NASCAR in the uk?!?!

[Mike_Drummer]

Cud any series in NASCAR every make the journey over to the UK and race at Rockingham does anyone think, im a big fan of NASCAR and the UK series (Mac tools V8 trophy) is on the way back up, could be a huge publicity for the NASCAR in the UK. The Circuit available is perfectly good for any of the NASCAR series to run on, What do people think, good idea/Bad idea??

:D

[tstran17_88]

As a demo race...maybe? Like they did in Japan back in the '90s. I wouldn't hold out any hope that it will happen though.

[Rapier Racer]

I seriously doubt it will ever venture that far, its a great American race ain't it? If I want to see NASCAR in person I'll to go to the US and obviously I accept that and intend to at some point. Somehow though I think there might be some objections on the US side if the suggestion to hold a NASCAR event far far away from American shores was made.

[BenRoethig]

Like they said, probably a demo race only. A cup race would require major improvements in both the track (it's flat) and grandstands. On top of that, I don't know if a UK race could draw enough fans to justify the purse. A truck or busch series race might be a stretch, but more doable.

[Haulin'AssAndTurnin Left]

Ill travel to the states to watch a race. I love nascar because its american. and rockingham UK isnt the best designed oval. the racing there is all one lane snooze fests and makes this years bristol night race look like....... er well em, an old bristol night race.

[BenRoethig]

Ill travel to the states to watch a race. I love nascar because its american. and rockingham UK isnt the best designed oval. the racing there is all one lane snooze fests and makes this years bristol night race look like....... er well em, an old bristol night race.

It's a one lane snoozefest because it has 7 degree banking. If it were modified with the same variable banking as Homstead (which used to be 6 degrees) It might be some have some pretty good racing. Still like I said it would take a lot of other work. Additional grandstands would have to be installed for close to its full planned capacity of 130,000. The pit road would have to be modified to for 43 pit stalls and the garage areas would be have to substantially enlarged. It would be like getting ready for an F1 race. That being said, if similar modifications were made to Eurospeedway, a two race european swing might be worth a try.

[Nick Brad]

A one lane snoozefest, I think not.
Over the last few years, both of the resident series has proven that there are two grooves round Rockingham if you know how to drive it. Ben Collins' domination of the series a couple of years back was due to the fact he had a quick car and drove Rockingham like a 3 turn road course which a) made the racing boring because no one could run alongside him and b) highlighted the approach many European drivers bring to the track. They don't know oval racing techniques and therefore some struggle to make the change.

[colinspooky]

The few televised race highlights I have seen from the UK Rockingham have been deadly dull affairs, and I do think it's to do with the lack of variable high banking.
That plus virtually no one is bothered. Shame, but it's just not a UK sport.
You hear the same ole 'ovals are boring' because they only turn left. But compare a good oval race with multiple grooves to an F1 race where some tracks are so narrow it's impossible to even fit two or three cars next to each other let alone allow overtaking at race speeds, and, oh sod it, you lot know.................

NASCAR in the UK? Never going to happen. And that's a shame.

:rolleyes:

[djparky]

we can but hope but I don't see it happening somehow, NASCAR understands that it's core market is in the USA- as yet it doesn't have delusions of being a world series (as CART did a few years ago)- besides NASCAR is a minority interest sport over here and I don't think they'd get a huge crowd for it

the best way to watch an American series is to actually watch it in America- I've been to the last 2 Daytona 500's and really enjoyed the experience- so much so I'm going back again next year as well (also helps that it's cheap to holiday in Florida in February)

[Speedworx]

Rockingham would probably need more pitstalls, but thats about it.

I'd love to see a race. Only chance I'll get. Unless I win the lottery, I'll never afford to go to America.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Rockingham? Ummm no, despite the fact it looks like an ok oval and has decent facilities. First off, it would have to hope for a CTS or Busch date, since NASCAR isnt' likely to move a Cup Date without testing the market. The proof I state in this? Well in Mexico City you have 30 million people alone, and they just went there to sell a form of racing Mexicans actually know a bit about. In Canada, NASCAR is likely the most popular form of racing, and stock racing actually is a lot more part of the culture than we care to admit, and only THIS YEAR we saw a Busch date. Even if there was a petition with 20000 names on it for NASCAR to read, they woudln't come. They are moving VERY tentantively in the international market. They were shocked when they sold out Montreal. Hell, I could have told them if ISC put a oval like Richmond in Southern Ontario, they could put 200000 seats in and sell them. They are VERY conservative about this international thing, and England sure wont be in the cards no matter how nice the track if they couldn't see the Canadian market for what it is.

[ShadowCar]

I'm curious....how do non-Americans get interested in NASCAR? It just seems so American that the thought crossed my mind when I see posts from all over the world about it.

