Every year in late February, the Daytona 500 kicks off a new season of American stock car races. I've only attended the event once, in 1998, the year when Dale Earnhardt won for the first – and last – time on the mythical superspeedway.
I wasn't an avid NASCAR enthusiast back then, but I felt really excited and quite privileged to be sitting in the bleachers as The Intimidator finally took the monkey off his back after 19 unsuccessful attempts at winning the series' ultimate race.
The more you watch NASCAR, the more you understand what's going on and appreciate this particular form of auto racing. It literally is miles away from Formula 1, IndyCar and others that compete on road circuits.
Stock car racing is unlike anything else on the planet. The cars are different, the drivers are different, the venues are electrifying, and the crowds are wild. F1 simply pales in comparison.
Critics of NASCAR claim that the races involve ancient machines devoid of cutting-edge technology. There's some truth in that, but many older (not necessarily old) aficionados will tell you that their fondest memories involve extremely basic cars. Remember Shadow in Can-Am, Matra at Le Mans, or Lancia in the WRC?
Whether you like stock cars or not, a trip to Daytona has to appear on any auto racing fan's bucket list. Watching these 800 horsepower, V8-powered monsters that weigh 3,500 lbs and reach speeds of 315 km/h will always give me chills.
I must admit that NASCAR races are a bit too long, though. In fact, a number of drivers along with team and track owners have started to complain about it to series executives.
In my opinion, the Daytona 500 is 490 miles of strategy, and 10 miles of actual racing. In today's Internet-dominated era, you can't expect to keep the attention of the casual viewer for so long. Limited at 60 laps, the newly created Daytona Duels are quite promising and much more interesting.
NASCAR isn't perfect, of course, but it's definitely striving for perfection.
I wasn't an avid NASCAR enthusiast back then, but I felt really excited and quite privileged to be sitting in the bleachers as The Intimidator finally took the monkey off his back after 19 unsuccessful attempts at winning the series' ultimate race.
The more you watch NASCAR, the more you understand what's going on and appreciate this particular form of auto racing. It literally is miles away from Formula 1, IndyCar and others that compete on road circuits.
Stock car racing is unlike anything else on the planet. The cars are different, the drivers are different, the venues are electrifying, and the crowds are wild. F1 simply pales in comparison.
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| Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR |
Critics of NASCAR claim that the races involve ancient machines devoid of cutting-edge technology. There's some truth in that, but many older (not necessarily old) aficionados will tell you that their fondest memories involve extremely basic cars. Remember Shadow in Can-Am, Matra at Le Mans, or Lancia in the WRC?
Whether you like stock cars or not, a trip to Daytona has to appear on any auto racing fan's bucket list. Watching these 800 horsepower, V8-powered monsters that weigh 3,500 lbs and reach speeds of 315 km/h will always give me chills.
I must admit that NASCAR races are a bit too long, though. In fact, a number of drivers along with team and track owners have started to complain about it to series executives.
In my opinion, the Daytona 500 is 490 miles of strategy, and 10 miles of actual racing. In today's Internet-dominated era, you can't expect to keep the attention of the casual viewer for so long. Limited at 60 laps, the newly created Daytona Duels are quite promising and much more interesting.
NASCAR isn't perfect, of course, but it's definitely striving for perfection.