What is the fascination with NASCAR?

The appeal is that it’s exciting to them. This is like asking “Why do you like spinach? That’s ridiculous! I don’t like spinach”

For some, the appeal is to the motorhead in them.. what it takes to make a car run at top performance for such a long period of time.. etc etc etc.. I used to ask the same question as you until I started watching it.. of course it’s still not my favorite sport by any means.. but I can certainly, now, see the appeal for some.

I don’t see what’s so exciting either… I want to see someone turn right for once though

I used to have dog that would jog alongside the car and slowly spin his head as he watched the wheel go round and round and round….

I quite dislike NASCAR, turing left 600 times just isnt very exciting.

Formula 1 is where its at.

Well my boyfriend tells me his family is kinda redneckish who are really into cars. A lot of rednecks are into nasar. Thus I would think love of cars has something to do with it, but that’s all speculation. I mean I can tell you why I love baseball, but nascar is even more boring than to me than golf, and that’s saying a lot.

i’ll never understand it. its one of the dullest things that exists on the planet.

I’m not into it, but the “You’re just turning left!” simplification can be said about any sport. Soccer is just about running to the opposite side of the field. Baseball is just about hitting something and running a square pattern. Swimming is about getting to the other side of the pool, Halo is about clicking on your enemy before he clicks on you.

It’s about the competition, about who turns left the most, who gets to the opposite end of the pool fastest, etc.

It’s about object constancy. There’s our car..hey there it is again…hey here it is again…

Sarcasm wins. These simplifications are simply made by people who don’t understand the sport. It’s a competitive event. People tend to like competitive events. It’s also a sport in which you can root for your favorite driver. People like that. It’s fast, it’s often exciting, it’s all around good fun.

I also assume it might have something to do with going to the speedway and drinking a case of beer

Another left tuuurrrrrrrnnnn!!!!!

Like Bubba J said, “It’s an easy sport to follow when you’re hammered.”

@Phobia that’s probably the best reason for liking that sport I’ve ever heard in my entire life….

that said I can’t stand nascar, I know it’s a lot more complex than a lot of people give it credit for, but I just don’t like the fact that there is a machine involved in direct contact with the “athletes” i use that term loosely

The possibility of seeing crashes, injury and death, and/or giant explosions.

@wildpotato I must say, I’d watch football if the players exploded every once in a while.

@Sarcasm it’d kill my fantasy team though…

4 players on IR due to combustion issues

I’ve watched NASCAR once in my life and it was the most boringest piece of crap in the world. What ticked me off more was the fact that the cars don’t even have a door, wtf??

I stopped watching or attending NASCAR Winston Cup (or whatever its a called now) races when Dale Earnhardt Sr died in a crash as I did Formula 1 when Aryton Senna did the same. They were both arguably the best ever in those classes and in both cases, I had already seen enough favorites like Neil Bonnett get killed, burned or maimed , that their passing was closure for me on those classes. Anyways, I’d always preferred dirt track racing, sprint cars or midgets on the half mile or motorcycles on the half mile, one mile or TT tracks. It’s just impressive seeing those guys get all that weight (in the case of the cars) or their bikes sideways through the turns, slinging tacky mud well into the grandstands. I spent a good number of years as an action racing photographer within feet of the action and it is a rush (well, not quite the rush as when they are out of control coming at you). @Ivan is right, these guys are intensely competitive and they tend to live their lives intensely as well. Although the local track closed quite a few years ago, I still count a former motorcycle pro a close friend and many others as good acquaintances I always looked forward to seeing when in town. The local tracks that remain are paved and it’s just not the same racing to me.

@tink, why exactly were you bothered by the lack of doors?
I thought they had doors, just no windows, but nevertheless

@Sarcasm Because I think that it’s weird that they have windows just not doors??

Actually, they have neither functioning doors nor driver or passenger side windows (they use nets where the windows go and the side paneling extends from nose to tail).

@whatthefluther Exactly! :)
I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned the time today

@Tink1113….It’s still early, kid. I’ll catch you closer to 3 AM!

@whatthefluther Haha I’ll be there

How can you people call this a sport? The only exercise is when the drivers run from the cars before they explode!!!

My father was a minor legend in NASCAR back in the 60’s. He worked pit-crews, and was a racing specialist on tires. He loved the sport, and I remember every Memorial Day all the speakers in the house blared the Indy.
I hated NASCAR. The cars made too much noise (I remember going to an indoor auto race once, and feeling like my head would explode).
My brother loved it, and my dad would often take him to races, meeting the drivers, etc.
I only resented that, because he got more time with my dad than I did.

I know if i try to start an argument within this discussion with
<—THIS icon, i will lose…

It’s more of a sport than competitive bowling…

@Fred931 Haha :P

@Fred931 hey dude different strokes for different folks.

I’m a huge volleyball fan and Rugby fan(as far as lesser mainstream sports go) And I think a big reason behind it is because I know how complex and intricate they are, most people don’t see it so they think it’s basic and boring. Same holds true with NASCAR(even though I’m not a fan)

Competition, in itself, is an interesting phenomenon. You would be hard-pressed to find one competitive chess fan in a million people, yet entire huge nations suddenly found themselves huge competitive chess fans during the Fischer-Spassky finals in the early 70’s. Of course that was the “Cold War” match and support was based on nationalism, but there was a nary a criticism of the “game” at that time. Interestingly enough, nationalism is still very much at play in Formula 1, the world-wide racing class, where fans show their support by displaying flags, as well of course in world-wide soccer tournaments where riots are seemingly commonplace. And did you notice how everyone in the USA became hockey fans when the US team shocked the world on its road to gold in the Olympics several games OK. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that the support or criticism of competition sure seems to me to be pretty fickle.

NASCAR: They found a way to make 200 MPH boring.

the same fascination i ponder why people voted for GWB

This person that voted for GWB despises NASCAR