I'd be interested in hearing some "How I became a NASCAR fan..." stories from non-Americans if anyone is so inclined. :)

Americans can chime in too if you want. I love hearing how people became fans in general. Everyone has such different stories. I got hooked by having house guests who were fans and being the good hostess, we watched two races. I actually enjoyed it, much to my surprise and it helped having knowledgeable people who were willing to explain stuff and give me driver background info. They got such a kick out of educating me and I could tell just by the way they talked, that they had such passion for their drivers. It was contagious, and I was hooked!

[call_me_andrew]

I think Rockingham would be a good place for a demo race. If they can run demos at Suzuka and Motegi, then Rockingham shouldn't be a problem. You don't need banking to make a good oval. And the old Homestead was better than the new one.

[deadsquirrel]

I'd be interested in hearing some "How I became a NASCAR fan..." stories from non-Americans if anyone is so inclined. :)

Well, I remember doing a 'project' at school when I was maybe 10 about American Stock Cars - I'd come across some photo's in a magazine I think. At the time I got taken to a local 1/4 mile oval to watch contact and non-contact racing, which I really enjoyed.

I saw the odd report and clips of NASCAR on TV/magazines and came across the odd video (Sportseen?) of races/annual reviews.

I managed to spend a summer in Boston in '91 and a work (I was on a student exchange before anyone gets excited) colleague won some tickets to what I think was a Busch race at the 'new' Loudon track. That was my first experience of US racing - and it blew me away!

I returned to US in '93 to see the Pepsi 400 at Daytona with my brother in tow - and we also took in New Smyrna too. We got to pitlane at the end of the race as #3 was coming out of Winner's Circle - again an amazing trip.

I'd also started marshalling here in the UK, and through contacts made (I think on a Compuserve 'forum' at the time) managed to get onto a cleanup truck at Charlotte in '95 and '96 fall races. The '95 race was overshadowed for me as I was involved in the Russell Philips accident clearup - something I hope I never have to experience again, truly shocking.

I've followed the series since then avidly, and although I've only managed to fit in a VIP 'tour' at Daytona whilst in Florida on holiday since, I plan to return to Charlotte in May '08, everything crossed.

As a Safety worker at Rockingham UK, nothing would be better than seeing 43 NASCAR's (of any variety) at 'my' track, but I can't see it happening anytime soon. Maybe if I win the lottery and post a $5 mil winner takes all race!

[car20]

never know about nascar until i saw DAYS OF THUNDER movie with tom cruise and bang went out and searched and i saw but in the u.k we don't get much coverage well not back then NASN has helped and motors tv had busch races been going to rockingham motorspeedway here in u.k since it all kicked off,

i now have my wife who hated anything motorsport into stock car racing since she has been to races and now my 13 year ld is hooked and wants to drive them.

why because it is great to watch even in the u.k SCSA V8 TROPHY series,

Thing about our u.k series is fans of nascar and have been to the u.s races will think our series is boring and a one lane snore fest because it ai'nt nascar it is only 6 year's old we are a infant to compare, we have one track that we can run on and drivers that now have to learn away from road courses they have grown up on.

we have a 20,000- 30,000 fan base that if we had 30 odd cars every race would turn up and that to see an oval race an AMERICAN race series is good as everything AMERICAN SPORT is held in distain ie baseball, NFL, NHL.

[colinspooky]

How got in to?

Very young, and my uncle in Germany was a huge race fan as was my mother. He had magazines with these classic old banked tracks with monster cars with bigger wings, and as a kid, who wouldn't fall in love.
Apparently, there was also a TV show on in Germany - a drama perhaps that centred around drivers and their lives, typical soap stuff. Never saw it.
I do believe that Bud Linderman show was also broadcast (Road and Track, Race and Track?), but very late and I only saw tiny clips.

Bugger all in the UK though - nothing. Zilch. Then Eurosport, a cable/sat channel ran the races in the late 90s or early 00s on what they called Sunday Thunder. NASCAR and then Indy/IRL/Cart - one after the other, and I was completely hooked.

Only been to one race weekend though because of cost. This year's Charlotte races during the All Star and Coke 600 fortnight - was in heaven.

Been driven around Charlotte and have driven the track at Disney, Florida - great experiences. That was in the Tom Petty cars, as my other half likes to call them. She's such a sweetie......

:D

[Haulin'AssAndTurnin Left]

I got into it when i was about 10. (bugger me thats 12 year ago now, god im getting old.) anyway had always loved american cars ( i am currently restomodding a 65 mustang fastback) and was flicking through the channels after i had been to essex arena to watch some banger racing. and i was like "now this is racing" ever since that day ive been hooked and watched every race i can.

We have family in the states and and when we said we were going to Daytona to watch the race in 2000 they said "oh we know one of the drivers" whos that i asked and "Dale Earnhardt" was the reply, they sent me a signed photo from Earnhardt and some other goodys.

NASCAR to me is by far the best motorsport in the world because its very fan orientated. I would say the average NASCAR fan knows more about the technical aspects of racing than any other form of racing.

[wedge]

I got into NASCAR because of Days of Thunder! The exaggerated bumping and rubbing sold it to me!

