I don't pay enough attention
to the world at large. It's completely my fault, as I don't watch the news or read a newspaper on a regular basis. I check out the news headlines on the net and listen to newstalk radio to and from work, but I need to spend more time in this area.
For example, I just read about a guy arrested in Hong Kong who will be extradited back to the United States to stand trial for raping his own daughter. Now that alone gets my blood boiling, but the added fact he videotaped it and put it on the Internet is nothing short of stunning. Truly, I am glad I am nowhere near the vicinity of this guy, as I would be sorely tempted to do something causing major bodily harm to his person.
In other news, I still don't get the appeal of NASCAR... at all. The cars drive in a freakin' oval - real fast. OOOOOHHHH. Let's make it at least interesting. A friend suggested having them drive in a figure eight, having to time it to avoid collisions. I like that idea. I say pop up concrete pillars, covered pits which arbitrarily open, that sort of stuff would at least be something cool. And do we really need to hear the pit crew's conversations? How do you elude a NASCAR driver if he chases you? Turn right.
posted by Roger C. @ 5/02/2007 12:59:00 PM
2 Comments:
Would you prefer that a 500-mile race be in a straight line? That would be as exciting as attending the Tour de France. Hours of waiting, everybody races by--once--in a matter of a minute or two, and then it's over for you and you don't even get to see someone win.
Or sitting at the 6th tee for a PGA event. You watch every player hit one ball out of the 65-75 they'll hit during the round.
Race tracks are roughly oval for the same reason running tracks are ovals. You can run a race of any distance and the spectators can see every moment all the time.
And the confined course forces drivers to display nerves of steel when moving through traffic at upwards of 200 mph. Anyone who's ever driven on I-94 between the Wisconsin/Illinois border and Chicago, where speeds approach 90 in nearly bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic knows that this is a scary place to be. Now go 100 mph faster, take the lane markers off the highway and make the rush hour last for 600 miles.
I like Indy cars. Open-wheel racing adds a lot more risk to the mix. Stack cars bang doors and bumpers all day. If Indy cars so much as touch wheels for a split second, someone's going to be in the wall.
While I am not a NASCAR fan, as such, watching an auto race in person, preferably close to the track, generates all sorts of respect for the men and women brave and crazy enough to be out there.
Driving in an oval for hundreds of miles at top speed is no easy feat. I am not into NASCAR myself, but I would bet those who are are there for the crashes.
Pop up pillars and surprise holes are not practical but JUMPS would be. If they put in jumps I would watch. And there would be more crashes.
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