Blog Control to Major Tom.

NASCAR and "Le Tour"

Some people give me crap about being a NASCAR "fan" but as I have been watching Le Tour de France I've realized there are at least a couple similarities.

Perhaps the biggest of which, is the abundant commercial sponsorship. Now, these NASCAR naysayers have even handed me Car And Driver articles about the blatant sponsorship in NASCAR, but just take a look at 5 minutes of Le Tour and you will see just as many company logos slapped on everything as you will in a NASCAR race. There is one difference though, NASCAR drivers do recognize their sponsors in interviews, but as far as I've seen, Le Tour competitors don't acknowledge them at all. Now, in my heart I do hate advertising, but I just wonder... if someone is giving you tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars so you can pursue your dream, wouldn't you want to openly thank them as much as you could?

Its also pretty clear that both a NASCAR driver and a Le Tour cyclists rely heavily on their pit/road crews. With NASCAR, just a matter of a few seconds more to make a pit can cost you several places, just as without backup equipment, a cyclist today probably wouldn't even finish one stage in Le Tour. As much as both seem like individual events, the driver and cyclist is in some ways the figurehead of a well oiled team.

(2007-07-29 09:21:45.0) Comments [7] // Permalink

Comments:

My gripe with NASCAR is that its the most popular "racing" in the US yet its the one which requires the least skill as a driver (as compared to rally racing, F1, and the like.) Sure, the cyclists have sponsors and pit crews, and would be hosed without either. But Tour riders are the best in the WORLD. (ahem, ignore the all the doping this year for saek of argument). Can you say the same about NASCAR?

Posted by rama on July 29, 2007 at 03:03 PM PDT #

Yes. I can say NASCAR drivers are the best in the world at driving around the type tracks they race with they type of cars they use. And I can say the same thing about the F1 drivers.

Pit a NASCAR driver against an F1 driver in a NASCAR environment and the NASCAR driver will win. Flip that around and the F1 driver will win. So what.

Posted by Watt on July 29, 2007 at 11:46 PM PDT #

you is funny. thats like saying someone a "professional" heart surgeon and a "professional" garbage man are equals because they're both great at what they do, and neither could do an equal quality job if they switched roles. you're missing the point- what the heart surgeon does routinely is exponentially more complicated, and thus requires a great deal more skill.

Posted by rama on July 30, 2007 at 09:07 AM PDT #

Actually, I would strongly agree with watt... Driving around in a circle is a lot harder than you think. Yes, F1 has right turns too, but they also have significantly higher levels of technology than the NASCAR cars (not saying NASCAR doesn't have a lot of technology...) It's been shown several times that the NASCAR racers can beat the F1 drivers, but give a great racer a little time to figure out how to get the best out of a car/track, and a great racer will always win. I believe it would be very hard to transition a NASCAR racer into a winning F1 driver, but it would be somewhat easier to transition a winning F1 driver into a winning NASCAR driver. Wait, what was my point? Oh, NASCAR requires the least skill? Comparatively for the high end of racing, I *might* agree. But it's still a lot more skill than you or I have. I've driven a Winston Cup car with other pro drivers on the track and they made me look like I was in neutral (and I was doing 140mph). The skill level to get competitive at the high end of racing is just immense.

Posted by wassy on July 30, 2007 at 10:06 AM PDT #

Thats not what you asked. My point was that your statement "Tour riders are the best in the world" is pointless. The most you an say is that they are the best at what they do. If you put a Tour rider on a mountain bike against John Tomac, Tinker Juarez and the like there is no contest. The mountain bike "professional" will certainly win.

And take that comparison, who is more "skilled". The Tour rider or the Mountain Bike Hall of Famer? If you even want to try compare, I contend that it is likely the mountain biker. Things are always more difficult on dirt. And there is no team, no peleton, no support vehicles on the road, only the mountain biker himself.

Posted by watt on July 30, 2007 at 10:08 AM PDT #

clearly we both have our own opinions on this topic, and they're unlikely to change via comments to a blog entry. I'll just exit-stage-left with a "well, NASCAR is boring".

Run away! :-D

Posted by rama on July 30, 2007 at 10:26 AM PDT #

Girls, you're both boring!

Posted by Kevin on July 30, 2007 at 02:35 PM PDT #

29 Jul 2007