Monday, June 25, 2007
NASCAR
Let me start off by saying I am a fan of NASCAR. Not a big one, but I'm interested. But let me also say, the I have a lot of problems with NASCAR. First, it's called stock car racing. What part of the car is "stock?" I'd honestly be surprised if there's any part on a stock car that can be found on a stock car. Take Jeff Gordon, who supposedly drives a Chevy. What part on that car is the same as the part on the Chevy that my neighbor parks in his driveway?
Now they have some new type of NASCAR car, that seems to be the same for all drivers. I'm guessing they don't even want to make believe that what's running on Darlington might be similar to what Fred is driving on I-94 outside of Detroit. I think they should really drop the nomenclature of "stock" from NASCAR racing. I mean, Jeff Gordon's stock car is about as similar to my old Chevy as Ralf Schumacher's Toyota is to my wife's Camry. At least Formula doesn't try to pass their equipment off as something you might be able to purchase at the local GM dealer.
The other thing that bugs me about NASCAR is how they try to make it seem like a NASCAR car/driver is something you'd probably run into at your local 7/11, as opposed to the sophistication and unreachable manner of a Formula One driver/car. Honestly, about the only difference between Gordon and Schumacher is that they are driving differently named cars and one spends most of his time turning left (and why left not right?) and the other doesn't have a roof over his head. Besides that, they are both professional drivers with driving skills and automobiles far beyond that of someone who buys a pack of Marlboro in 7/11.
But I guess they're not completely alone. I recently went to a tractor pull. They have John Deeres and Internationals and Minneapolis Molines that bear absolutely no resemblance to what you might find in some farmer's field. At one time they had to have at least the axle of the tractor they were called, but I kinda doubt that applies any more. The one thing, is that they don't call them stock tractors if they aren't really stock tractors. One other thing, is that a lot of these guys are still tractor driving farmers for real.
