All right, there's a lot of car racing going on out there.  Let's talk 
about it!

18 responses total.

Could someone please sort out all of the auto racing leagues for me?

It used to be there was Indy racing.  I hadn't even heard about it until 
someone entered a response in another item, bemoaning it's passing in 
favor of NASCAR.

When I was a kid, there was drag racing; cars going down a straight line 
at (I guess) very high speeds.

Now everyone talks about NASCAR.  There's Winston Cup, Busch Series... 
what else?  CART?  Is that NASCAR?  Is it stock car racing, or another 
type?

If you're a car racing fan, do you go to the track (and which one or 
ones)?  Do you watch on TV?

Why does everyone hate Jeff Gordon?

Was Dale Earnhardt a hero?  Didn't he earn his living driving other cars 
off the track?

My brother is into car racing, since he moved to Tennessee.  He likes a 
driver named Ward Burton.  Have you heard of this guy?  (It's quite an 
accomplishment for me to have remembered his name.)

Enlighten me!

Let's start with America.

NASCAR is at the top of the heap, and its major product is the Winston Cup.
it also includes the Busch Grand National (before Winston sponsored the
Winston Cup, the primary series used to be called the Grand National division.
Don't get confused) and Craftsman Truck series.  Those could be considered
the "minor leagues," although they still get television coverage and good
crowds.  They will often race at the same track on race weekends with the
Winston Cup.

Open Wheel racing used to be the standard for racing in the States, but it
has gone steeply downhill since the CART-IRL split in 96.  That was a
political battle that has alienated thousands of fans and reduced, until
recently, the Indianapolis 500 to a second-rate race.  There are now two major
open wheel leagues, CART and the IRL.  The IRL is an oval-only series designed
to allow grassroots american racers a chance to succeed on limited budgets.
CART is more technologically advanced, generally with better drivers, but more
expensive.  

CART used to be everytyhing, from the early 80s through 95.  Theirs were the
drivers that raced at Indy, and the series (which features both ovals and road
and street courses) was the best to watch anywhere.  It's still got good
drivers and good tracks, but the luster is gone. 

Then there's drag racing, the biggest sponsor of which is the NHRA.  NHRA
meets have many different categories, including Top Fuel (those long,
arrow-shaped cars with no fenders) Pro Stock, and Funny Car.  Top Fuel and
Funny Cars have interesing things going on under the hood, while Pro Stock
cars are more conventionally built.

All of the aforementioned series have season long point competitions,
distributing points based on finishing position and occasionally offering
bonuses for things like pole position (the first qualifying spot) and leading
the most laps in a race.  The person who accrues the most points at the end
of the season wins.  Except for the IRL, that is the major goal in every
series. 

Let's go to the rest of the world.  Formula One is the world's top racing
series.  It has the best cars, the best drivers (NASCAR apologists would like
to think otherwise, but the evidence and the money clearly demonstrate this
to be true) and the most money.  It is the world's second most popular sport,
next to Soccer.  And is *is* a worldwide sport.  Races happen all over the
globe, from Japan to Malaysia to Germany to Brazil.  The technology involved
is blinding.  Nothing matches up to Formula One in sheer scale.  Like CART
and IRL, it is an open wheel series, but it races only on road courses (the
new US Grand Prix in Indianapolis uses only one turn of the original track).

Sports Car racing is the only other type of racing that blips the radar.  It
includes both stock-like vehicles (Porsche has long been the most popular
type, but Dodge Vipers and Corvettes are well known too) and "prototype"
cars not intended to resemble a production vehicle.  There are sports car
series in the US, but after the SCCA and IMSA sanctioning body scramble, I
still can't figure out what they are.  The world's biggest sports car race,
however, is the 24 hours of Le Mans endurance race.  This is a race (and,
really, a genre) where the cars are more important than the drivers.  Drivers
like Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell may be legendary at Le Mans, but cars like the
Ford GT and Ferrari and Porsche and that marvelous Mercedes Benz from the late
eighties are bigger.  

