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Why isn't rally racing popular in the U.S.?

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I heart Rally...as for the lacking popularity in the US, its probably due to Nascar's dominance here. No room for anything else I guess.
 
Originally posted by: cjgallen
Originally posted by: Wadded Beef
and why don't we have an equivilent of "top gear" here in the u.s.? they keep stealing brilliant british shows like the office, why not top gear??
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Because America doesn't get any good cars.
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Buahahahahaa, funniest lie I've seen here yet.
 
I don't know how many americans would be entertained watching someone race a time.

Off-road racing is quite popular up here in Wisconsin, around Crandon..... but it's the head-to-head "flavour" 😛

"World Capital of Off-Road Racing"
Crandon, Wisconsin U.S.A.
 
Originally posted by: bR
Originally posted by: sniperruff
Originally posted by: Wadded Beef
and why don't we have an equivilent of "top gear" here in the u.s.? they keep stealing brilliant british shows like the office, why not top gear??
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unlike topgear, which craps on american cars (and in some cases, for a good cause), the american topgear would have to crap on british cars... im sure they can't keep crapping on rover every episode... and they can't quite possibly say that the XKR, DB9, or the elise is crap.

it's just like what everybody is saying. people rather see a bunch of cars going around in a circle for 2 hours. whee. fun.
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as opposed to rally racing? have you seen a rally race in person? for one stage you would see one car every 3 minutes and that's it... unless it was a SS.

face it... all racing is boring unless you're in it.
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on tv rally racing is pretty interesting
 
Originally posted by: bR
Originally posted by: Riceball
I would be able to tolerate nascar and IRL if they actually road raced.
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they do.
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yes... 2 tracks out of the ~50 (?) have right turns. whoop de doo!

and it's funny to watch the road courses of nascar, they have to go sooo slow around corners since their cars weigh 3,500 lbs, and they crash a LOT
 
Originally posted by: brtspears2
I rather goto a race track instead of camping in the woods to watch cars pass by for a few seconds at a time.
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i'd do it in a heartbeat, but then again i enjoy camping. (and rally racing)
 
Originally posted by: Wadded Beef
Originally posted by: bR
Originally posted by: Riceball
I would be able to tolerate nascar and IRL if they actually road raced.
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they do.
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yes... 2 tracks out of the ~50 (?) have right turns. whoop de doo!

and it's funny to watch the road courses of nascar, they have to go sooo slow around corners since their cars weigh 3,500 lbs, and they crash a LOT
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~50 races? i take it you don't even care to know about this NASCAR thing before you judge it?

you've seen the car threads around here... so you should know. most people only care about HP, 0-60 time, 1/4 times and all out speed hence the appeal of ovals and dragstrips. nascar was meant to be economical and simple so any technological advancement on the cars isn't allowed... they're primarily on ovals because that's where american racers start off from... like sprint cars - world of outlaws. plus it lets the people in the stands have full view of the cars all throughout the lap. not a lot of aspiring racers have budgets for an open wheel racing career which is also why the IRL was born thus losing even more open wheel fans to NASCAR. Toyota's F1 budget for one year is probably enough to fund 10 top teams in NASCAR... which is probably F1 is in the middle of blowing itself up with teams bickering with each other over spending. WRC will lose two teams next year, Citroen and Peugeot.

its been the american way to get more of everything as cheaply and quickly as possible... and now you have it: 500 laps and numerous passes for the lead in one race... in a typical F1 race, you're lucky to have one pass for the lead... in WRC you won't know the results until the end of the leg.

i don't even know why i'm preaching this crap... I'm not even some die hard NASCAR fan.

EDIT: There is one american in GP2, and he looks very promising for a future F1 star. He has a fitting name to boot, Scott Speed. He is basically the only american hope in European racing in the last few years.
 
WRC and F1 are awesome, requires a ton of skill. Nascar is for sissies.

Meanwhile, the real reason why we dont' have a large WRC/F1 fanbase is because we have practically no drivers from America in those sports. People care about the their hometown heroes, not some guy from another country. Who cares if the guy from Germany loses to the guy from England, WE ARE AMERICA! Combined with the fact every single NASCAR driver is American, you can find a driver from your area, say hes from your town, and cheer for him. Boom, you have interest, and you care about who wins. Multiply that from the thousands of people from all over the country, you have a nice fanbase.

No American Driver = No one cares.
 
I don't know why you are all dissing on Nascar, it's actually very competitive. and it does take skills. not as much as rally but an average Joe would not be able to do it.
 
Originally posted by: DVad3r
NASCAR has the market. And not to stereo type, but can you picture the NASCAR/Muscle car billy bobs on a rally circuit?
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Actually, I can. That is if by "billy bobs" you mean people who live in a rural environment.

Country folk traverse roads much like the rally circuits on a daily basis. Gravel and rutted out dirt roads with steep curves that follow a ridge line and drop down to cross creeks bogs and marshes are very common.

I have no doubt many of these "billy bobs" with proper equipment and a little time to acclimate themselves to it could be competitive in rally racing.

Picturing your average sophisticated suburbanite or urban dweller is another story.
 
Originally posted by: Actaeon
WRC and F1 are awesome, requires a ton of skill. Nascar is for sissies.

Meanwhile, the real reason why we dont' have a large WRC/F1 fanbase is because we have practically no drivers from America in those sports. People care about the their hometown heroes, not some guy from another country. Who cares if the guy from Germany loses to the guy from England, WE ARE AMERICA! Combined with the fact every single NASCAR driver is American, you can find a driver from your area, say hes from your town, and cheer for him. Boom, you have interest, and you care about who wins. Multiply that from the thousands of people from all over the country, you have a nice fanbase.

No American Driver = No one cares.
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There are 3 american racers in MotoGP and no one could give a sh*t about them.

Not only do you have to be American... but you also have to be winning to even get a slight mention in the newspaper or a 10 second clip on Sportscenter.
 
Reasons:

You have to squeeze a lot of horsepower out of a small engine
You need to make one hell of a tough, efficient and reliable car
There are corners.
Thinking about stage times is much more difficult than seeing which car is in front of the pack of cars
You need to be able to use a manual gearbox
Because they're not winning already so they don't want to venture out from sports they already dominate in as it's bad for the country's jingoistic mentality

/Jeremy Clarkson

 
Originally posted by: loic2003
Reasons:

You have to squeeze a lot of horsepower out of a small engine
You need to make one hell of a tough, efficient and reliable car
There are corners.
Thinking about stage times is much more difficult than seeing which car is in front of the pack of cars
You need to be able to use a manual gearbox
Because they're not winning already so they don't want to venture out from sports they already dominate in as it's bad for the country's jingoistic mentality

/Jeremy Clarkson
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haha, is that from a magazine or the show?
 
I love Rally Racing, it's tough trying to look for WRC on the Speed Channel.

I think the reason why the US doesn't really care for rallying is simply because they think more horsepower means a better car. And they want speed speed speed, rather than technique.

For someone like me, who loves turns and off-roading (thanks to my friends and their Jeeps) rallying was just right.

Living in the Pine Barrens, I made full use of the trails around here. Nothing beats powersliding and seeing the trees go across your windshield knowing you are in full control in my adrenaline department.

Ford is the only domestic in the WRC, after that, the only other 2 manufacturers that sell rally-inspired cars here are Subaru (WRX Sti) and Mitsubishi (Lancer EVO). I'd love to see the others like Peugeot and Citroen come here as well.

It's bittersweet that rallying isn't so big here. Bad that I want the good compact cars with great handling to be sold here but can never find them, good that I can have fun in the trails that I showed in my link without fear of finding someone else in them. =0)
 
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