Quote Originally Posted by Iain
Last time I went to Rockingham (and I'll never go back there), it felt like a cross between NASCAR and a football match in that main stand.
I can understand why some think the general parallels with NASCAR are there now in the BTCC, in that it could be seen as a championship that puts entertainment first and purity second, but I must confess to not knowing quite what to make of it all. Jonathan Palmer obviously has a vested interest given his circuit ownerships, but nonetheless I think his opinions are worth listening to, and in an interview a few years ago he said he wanted there to be more personalities built up amongst the BTCC drivers, just as he said there used to be in the old days. Well, something like that has clearly happened, yet it (perhaps rightly) attracts criticism for somehow seeming false and all too predictable. My view has always been that I watch F1 to see pure racing and touring cars as light relief. The turbo/non-turbo arguments this year, all caused in the first instance by TOCA, have tried my patience but not exhausted it, on the grounds that I have never viewed the BTCC as offering anything other than entertainment, and I don't see anything wrong with that.

(Incidentally, I was intrigued to hear Motor Sport's Nigel Roebuck, a purist enthusiast if ever I could name one, praising NASCAR recently on the grounds that the arguments between drivers were 'tremendously entertaining' and to be welcomed as an antidote to the boringly corporate culture that pervades much motorsport these days. No doubt he — no touring car enthusiast, it must be said — would be horrified at the same happening in a British racing series, on the grounds that it may be acceptable amongst Americans, but not us...)

And what do we put this year's increased crowd figures at BTCC meetings down to? It can't all be people wanting to see accidents, something I deplore. As for the use of crash footage in the championship's advertising, I too am uncomfortable with it, but even in the early 1980s the BBC used a BTCC shunt in the opening montage on Grandstand! For what it's worth, since Donington earlier this year I think the driving standards have improved markedly. At recent rounds the racing has been much cleaner, with the odd unnecessary incident but no more than was ever the case during the Super Touring heyday.