Like NHRA there are multiple classes, but prototype is usually the fastest
and usually produces the overall winner.  Audi, for instance, won for the
second straight year. 

Perhaps I should fill in a few details.  All "stock" racing cars, whether in
drag racing or sports car racing or NASCAR, are really purpose built race cars
with "silouette" bodywork designed to resemble a production vehicle. 
Sometimes more, sometimes less.  Only in isolated instances will you see
genuine cars modified and racing. 

The competetiveness of the series is not delineated above.  Formula One does
not produce very many heart-stopping finishes or even passes.  The thrill lies
in the refinement of the cars and the drivers.  When some passes someone else
on track for the lead (last year, Mika Hakkinen passed Michael Shumacher in
a tremendous move at Spa... and the fact that I can identify that as the most
prominent example should say something) it's a big deal.  NASCAR, on the other
hand, has quite a bit of passing and runaway victories are rare, which is one
of the major reasons it is so popular.

I had the pleasure to witness the Michigan 500s in 98, 99, and 2000.  The 98
and 00 versions are probably two of the most exciting races in the history
of racing... anywhere.  A peculiar aerodynamic device designed to limit speeds
(a common occurance at Michigan, where the cars would be lapping at above 250
if they didnt' keep trying to keep the speeds down) also created a large
footprint in the air, making drafting (using the slipstream of the car in
front of you to increase speed) much easier.  There were passes for the lead
and for other positionos on almost every lap.  This is a CART race, by the
way.  CART can often have moments of excitement, though usually not as
frequently as NASCAR.  The Indy 500 in particular is hard to pass on because
of the design of the corners.

I was going to get into drivers, but I've written enough already.

Whatever happened to USAC?  ;-)

USAC is the parent sanctioning body to the IRL.  It continued to sanction the
Indy 500 even when CART ran there, a tenuous arrangement that wound up lasting
15 years.  USAC still runs lower level forms of open wheel oval racing, though
the IRL is governed separately.

Thanks, chimaera!  I really appreciate all the background.  I take it 
you're mostly a fan of Formula One?  I don't hear much about Formula One 
in the newspapers, I'm afraid.

I'm residually a CART fan, but not as much as I used to be.  I might have to
get into it.  I don't religiously follow any series anymore.  My comments
about Formula One aren't as much praise as analysis, but it is currently the
series I most enjoy watching.  CART's been my favorite over the years,
however.  

Formula One, like soccer, is not very popular in the United States compared
with other motorsports, partially because Americans are not very successful
in it.  Jaguar is the major American offering, but people are more in tune
wiht Ford's self-named efforts in NASCAR than its more british-oriented F1
cousin.  There are no American drivers in F1 at all, and the last one was
Michael Andretti in a disappointing 1993 run with Mclaren.  The USGP at Indy
will get some press, at least before the race.  Check it out.  It will be a
parade. :)

I should point out that I *am* chimaera.

Heh.  You didn't have to say that; you could have had a nice 
conversation going with yourself.  (-:

I've done it before, but it would wind up reading something like "I like
Football."  "Yes, so do I."  "Football season is only a month and a half a
way."  "Oh hell yeah."  "You know it brotha." "Give me some skin, hommie."

Okay, perhaps not that bad.  

Anyone ever been to an event at MS?  (Aside:  When and why did they drop the
"I as in International"?  Many people still say MIS...)  There is a race
August 19, I believe.  If I wanted to take my sons, any advice?

I've been there numerous times.  When Roger Penske, who at the time owned the
Speedway, opened the California Speedway, he dropped the "international" in
the title of the Michigan Speedway to keep the names (and the logos)
consistent.  They were sister tracks, essentially.  I believe they've reverted
to the MIS title now that the track has been bought out, though.  I know they
announced something to that effect.

It sounds like you're planning on attending the NASCAR race.  My advice would
be to start working on tickets now.  Not tomorrow or next week, but now. 
There's a good chance that it's sold out already, but that doesn't necessarily
preclude ticket acquisition.  

