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**LongaDonga** · 03-14-2010, 03:08 AM

NASCAR is...well, it's different. For one thing, it's hella boring unless something goes very wrong and a car crashes, in which case people get their jollies watching a guy burn to death. Otherwise, they just go around in circles forever, which sucks. NASCAR is also the favored sport of redne--er, red-staters, who in their NASCAR-going incarnation are somehow even more embarrassing than your soccer/football hooligans. Those Budweiser-swilling fatties out to stick to punkin-chunkin'. Most other Americans really don't care for the sport.

I'm aware of NASCAR's reputation wrt its demographic, and won't comment on that beyond saying that stereotyping fans of a particular sport as scum is not very helpful. Over 350,000 people attend football matches each week here (including myself) and very few of them are hooligans.

That said, I've watched NASCAR and am not a fan, despite being an enthusiast of motor sport in general. I do like the Indy Racing Series in the States though - open-wheel single seaters - and they go round in circles. There is an art to oval racing which I appreciate even though most of the racing I watch is on 'road' courses. The Indy Cars, with their open wheels, are inherently more dangerous than the stock cars of NASCAR, and danger is an integral part of motor sport.

As far as the film goes, if it's going to be about a racing car, the only altenative would have been an open-wheeler, but you don't get anything looking like these on the off-circuit roads on which some of Cars is set, IIRC.

Executive summary : I like motor-racing. I don't like NASCAR. I don't, however, have a problem with the race series in Cars resembling NASCAR.

03-14-2010, 03:08 AM	#16
LongaDonga Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 753 Senior Member	NASCAR is...well, it's different. For one thing, it's hella boring unless something goes very wrong and a car crashes, in which case people get their jollies watching a guy burn to death. Otherwise, they just go around in circles forever, which sucks. NASCAR is also the favored sport of redne--er, red-staters, who in their NASCAR-going incarnation are somehow even more embarrassing than your soccer/football hooligans. Those Budweiser-swilling fatties out to stick to punkin-chunkin'. Most other Americans really don't care for the sport. I'm aware of NASCAR's reputation wrt its demographic, and won't comment on that beyond saying that stereotyping fans of a particular sport as scum is not very helpful. Over 350,000 people attend football matches each week here (including myself) and very few of them are hooligans. That said, I've watched NASCAR and am not a fan, despite being an enthusiast of motor sport in general. I do like the Indy Racing Series in the States though - open-wheel single seaters - and they go round in circles. There is an art to oval racing which I appreciate even though most of the racing I watch is on 'road' courses. The Indy Cars, with their open wheels, are inherently more dangerous than the stock cars of NASCAR, and danger is an integral part of motor sport. As far as the film goes, if it's going to be about a racing car, the only altenative would have been an open-wheeler, but you don't get anything looking like these on the off-circuit roads on which some of Cars is set, IIRC. Executive summary : I like motor-racing. I don't like NASCAR. I don't, however, have a problem with the race series in Cars resembling NASCAR.
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