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There was a bit of discussion about certain teams reliability in another thread. Not many series still got the reliability factor (only endurance series got that still I think). I think we all agree on that reliability should play a part when it comes to REAL RACIN'. But overall, how does NASCAR stand in that aspect? How REAL is it?

I know this: Any team with TRD engines isn't the most reliable.

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This particular topic isn't exactly real racin'.

I was expecting a debate about which year was the most REAL RACIN' of all.

(I nominate 1992 BTW)

My question is what exactly is real racing?

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Go Miami Dolphins!
Go New York Yankees!
Go New York Rangers!

Personally I think this is REAL RACIN'

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"The track's wet, that's what I think about it. Fucking shit gets wet when it rains."
-Dale Earnhardt Jr.

That's up for debate.

For many people, real racing is having as little electronic aid as possible. Even shifting a stock car is an art. You have to put pressure on the shifter and quickly come on and off the gas for it to engage. Blown engines and transmissions due to driver error are still a presence in NASCAR. Compare that to 99% of race cars today where you just press a paddle without even lifting off the gas, making the chance of a mistake or time loss in that area virtually nil short of an equipment failure.

Similarly, there is no traction control, ABS or any sort of stability control in general. It's a big hunk of metal with four narrow tyres and the driver is entirely responsible for putting 900+ horsepower down to the ground and slowing it down with the least time loss. Again, compare that to most other forms of racing and it's as much about which team has developed the best traction control or ABS software as the driver/rider.

Of course, everyone knows that it is still the only top series that doesn't allow telemetry. This again, makes it more about a driver than engineer because his feedback decides how good his car will be on a race weekend, not a team of geeks poring over their laptops.

As for the racing, yes, NASCAR has a few show elements like GWC and debris cautions. But they only make it even more difficult for a driver. In most series, you have your strategy mapped out before the race itself as you have a fixed distance and low chance of a full course yellow. But in NASCAR, you have to adapt your game plan all the time as a driver. You think you have the race in the bag when a late caution comes out or the race gets extended due to a GWC. Now you have to decide whether to pit or stay out. Say you pit and some cars don't. How quickly you have to go from long run mindset to dogfighting with cars on all sides.

Finally, while ovals may look the same, the degree of specialization that goes into short, intermediate and superspeedway ovals is far higher than between different types of road courses, so there's more diversity in tracks for the drivers to overcome over a schedule that's 2-3 times longer than most series.

For all these reasons, I still consider NASCAR to be the most 'real racing' series in existence.

That's what I'm getting at. With everyone having their perception of what "real racing" is then there's no way we can actually figure out if NASCAR is "real racing". This will go as far within the community as "are race car drivers real athletes?" does outside of it. For that I say to each their own and just enjoy what you like. For me, I love NASCAR and love it for the fact they still have things involved with it that are some what old school.

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Go Miami Dolphins!
Go New York Yankees!
Go New York Rangers!

Good post, Hotdogger.

If anyone doubts that a driver is an athlete, they just need to watch Button after the '09 Monaco GP.

As for real racing, that really varies from series to series. F1 is about high tech, NASCAR isn't. BTCC is about short sprint races, Endurance racing isn't.

I think what hurts NASCAR for me is the "debris" cautions. There should be times where a race will go green the whole way, that's just how things go sometimes. It's sad/pathetic when fans can predict, pretty accurately, when to expect to see a debris caution. For me, that just takes away from the credibility of the sport.

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Gael

We have 49 pages in a thread at spamgasm dedicated to real racing.

Heres some highlights of what is real racing.















Safe to say there is nothing real racing about what NASCAR is today.

ya

agreed