My dad and I didn't attend the NASCAR races, prefering the CART versions in
late july.  Tickets are definitely available for that one, the last CART race
at MIS for the forseeable future.  No guarantee that it will be as exciting
as the last three years, though.  

Anyway, if you want to go to the track, the best news you can have is that
there are incredible amounts of free parking all around the track.  We have
never not been able to park for free.  Go early, so you can settle in and
relax a bit more, and hopefully buy lunch from the McDonald's down the street
in Brooklyn.  Sure, you can buy concession food-but why pay $5.00 for a
hamburger that's virtually the same size as a hamburger you can get for $.75
at McDonald's?  I think there are some other fast food joints in the area,
as well.  

Bring lots of water, because there is no shade anywhere except under the press
box.  The seats get hot.  They allow moderate coolers intot he facility, and
it's helpful to stock those with food and supplies.  And bring Binoculars.
The MIS is built so that virtually every seat can see all the way around the
track, and the back stretch passes are a lot of fun to watch.  You can't
follow the whole track with them, but they're useful to have along sometimes.
As such, there are no bad seats, which is fortunate, since there are no cheap
seats either.  

I'll probably think of more helpful hints later.  Where are you driving from?
Directions can be tricky.

I know exactly where MIS is, as I have driven US-12 for 30+ years.  However,
I've never been to Brooklyn itself.  Which quadrant of the US-12/M50 (?)
intersection is it?  (e.g. MIS is in the NW quad).

Thanks for the advice!

Don't take US12, unless youv'e left yourself hours that you don't mind using
sitting in traffic.  I don't have any actual experience with this; the rout
my dad and I take has never had traffic problems in ten years.  Enough people
have talked about US12 in very negative terms to indicate that it is worth
avoiding.  Particularly for the NASCAR race, whose capacity doubles the
Silverdome's by 100% without all the terrific traffic routing (sarcasm) in
Pontiac. 

Brooklyn is directly northwest of the track itself, and its main drag is the
street that borders MIS on the west.  It is no distance at all, really. 

OK, I checked out www.michiganinternationalspeedway.com and found that on
Sunday, August 19 is the Winston Cup Pepsi 400 NASCAR event.  Saturday, August
18 is the Busch (Grand National?) something-or-other 250 NASCAR event.  While
the Sunday event is obviously more attractive, it says limited seating
remaining, while the Saturday event seems to have tickets aplenty.  What is
the Busch circuit - "minor league" car drivers, or racing pickups, or what?

The Bush Grand National series is sort of the second tier in NASCAR.  It's
a minor league, but it is becoming popular enough to get its own television
coverage (I wouldn't be surprised to see that race on TNT) and headline
events.  Winston Cup drivers will occasionally run Busch cars of their own
in the race to keep themselves busy, and this could well be a week where that
happens.  It's not a bad series.  Actually, someone who didn't know better
might not be able to tell the difference, except that the sponsors aren't
*quite* as flashy.  

I don't know why I didn't mention this earlier, but don't forget to bring ear
protection.  Indy Cars have a piercing tone that tears through you from left
to right, which in my younger days I stupidly tolerated without wearing much.
My ears would generally be numb afterwards.  Stock Cars are substantially
louder.  Lack of proper protection can significantly reduce your enjoyment.

Kevin, did you wind up making it to the MIS for any racing?  I watched the
CART race from home <sniff> but I wound up attending an American Le Mans
series event at Mid-Ohio.  It was a blast.  I might post a report on that
series and the rest of sports car racing a bit later.

No, I had to end up working all weekend, so I had no opprotunity for either
the Busch race or the Winston Cup.  I will be better informed in the future.

In other news, has anyone been to a Motocross race?  How about the less
"glamorous" ones they hold around the state (from my web searching)?

Not I.  I still long for the days of Mickey Thompson's stadium truck series,
though.

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