Guest Blog: 15 Reasons for a NASCAR Fan to Watch Formula One

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Guest Blog: 15 Reasons for a NASCAR Fan to Watch Formula One

Date Created: Apr 04, 2007, 08:41 PM

It's another guest blog with the return of Dr. Jack Cathey (see previous blog) with friend and fellow Formula 1 fan Ryan Werner. Ryan is a resident of nearby Cornelius, NC and is the grand potentate of the Golden Benny Memorial Karting League alongside Marty Snider of NBC/Sirius Radio. Ryan claims I regularly beat him on the kart track. Though my modesty says he's wrong, a check of the standings says otherwise. Point standings don't lie. And neither does the stopwatch.

The guys have done a generous thing: they've encouraged me (well, OK, they caved in to my begging) to add comments to their list. If you've read this blog in the past, you know I share their love of F1 and open-wheel racing. You'll find my pithy commentary in ITALICS.

Guest Blog from Jack Cathey and Ryan Werner

This Sunday, all of us who enjoy stock car racing are faced with a challenge – there’s no Cup race to watch. So what are we to do? One option is to watch the Malaysian Formula 1 race from Kuala Lumpur. You can catch it live on SPEED at 2:30 AM ET Sunday morning or the replay at 3:30 PM.
(JG: 2:30 am!? That's why Tivo was invented! Full disclosure: I have NO idea where Kuala Lumpur is located on that Honda "Earth" F1 car. Blame it on public schools.)

15 Reasons a NASCAR Fan Should Watch (and Enjoy) a Formula 1 Race

1. The F1 qualifying format makes the Daytona 500 process seem simple.
(JG: But it's vastly more interesting. Other than the dreaded "who's going home this week?" nail-biting, single-car Cup qualifying is so boring I often contemplate wedging my head in a vice until it's done. I would love to see NASCAR borrow an idea from the old CART days: qualify in reverse order of the practice times. This means the fastest cars always qualify last and creates real suspense. It also levels the playing field. If you're trying to fight into the field, wouldn't you want to go head-to-head without being hampered by a bad luck-of-the-random-draw? You can make your own luck.)

2. It makes a $20 million dollar NASCAR sponsorship seem reasonable and affordable. At least stock cars have enough flat surfaces to read the sponsor names!
(JG: True - yet F1 reaches audiences all around the world, dwarfing the mythical 75 million American NASCAR fanbase. However, F1 is just as bad about inflating their numbers. They claim annual global TV viewership which exceeds the total human population.)

3. An F1 chassis makes the car of tomorrow design look simple - and the link between manufacturer and car profile much more transparent.
(JG: You guys lost me a little with this one. Heck, the Car o' Tomorrow looks simple next to the karts we race each month. But you are correct I suppose. Historically in F1, you know Ferrari will always be red, Mercedes silver, and Red Bull must certainly be ~~red~~ uh... blue. At least until a sponsor writes a big enough check to paint them a new color.)

4. No one yells "Boogity-Boogity-Boogity!" during the broadcast - although David Hobbs is usually good for a few "whew-whew-whews!"
(JG: The Speed-TV announcing crew is by far the best trio in motorsports broadcasting. Bob Varsha, Steve Matchett and Hobbs are brilliant, entertaining and usually speak in proper English. However, I cringe every race when pit reporter Peter Windsor spends the 30 minutes prior to the start running up and down the grid at random, hounding and interrupting drivers and team principals who are actually preparing to race...)

5. You can expand your racing vocabulary by learning new words like overtaking (passing), shunt (he ran me into the fence), mechanical failure (done blowed up) and paddock (garage).
(JG: You left out understeer (push) and oversteer (loose). And don't forget Hobbs' term "clag" - which we usually refer to as "the marbles." Also, at Mercedes-Benz, we never had an engine failure. We occasionally suffered from an unfortunate electrical issue. Such as when the rods shot through the engine block and cut some delicate wiring.)

6. You don’t have to add extra time when you record the race on your Tivo. (F1 races run a distance or fixed time interval, whichever occurs first.)
(JG: Hello, Pocono?!??!)

7. A quick look around the F1 garage (oops, paddock) reminds us the drive for diversity is a global - not just an American - issue.
(JG: I believe the brilliant young Lewis Hamilton is about to change that. However - while many of the drivers look the same: good-looking, extremely fit, young white guys, they represent many different nationalities. Doesn't that count as diversity of some sort?)

8. Curse words in 6 different languages. No editing necessary on live coverage.
(JG: This doesn't apply to the IRL. Just ask Kosuke Matsuura - who managed to drop the "f-bomb" in his interview after crashing out of the race on lap one last Sunday. He was promptly fined by the IRL. The ESPN announcing crew actually apologized on-air, even though they weren't exactly sure what Kosuke had said in his thick Japanese accent.

English is the official language of F1 - so all drivers and F1 personnel learn English no matter their native language. This is very impressive considering many NASCAR drivers still sound as if English is their second language. When I worked for Mercedes-Benz, the Germans had a favorite joke: A person who speaks many languages is multi-lingual. A person who speaks two languages is bi-lingual. A person who speaks only one language is... American.)

9. Two words: Standing starts. Every NASCAR road race should start this way.
(JG: Except half of the Cup field would likely crash in turn one while the other half would remain sitting on the grid with broken transmissions.)

10. Five-second pit stops make NASCAR’s seem like Gone With the Wind.
(JG: F1 has no limit on the number of crew members servicing the car - which makes their stops look like a swarm of bees converging on a tiny hive. If we had that many NASCAR crew members over the wall, we'd have a weekly injury list as long as a lap at Talladega from the number of guys getting run over.)

11. Umbrella girls (‘nuf said)
(JG: Sigh. Oh how I miss the races at Surfers Paradise, Australia.)

12.) 225 mph. 20,000 RPM. Zero to 100 mph and back to zero in five seconds. No restrictor plates.
(JG: The scream of an F1 engine is equalled by... well... nothing. Not even an Eddie Van Halen guitar solo from the front row.)

13. The podium: second and third place actually means something at the end of the race.
(JG: Yeah, like having to stand there while the guy that just passed you on the last lap gets the accolades and hears his national anthem as you try to hide your desire to strangle him right there on worldwide television. Then, you get doused in champagne before sitting next to him in the sterile interview room. Very cold, very clinical. But NASCAR Victory Lane is much the same.)

14. Even with all the high tech, you recognize that motorsports of any formula is always about great teams, great personalities and never-ceasing drama.
(JG: True. Now, if only there was on-track passing and more than three or four drivers with a legitimate chance to win, F1 would be that much more compelling.)

15. You can watch future NASCAR Nextel Cup Series stars before they hit the big time. (Thanks Juan Pablo!)

Ladies and gentlemen, fingerprint inc. presents a look at your guest blogger, kart racer and soccer maven, Ryan Werner.

(Photo taken by the magic cam built-in to his new Mac laptop.)

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