Racing Cars: Sport, or Stupidity?

[mopaul]

NASCAR, racing cars, speeding around a circular track in a rolling bomb constantly turning left and risking your life. is this a sport, or a bizzare male obsession with death?

if dale earnheardt sr. is killed going 150 miles an hour, and then his son is almost burned to death doing the same, does this qualify them as heroic, or manly? does it make them admirable or role models to our boys?

i don't get it. i see it as just stupid boyish masturbation

[Somawas]

1. Myself,

I've never seen much sport in it.

[dkhbrit]

8. Drag racing

Is the mutts nuts IMO.

[newyawker99]

13. Hi dkhbrit!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[TexasProgresive]

2. Sport = Stupidity n/t

[teach1st]

3. Everybody masturbates

It's the ones who don't that worry me.

I come from a racing family. Regardless of motive, racing is a gas. The danger is accepted and is part of the thrill, of course.

[JHB]

18. Nailed it in 1, teach!

mopaul: For Pete's sake, put yourself in someone else's shoes. Take a good look at your cartoons before you go pointing at someone else's "thing" as being "just stupid boyish masturbation". I'm sure may racing fans would describe what you do in precisely the same terms.

Other people obviously enjoy it. Why sneer at it? And politically speaking, why reinforce the "elitist snooty liberal" stereotype?

[sendero]

4. I feel exactly...

.... the same way about mountain climbing. Idiots set out all the time, get stuck after an accident or bad weather, and it takes hundreds of thousands of dollars of rescue efforts to retrieve them.

Who's more idiotic?

[Bunny]

5. There's a hell of a lot more strategery involved than I would have ever

guessed. These guys are doing more than just constantly making left turns. They're got the race mapped out in their heads - they're always several laps ahead in their planning at any given point in the race. I admire the strategy and thinking involved.

Having said that, I think it's a foolish and insane way to make a living. Risking your life like that seems dumb to me, just IMHO. NASCAR is something that I just don't "get", but live and let live, I guess.

[ClintonTyree]

6. I enjoy...............

watching F-1 and Indy cars, but the country's fascination with 'left turn' NASCAR baffles me. What challenge is there is always turning left?

[doctorbombeigh]

7. Stupidity - except for Paul Newman...

he can do whatever he wants to and it's not stupid.

[drdigi420]

9. I enjoy real racing

but NASCAR is just a bunch of rednecks going around in a circle, last redneck in front wins.

real racing requires loads of skill and intense driving, with turns in BOTH directions.

mostly, NASCAR seems to just be an excuse for toohtless hillbillies to gather and drink cheap beer while fast billboards go around in a circle

[JHB]

19. "Toothless hillbillies" who can VOTE, you mean...

...so don't engage in bigoted name-calling then wonder why they put the elephants in charge.

[democratreformed]

22. Yeah, and I may be a hillbilly....

but I definitely have teeth! Seriously, NASCAR is pretty boring to me even though I keep half an ear on the results so I can hear about Arkansas' own Mark Martin. My mom was a huge fan. It was more interesting when she was around b/c she loved it. (She had teeth too!)

Many other sports are the same way to me. The only way football is interesting is if I have a relative playing. I like basketball the best and even it is more interesting if I know someone who is playing.

The only other thing I can say about racing around a track is that my husband says driving a racecar is better than sex. (He doesn't race anymore! LOL)

[AdrianInOcala]

10. My opinion, from the "inside"....

I crew for an American LeMans Series team, the series where Earnhardt Jr. had his accident last weekend. Racing as a sport, you can argue either way. To be able to maintain concentration over 2-3 hours in a 120+ degree race car takes conditioning, G forces encountered in turns can reach 3-4 G's. So I would draw a paralell to flying a fighter plane, rather than playing football. THe risks are there, you minimze them as much as possible with the safety measures you take, but they are always there. To me NASCAR seems somewhat WWF-like, but still has the same dangers and need for talent as other racing, just kinda dull and low-tech, IMO.

[Steve Beatty]

11. Nascar > Golf

Well said.

While not 100% what racing should really be about, I still would put NASCAR as more interesting than golf anyway....

[slaveplanet]

12. Nascar

Is a sport that evolved from bootleggers evading the taxman and the Law.

sound familiar. -cheaters and rulebreakers


Anyway I'm partial to the iron horse when it comes to racing.

[Ronin1]

14. Racing is mentally and physically demanding on drivers & teams.

Michael Shumacher - 6 time Formula 1 World Driving Champion (currently working on his 7th) has been one of the the highest paid athletes (Salary not endorsements)in the world behind Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan for years.

You cannot tell me driving Formula 1 race car on a Road Course topping 220MPH for 2 hours without a time-out is not a sport. Especially vs. bouncing a stupid rubber ball or hitting even a smaller one. Go back to your books.

[redqueen]

15. I don't mind racing. At least they're professionals

and take risks with their own lives.

What I hate are consumers buying wasteful sportscars and endangering private citizens with their stupidity.

[Tweed]

16. If Paul Newman does it professionally, it's not stupid. n/t

[Toucano]

17. Both. n/t

[porphyrian]

20. Racing Cars - Fun Sport, Watching Racing - Stupid

How can anyone watch fast left turns for hours at a time?

[JHB]

21. I don't know about the people in the stands...

...but judging from some cousins, it involves beer, cooking out on the grill, and the usual "friends getting together" banter.

You know, the usual stuff for a social event, even if the purported focus doesn't seem very social.

[AP]

23. Ernest Hemingway said auto racing and bullfighting were only real sports

and all the rest were just games.

He shot himself in the head.