcast TV as it is better than NASCAR. However it really is better on a taped delay so the long pauses can be taken out. Time compressing them into 30 minutes does not work well.  Even into an hour can be tough.

It's kind of a catch-22.  If those in love with the old days get their way, Nascar would go back to a time when innovation was the difference.  However, to do so would once again result in races where there may be only 3 or 4 cars on the lead lap.  Cars would be able to pass one another cleanly, and easily.  However, once that quick pass is made, there is no more side by side or battles and the field quickly spreads out.  Sprint car racing, back before everyone bolted on the same parts, and most cars had quality power plants, was much the same.  I happen to like the game of inches right now between cars vs. the days when a couple of cars showed up with a clear advantage.  

I watch Daytona, Talladega, Bristol and a few other oval races when I can.  I'm a fan of Ryan Blaney and was a fan of Dave.  I went to one Cup race at Kansas with a couple friends in 2004.  Anyone into Late Models might remember WDRL and the name Fegers out of Minnesota.  One of his crew guys s hitched a ride with us so we went to Lakeside and went down in the infield and took photos.  Saw two days of racing on the big track and Lakeside by night.  It was a fun trip.  

Stan Meissner