Real motorsport?

NASCAR

National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing

Now as you can probably tell from the above picture I went to see NASCAR. I went along to the Kansas City Speedway, a 1.5 mile tri-oval race track. As a Formula 1 fan myself I was slightly sceptical that NASCAR was anything other than red-neck racing. A lot of average ability racing drivers turning left for around 3 hours. A place for people to go and get drunk when they feel the need to leave their trailer for the afternoon. Somewhere to push hot-dogs and other fast foods into their faces....

You get the idea?

How wrong was I!

I have been to watch Formula 1 before and to be honest it's better on television. You find a place around the race track which is usually rubbish because you've bought the cheapest ticket you could and that still cost you at least 150 pound. From your distinctly average corner you cant see much as you're still about half a mile from the race track. But you keep your chin up, as after all that's the English way.

Once the race is under way, you have no real clue as to whats going on. Not to worry you'll keep an eye on the progress of the race from one of three 32 inch LED televisions, these are positioned around the circuit at a height of 50 foot so they are no use to man nor beast. 

By this time its almost certainly raining, so as well as not knowing whats going on, you're freezing cold, soaked to the bone and your stiff upper lip has suddenly turned floppy. Time to head home. And they've saved the best for last.

As you and around half a dozen others attempt to leave the site, you suddenly realise what Chris Rea meant when he sang about "The Road to Hell". Investment in infrastructure is something we're not keen on in the UK, so the surrounding roads of Silverstone in Northamptonshire have not changed since Stirling Moss was himself participating in Formula 1 Grand Prixs.

It's at this point you realise you should have just watched it from the comfort of your own home!

In true British fashion I bought the cheapest seat in the house, now this put me right at the edge of the race track, around 10 metres away from 30 angry race cars travelling at nearly 200mph. From this distance you can actually feel the shock wave as they blast past, you can smell the primitive race engines and you can also taste the rubber as the cars slide and squirm their way around the oval. 

Over 100,000 people attended the race and this is where the oval track lay out starts to make a great deal of sense. From every view point round the track it's very easy to keep up with what's going on in the race but at the same time you don't feel detached from it.

With plenty of re-starts because of frequent collisions the racing is kept tight as the cars get continually bunched up. There are no tactics or team orders and as the cars are built like tanks, the drivers aren't scared to get up close and personal with each other. Mind you, if there was a major pile up I'm not sure that chicken wire fence would be much use and it would never pass a British Health and Safety inspection.

When 300 or so laps had passed and it was time to leave with the other 100,000 spectators,  there wasn't a single traffic queue. The Americans had obviously seen the potential for a motoring calamity and simply built big some bigger roads, what a novel idea.

So I am a NASCAR convert? Not exactly but I think I can now appreciate how the Americans have taken a race car format and literally made it fun for the whole family.