Quote:
Originally Posted by HighParker
This notion that people became racing fans when they started driving at 18 (or whatever age it was for you at the time) or when they "picked up a wrench" has never seemed to be anything associated with reality for me.
Do you remember ever not liking racing from the time you first started seeing pictures or the occasional film or TV clips of it (again depending on the time period when you were a kid)? I certainly wasn't driving on the road or working on my own vehicle when I was five years old. Who suddenly starts watching racing at 18 or 20 when they've had no interest in it before? Aren't your interests set by that age? And why did all "car people" I knew as a kid say stuff like "isn't just standing beside the road and watching cars go past pretty much the same thing as watching racing?"
Saying "picking up a wrench" is what got someone interested in watching racing strikes me as saying working in a slaughterhouse is what got someone interested in eating steaks and hamburgers.
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You misunderstood. My pernt is that the casual fan is what you and I are talking about that is causing the change in auto racing. They are more interested in "good" (actually close) racing. They haven't a clue what makes the cars go and could care less. They just want an 'exciting" battle. My test when talking to a stranger at a race is to simply ask if they know the difference between a roll bar and an anti roll bar.
This is what the manufacturers and any sponsors want as there is more of those eyeballs who aren't interested in the tecchnology and engineering involved resulting in wonderful identical kit cars (IndyCar), spec cars (NASCAR), BoPed cars (sports car racing) and all the "must last so and so races" (cripes, even F1...) or else penalization
"supposedly" to lower costs when it actually costs more to design and develop such critters.
All the above actuality makes for more racing billboards running closer together (more airtime with "good" (orchestrated by said rules) close) racing) running longer for the short attention spanned/uninitiated, fans; and for the sponsors.
I never said "picking up a wrench" got anyone interested....it's what makes a REAL auto racing fan just that. They have a clue what it's really about. Not just a scripted show.
Racing used to be a display of the best designed, engineered, built, and developed....fastest.....that teams could produce (and yes, cranked to the limit, they often broke). That is what "auto racing" is about; not just an excercise in advertising.
Are, for instance, faster dominant runners required to wear weights on their backs to "level the playing field" to put on a better "show"? (etc., etc.) No. They also aren't big banners running (or whatever) around.
I know, I'm a broken record but I'm watching "racing" go down the tubes and maybe, just maybe, some enlightenment will sink in.......
