How SHOULD racing be done?

[JohnBM01]

GTPlanet, hello again to man, woman, and child of this site.

You may remember a topic I did entitled "What is 'racing?'" This time around, I am so confused as to how racing should be. I seen a little bit of Martinsville, I seen almost all of Long Beach, and all the while, I keep hearing of racing this, racing that. I hear in NASCAR that beating and banging is racing. Champ Car has "puss to pass" to allow a few seconds of extra boost to make racing more excicitng, and they run mostly road courses. Some people don't like F1 because passing is tough or near impossible. I, however, enjoy road racing because you actually have to WORK for it. I'm not saying that oval racers are lazy to pass, but it's just that in road racing, you're tested on skill more than in oval racing. Oval racing, you mostly need speed. Road racing, you'll need to plan carefully to take on the competition. That's why I've always enjoyed watching a team win endurances at Sebring or Le Mans. But you have a choice. Ovals. Road racing. Just HOW should racing be done?

I'll start.

I'm sick of all the "racing- the way it ought to be" crap posted at the oval races here in America. The concept is simple. High-powered cars going in left turns where going into the turns can lead to three and even four and five cars all battling at once for position. If I wanted that many cars competing for position, I'd rather see racing at Sebring. The road to the first turn is wide enough for any number of cars to fly around on. You can't take NASCAR to F1, but likewise, you can't take F1 to NASCAR (because you'll probably DNF or finish low). When I seen the bold move Alex Zanardi made in CART back in 1996 or 1997 or so at Laguna Seca, he used the corkscrew to his advantage to make the pass for the lead and eventually win the race. Of course, that move is outlawed nowadays. I mean, the Corkscrew is one of the toughest turns in racing. Forget the bus stop chicane at Watkins Glen, forget the hairpin of the REAL Sears Point (Even though it is a tough turn as well), Laguna Seca is a test of skill. Even I screw up at the Corkscrew sometimes in Gran Turismo. But to me, circuit racing is at its best when drivers are able to look for oppurtunities for any track on any given race day or night.

Another thing that gets me is that "street courses aren't racing." To hell with that! Sure, street courses are more demanding and forgiving than road courses, but that doesn't mean that they aren't "racing." I'd rather watch two Audi R8s battle on the streets of Miami than watching Jimmie Johnson pass Ryan Newman for the lead at Charlotte. Passing is only tough because no one has the guts to make a stand. Juan Pablo Montoya kicked Michael Schumacher's a$$ so many times last season because he made a stand to win. Allan McNish didn't win in ALMS by asking nicely. He put skill and endurance to good use to win. Now look at Audi. The most dominant team in all of road racing today. If you don't make a stand, you can't win. Don't be afraid of racing just because the race cars are more pure and the tracks are more challenging. Just like in Gran Turimo, you drive your a$$ off until the damn thing is over. THAT is racing, never mind what oval experts daresay. Never mind what dirt trackers (the fake dirt) say. "Racing the way it ought to be" is something like what I've said in this introduction.

So what do you think racing "should be?" Here is your change to agree/disagree with me, or make comments.

 

[kart racer]

It all depends on wear you are from. In most of the U.S. every one was around oval racing. Everywhere eles seemed to favour the road races.It just takes some one to get thier head out of their a$$ and take a look around at all of the racing from around the world to see the beauty of the sport in it's fisrt form,ROADRACING!!!!!!!
I was a oval nut when I was a kid because that is what I manly saw on tv, but my dad showed me the other forms and that is when I feel that I became a true race fan.I am not puting any form of racing down.Some love the dirt, some the pave.Just remember to always support your chosen form and please,don't bash another for their love of a different form.We are all fans in one way or another,just like one big familly.You can tell where my support gose to,but I also help at the local oval track as the head flagman(starting this year)

 

[JohnBM01]

Hope it works well for you, KartRacer. Have fun.

Any more replies?

 

[Sleek Stratos]

Originally posted by JohnBM01
...High-powered cars going in left turns where going into the turns can lead to three and even four and five cars all battling at once for position. If I wanted that many cars competing for position, I'd rather see racing at Sebring. The road to the first turn is wide enough for any number of cars to fly around on...

Yes, for the first couple of laps, then the cars get spread out and you'll be lucky to see a battle between 2 cars going through that turn.

I will agree that road courses are better, more technical than ovals (asphalt or "dirt") Street courses I don't know how to feel about, passing opportunities aren't as often for one thing and, personally, I would prefer to watch any old Mid-Ohio or Elkhart Lake CART race than your Toronto or Long Beach races from the same era. Street courses are concrete there and asphalt here and usually there's only one line to follow through turns, road courses to my knowledge are wider than your average street course.
Road courses have a certain beauty to them, with their scenery and all, plus they are built to be raced on, streets are built to be driven on, but this is my opinion.

All in all it comes down to one thing, "different strokes for different folks." There's something for everyone in the world of motorsports. I remember once seeing some lawnmower racing footage on 'WindTunnel', those looked like fun. They even had an old Le Mans type of start, that was hilarious. 👍

 

[JohnBM01]

Those lawn mowers are fun. And just recently, since you mentioned WindTunnel, even Dave Despain said that "you should look into other types of racing," when a person seen MotoGP stars go at it. MotoGP is like the Formula One of motorcycle road racing, but I'm not really a moto person. Anyhow, it's always a nice thing to see race cars go at it. Even the Toyota Pro Celebrity Race is interesting to watch, and they are mostly stock.

So in review:
"Dirt is for racing, asphalt is for getting there" (certainly false). And to me, you don't really race each other in the series, but rally racing is racing on REAL dirt. And even the lowest level SCCA or Kart Racing is racing. All you need are curves and race cars brave enough to tackle them all. Crashes don't always make good racing. I pity the oval racing folk who like to bang into people for position to race hard. Racing hard means... hauiling ass trying to pass for positions. Just because Laguna Seca isn't Talladega doesn't mean that racing can still be exciting. In fact, I still like watching cars go down the 'screw. And CART used to be exciting watching them come down. You see their arms and stuff go down the turn. Anyhow, real racing is road racing. Road and racing start with "r," and a word that starts with "r," is REAL. So get real, circle trackers! Road racing is where it's at!

 

[kart racer]

The only dirt oval racing worth wathing is the USAC wingless sprints. You can get a good look at the drivers as they fight for controll.

 

[3rdgenracerX]

Racing should and always be people competting against each other to se who is the best. It doesnt matter one bit what they race, where they race, how they race, or what announcers say about the racing. As long as there are fans showing up to watch the racing then its racing. Air,road,oval,tri oval,1/8th mile, 1/4th mile, figure eight,ice racing........ect. If people are competting aginst each other then its racing. You hate oval racing,thats ok. But get over it cause its still racing.

You cant give an accurate portrail of any racing series if you hate or dislike it. You will be biased in that opinion.
Thats like if you had a room full of wrestling fans and wrestling haters. The wrestling fans say its "real" wrestling and the haters say its just for entertainment purposes only cause its all fake and staged.