Live nascar races are a good time. Good tailgating and fun to watch. TV nascar is dreadful unless there are a bunch of crashes. The Iowa race will suck on TV. The short track races are brutal.
Iowa Speedway is getting a NASCAR Cup race in 2024
- Thread starter Connor_Ferguson
- Start date
It's also an awesome experience seeing a race in person versus on TV. The sounds, smells, sights, etc...
100% agree. Went to a couple of Cup races back in NASCAR’s heyday when I was more into it and the tailgating and race atmosphere is great. Worth going to one even if you aren’t a fan.
Same here but there are races in F1, like Monaco, which are nearly unwatchable after the first lap.
My parents are way too excited for this. They've been going to Iowa Speedway since it opened and they've been holding out this hope the whole time.
I'm really good at the round abouts here in Waukee. Put me in coach!
I don’t really watch NASCAR anymore, but I have seen races at both Daytona and Iowa. Daytona was an experience - you could literally feel the cars pass by you, even way up in the stands. Never quite got that same experience at Iowa.
Really should check out a race at Michigan Motor Speedway sometime just to say I’ve been. It’s not all that far from where I live.
Really should check out a race at Michigan Motor Speedway sometime just to say I’ve been. It’s not all that far from where I live.
Probably have Caitlyn Clark as the honorary starter. Lord help us!!
She'll drive the pilot car... sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings's new chicken wing selection. There may be a shade in front so it's hard to see her.
I'm not someone who watches NASCAR on TV or follows it, but I've been to a handful of races live with work. Always had a great time. I hope the state shows up for this race so it isn't a one off event.
I've never been able to find myself that interested in F1.
I don't mean this to bash it but I've never found it interesting because...
I respect the heck out of the engineering of the cars and the skill of the drivers. Piloting something that light that fast with that much power and that much downforce takes incredible ability.
It just doesn't produce very compelling racing. F1 races look more like a parade than a race to me for somebody raised on Iowa short tracks and peak NASCAR in the 1990s.
F1 cars can't handle dirty air so they can't race close to one another. Many of the "modern" tracks that now dominate the calendar lack the character of some of the classics or lack much for natural passing zones. Occasionally you have one that has both (e.g., Spa, which is probably the best circuit in the world for just about any type of racing you could imagine) but most are uninspiring and generic. DRS helps with the lack of passing zones but watching somebody fly past somebody on a straightaway is not nearly as interesting as watching somebody outwork their opponent for a pass on a corner after setting things up perfectly on a straight.
I know some people like the business aspects of it or the "male soap opera" built around the personalities of the drivers and the teams, but I've never been into sports for what happens off the field/track. I could care less if QB Jim Jebow is "popular in the locker room" and his contract negotiations with the Benver Droncos unless this somehow has something to do with the flow of the game on Saturday or Sunday.
The awkward time differences make it harder to follow, too, though the occasional early-morning race in Europe on a Sunday before NFL games might be starting fits in fairly nicely.
To be fair, NASCAR has developed many of these same problems.
-- As their cars have become increasingly aero-dependent over the years, the quality of the racing has declined. The 90s were fun because they could race close and pass enough each easily.
-- Lots of older tracks with history and character were replaced by boring, soulless new builds, though there has been some movement (e.g., North Wilkesboro) to roll that problem back.
-- This has also swung somewhat back in the fun direction, but classic NASCAR was like watching Smokey and the Bandit with all these southern-fried devil-may-care outlaws driving fast and turning left. Once a ton of corporate money came in, it felt like the "culture" of the sport and driver personalities got bland. There were exceptions (e.g., Tony Stewart and the Busch brothers) but it doesn't quite feel the same as it once did.
