the difference between Nascar and Formula 1

[Gillbot]

how does indycar fit into this battle?

Many people assume Indy = F1 since they are both open wheeler and look the same right? :whiste:

 

[Bartman39]

Many people assume Indy = F1 since they are both open wheeler and look the same right? :whiste:

Chit starter...

 

[The Boston Dangler]

in a gesture of goodwill, i offer to un-derail ^2 the thread

do you prefer higher frequency, lower value action of nascar or lower frequency, higher value action of f1? i think v8 supercars are in the sweet spot.

do you like to see utter domination by 1 car/team/driver? how much of your viewing fun is crashes?

 

[Bartman39]

in a gesture of goodwill, i offer to un-derail ^2 the thread

do you prefer higher frequency, lower value action of nascar or lower frequency, higher value action of f1? i think v8 supercars are in the sweet spot.

do you like to see utter domination by 1 car/team/driver? how much of your viewing fun is crashes?

I prefer what is called "grass roots racing" which is called Nascar now but you do have a good point about the V8 super cars that is some crazy stuff but still like F1 for it fine points and high tech... I just like racing (love off shore super boats too)... As for the 1 team utter domination the past 2 seasons in Nascar it has not been seen... In fact I was really glad to see Roger Penske win his first cup championship (dont care for his driver) but its good to see a different manufacturer win too it makes all of the teams work that much harder to win next year... Sad though to see Dodge leaving the sport but may open the door for another manufacturer to come into the light...?

BTW... Luck plays a bigger part in racing than most really know... Does not matter how good the car and driver are there are just to many variables that can play into the game with paint trading racing... I do not really care for the big crashes either lots of money and hard work go down the drain and takes out good teams that might have had a chance to win...

 

[Pacfanweb]

So many people identify with Nascar because so many people had/have a fast car that at least looks remotely like Cup cars.

Especially when they actually still used some of the factory bodies. The Car Of Tomorrow made them all the same, with only the motors being different.

Some folks make fun of Cup cars racing mostly round tracks, but it was realized long ago that round tracks were the best way for the most people to see a race, and actually SEE most or all of what was happening.

Nascar has chosen to make the cars more equal, and to make the teams and drivers make the difference, whereas F1 is all about the car. You can take the F1 champ and put him in the 4th place car, and he'll have no chance to win, whereas you in Nascar, he just might.

Indy has gone the "spec car" route, too. Limited HP, all use the same chassis, etc.


You really can't say one form of racing is "better" than the others. They are just different. Whatever you prefer is whatever you prefer. Of course, there are always those who think anything European must be "better"....cars/clothes/watches/etc. If that's their preference, then whatever, that's what they like.

But I have to correct people when they start claiming that F1 has the best drivers in the world. They don't. Just because there's a lot of money floating around doesn't mean that all the best drivers automatically gravitate there, and dream their whole life of racing F1 because "it's the ultimate"......like a young basketball players dreams of the NBA or a high school football player dreams of the NFL.

You don't see many Americans in F1 for the exact same reason you don't see many playing soccer at a high level: F1 isn't popular here. We like other forms of racing better. Just as simple as that. If F1 was bigger here, and Americans identified with it more, then you'd see more kids loving it and there'd be a huge contingent of Americans racing F1.

It's the exact same reason you don't see many Euros in the NFL, or in Nascar or MLB.
Same reason that 25 years ago, there were barely any Euros in the NBA....then the Soviet Union collapsed, countries were freed, basketball spread, and 20 years later there are a lot more Euros in the NBA, with more coming.

IMO if soccer ever really got popular here, the US would be the team to beat in most World Cups, if they could get NFL-quality athletes playing that sports. But they don't, for the most part.

So F1 isn't "better", and neither is Nascar. Both are populated by drivers from their respective regions, because that's what those drivers know, and grew up with. Not because drivers from either sport are "better".

A great driver is a great driver, period. Doesn't matter what their choice or preference of racing is.

 

[_Rick_]

You can take the F1 champ and put him in the 4th place car, and he'll have no chance to win.

Pastor Maldonado disagrees. And Kimi. And Britney.

And Fernando Alonso

Just look at how different the team mates race in the top teams:
Massa vs Alonso, Webber vs. Vettel, Button vs. Hamilton.
They drive the same cars, but often there are more than four positions between at least one of those pairs.


Also, F1 was always a global sport, and Nascar always a regional sport. You can't say there are "F1 regions" - there were races on all continents, except Antarctica.

F1 has the best open-wheel drivers in the world. Because it is the top open wheel category. People have usually been competing successfully in other open wheel classes for close to a decade, before getting into F1.
I've seen many people going from F1 to other motor sports, but few getting into open wheelers, coming from touring cars. The current test driver for Williams(?) is a DTM racer, so that's one of the few exceptions. But then DTM is closest to open wheel racing from all touring car categories.

Of course, nobody would claim "F1-Seb is a better driver, than WRC-Seb".

Different sports require different skill-sets, and neither could probably get close to the other in their respective specialties.

That's also why the RoC is so much fun

 

[kache]

I wonder how would F1 (and our everyday cars) look now if they didn't start limiting development with the rulebook.
Maybe we'd be already seeing wipeout.

 

[Gillbot]

Chit starter...

No I think the starter on my car is a Delco.

I prefer F1 myself over NASCAR but I was severely ruined on NASCAR after living in Charlotte. Well, the people ruined it for me really. I can respect the series but the fans are a whole different story.

 

[Bartman39]

Pacfanweb...

Well put and thank you...

Its not a matter of which is better its just a preference nothing more...

As for drivers just ask some of the Indy car drivers that made the switch... Not sure if any F1 drivers have tried to lazy to check...

 

[Pariah]

Nascar clip from 5th gear. Not nearly as negative as I thought it would be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ivcb79xBy8

 

[Fenixgoon]

Nascar clip from 5th gear. Not nearly as negative as I thought it would be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ivcb79xBy8

i talked to one of my professors at school and he actually knew quite a bit about nascar (and F1) despite being from the UK...i will say, there's a lot more to it than people give it credit for.

(but at the end of the day, i would still say F1 is more "challenging")

 

[Pulsar]

Nascar does nothing to advance automotive technology. That makes it worthless aside from making money. It's primitive on purpose. No one even knows why.

Yeah, we get it. You don't know what a spec series is, and you want to try to be a dick and troll. Fine.

The draw of Nascar isn't the technology. It's the incredibly close racing that usually comes down to strategy differences and driver differences and pit-stop differences.

F1 IS the polar opposite: they rely on technology as heavily as they can, and more often that not the team that wins on any given day has a very substantial speed advantage.

Nascar is a budget race series. F1 is a series for rich rich companies and rich rich people.

 

[redgtxdi]

F1 is the growing trend.

Moto2 is far and away the most racing bang for the buck with motoGP a close 2nd, even though motoGP are the big boys. (AMA needs help but I still like it)

NASCAR is not low budget, nor is it uninspired by, nor unrooted in technology. It is what it is and does a good job at it.

And as for road vs. oval, well, I can't imagine anyone in any racing series would call the indy500 anything short of awesome and beyond that some of the best racing I saw all year was the only race I went to to watch Ryan Hunter-Reay take the championship in Fontana in an exciting and complex turn of events that saw Wheldon, among others fail just enough to allow almost the same chance that Alonso had at Sao Paulo today.

And then there's that whole standing 20 feet from a pair of top fuel dragsters that I could get into but then we'd be here all night.....