But I seriously got into oval racing because I was a Nigel Mansell fan. Oval racing literally blew my mind away! I remember watching the Michigan 500 and thinking "Wow! This high speed drafting is insane! Too bad they don't do this at Monza anymore". The 1993 New Hampshire 200 was the greatest oval race I ever saw. Mansell running high and low, using every bit of skill and nerve slicing through traffic and grabbing the win at the end.

NASCAR was shown on Eurosport on Monday nights as 60-90min highlights in the mid-90s and that gave my fix for oval racing. I was amazed by the variety ovals NASCAR ran. I became a Rusty Wallace fan because not only was he was a brilliant road course racer he also dominated short tracks like Bristol! I fell in love with Bristol thanks to Rusty Wallace!

Regards to Rockingham, it would suit stock cars. It has a bit of a bad rep because when CART ran on it it became snoozefest because they could get away with the superspeedway wing package, still run flat out and became a one groove racing, plus the fact that the straights long enough for Champcars.

The V8s can easily run 2 grooves and maybe 3 wide in T4

[djparky]

not sure when it happened for me- my first exposure to oval racing was with the old PPG Cart Indy Car series when Screen Sport showed it over here in the UK in 1991/92...I was aware of NASCAR through Daytona 500 and that Tom Cruise movie...I think Sky Sports showed a few races every year, I certainly knew of Jeff Gordon, Ernie Irvan (??) and Dale Snr and Davey Allison

TV coverage in the UK was patchy for a few years and then it appeared on NASN, so from 2003 I've been watching it every Sunday night, neither CCWS or IRL really turn me on the way the old CART series did so I looked to NASCAR for my US motorsport fix- being able to watch it every week has been great- I've always liked oval racing and for me it's a welcome change of pace from road racing which with some exceptions (GP2, Moto Gp, BTCC and some F1 GP's) I find rather boring to watch

Have been to the Daytona 500 the last 2 years and freezed my butt off both times (more like Silverstone than Florida) but will be back again in 2008- it is an amazing thing to witness in person- and I love going to the USA

[ShadowCar]

Thanks for the responses. I'm enjoying your stories. :)

[Quetch]

I'm curious....how do non-Americans get interested in NASCAR? It just seems so American that the thought crossed my mind when I see posts from all over the world about it.

I'd be interested in hearing some "How I became a NASCAR fan..." stories from non-Americans if anyone is so inclined. :)

I cannot say I bacame a NASCAR fan, but I'm on the verge of becoming one. If you want to know the reasons, I can list two of them.

1) I always liked American racing, but as a European I became a CART fan, besides F1. But Champ car is all but dead right now, so I have to look for something else, like many open-wheel drivers in the U.S.

2) Drivers I'm interested in are going to NASCAR. Montoya first and foremost, but next year should be even more interesting with Villeneuve and Franchitti coming as well.

Of course, just like American fans I presume, I don't really like a number of things about NASCAR. That's the concept of some play-off (Chase) and the qualifying rules. I'm a purist, so I think the fastest cars should make the field, and the guy with the most points should be crowned as champion.

[djparky]

I cannot say I bacame a NASCAR fan, but I'm on the verge of becoming one. If you want to know the reasons, I can list two of them.

1) I always liked American racing, but as a European I became a CART fan, besides F1. But Champ car is all but dead right now, so I have to look for something else, like many open-wheel drivers in the U.S.

2) Drivers I'm interested in are going to NASCAR. Montoya first and foremost, but next year should be even more interesting with Villeneuve and Franchitti coming as well.

Of course, just like American fans I presume, I don't really like a number of things about NASCAR. That's the concept of some play-off (Chase) and the qualifying rules. I'm a purist, so I think the fastest cars should make the field, and the guy with the most points should be crowned as champion.

Oh I totally agree about The Chase- if anyone other than Jeff Gordon is champion this year will be an absolute travesty, I also agree about the qualifying rules

[71minus2]

How I Got Into NASCAR....

2 ways.

1. I watched Talladega on Motors TV years ago in 2001 (iirc)
2. Thanks to the Champ Car World Series racing at Rockingham which has the then ASCAR series as sup port.

Then i fulfilled a dream and went to this Springs Busch and Cup race at Bristol.......boy am i glad i didn't choose the August race.

Richard

[RaikkonenRules]

Oh I totally agree about The Chase- if anyone other than Jeff Gordon is champion this year will be an absolute travesty, I also agree about the qualifying rules

I actually like the current qualifying rules. It's mostly the quickest that make it as the teams have to earn their guarenteed starting positions. It's only this year when people have started disliking it because of more full time teams entering. Plus I find the battle to make it into the Top 35 entertaining.

What I don't like is the champion's provisional causing teams to replace their origanal driver with past champion's so that they can make races such as Bill Elliott taking over the #21 and Terry Labonte running in the #55.

[Haulin'AssAndTurnin Left]

I agree champion provisional has no place anymore.