Quote:
Originally Posted by Thaw Daggerslash
To put it bluntly, I guess F1 is the idiot's favourite racing where you have to have a deeper knowledge of motorsport to appreciate what Le Mans is with the different classes, etc.
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F1 (and most forms of professional racing) are very personality driven. The personalities of the drivers, owners, team bosses, and series bosses are all a big deal. A big circus. With sports car racing, this isn't really the case so much. There are emotional attachments and beloved drivers and all of that, but there isn't as much of a circus atmosphere (not counting the drunks at the track - they are everywhere). It's more bureaucratic for better or for worse. It does take a lot of focus to understand the classes, procedures, and the rules. Most of us get confused about things from time to time and we are the diehards who live for this stuff. It seems that things have to be relearned every year.
But, anyway, F1 and their participants have the aloof reputation. American racing, especially stuff like drag racing, is on the total opposite end of the spectrum. The participants understand what and who pays the bills and so they give the fans what they want when they can. Many of the participants came from more humble beginnings and may have started in the sport at a much older age. Sports car racing is kind of in the middle between the poles.
I don't know if I'd call F1 fans idiots. There are probably just as many or more F1 fans who have a deep technical and business knowledge of the sport as there are with sports cars, but they aren't as visible because the "your favorite driver sucks" and "my daddy is faster than your daddy" crowd is even bigger and much more annoying. Certainly F1 is more stable and easier to follow, that's for dang sure. That may be more of a flaw of sports car racing than a dumbed down point of F1 and other series.