"Mitchell, Doug (D.B.)" wrote: > > I have to agree with Aaron as to the club racing. Also keep in mind > that the big difference between NASCAR and real racing is that real > racers know how to turn right! > > I enjoy most kinds of racing, including Pro Rally, but I will rarely > watch (either in person or on the telly) any kind of oval racing. > That includes IRL, NASCAR, CART. The Indy 500 is an exception. > Give me a road course any day, and I will try to make some time > to watch it.
I will weigh in here, briefly, even though I don't have cable, don't have SpeedVision, and haven't watched television for about three years. Unlike most of the people on this list, I have been intimately associated with NASCAR and a NASCAR-sanctioned racing. In the early `80s, I crewed on a Sportsman-class car at a NASCAR track in Florida. I had a NASCAR crew license at that time. That track was a training ground for the likes of drivers such as Davey Allison (who was sent out by his father's team with a Grand American car, trailer, tow truck and little else). In a season of doing that, I found that most of the people in that racing, more than anything else, wanted national recognition, sponsorship, or, as likely, local bragging rights. I saw some of the worst in people in that racing, and very little of the best. Even when our car had suffered major damage on excursions, no other crew helped us get it back in shape for the next heat, and saw the amazement in Davey Allison whenever I loaned him lights and tools when he needed them--there were lots of people around who wanted to bathe in the glory of his name and presence, but didn't do a thing to help him when he had a smashed car he needed to get back on the trailer. I watched a driver force another into the wall approaching the finish line rather than let him win honestly. (I then saw, two weeks later, the driver with his car smashed thank all the people in his community for helping him get his car repaired and back on the track in two weeks--that was a good moment, of which there were few.) I saw too many people in silver lame' driver's suits primping for the press. I saw the fun of it for the locals destroyed by the desire for celebrity. I saw the losers take crowbars to the drivers of winning cars simply because they'd been beaten, fair and square. I saw people cheating regularly and smirking when they got away with it, and killed by their own stupidity when they didn't get away with it. I tried, repeatedly, to keep the driver of the car I crewed on from doing stupid things which would compromise his safety and the safety of others. When it became clear that he wasn't listening, because of coke or grass or simple stupidity, I quit. When I quit, the whole crew quit. When that happened, the owner of the car retaliated. He used his position in the dealership for which I worked to have me fired. He was young, unattached, well-do-to, had a free apartment in an exclusive building his father built and owned on Pensacola Beach. I was a line mechanic with two kids to support. That's NASCAR to me. No fun at all. NASCAR? SpeedVision? Screw `em all. It's nothing but high-speed advertising and brand-name recognition reinforcement fueled by unlimited money. Who cares? I certainly don't. Cheers, all. -- Michael D. Porter Roswell, NM (yes, _that_ Roswell) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Don't let people drive you crazy when you know it's within walking distance. /// [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list /// Send admin requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] /// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool /// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive /// Send list postings to [EMAIL PROTECTED] /// Edit your replies! If they include this trailer, they will NOT be sent.
