Nascar And The Critique It Faces

Nascar has faced a lot of criticism for a lot of things over the last few decades. We can attribute the criticism to the popularity of Nascar. Apart from the environmental impact of Nascar which has led to criticism, there are other technical reasons as well. One of the reasons is the oval shape of most Nascar racing circuits. Driving enthusiasts have severely criticized the difficulty of these race courses when compared to the extremely difficult twisting and turning race courses of Formula 1. They say that it involves going round and round for 500 miles and nothing else.

Some courses of the Formula 1 put up to 5 or 6 G's of stress on the body of the driver. This is totally absent in Nascar. But Nascar has denied these allegations and countered by saying that there are certain race series in which road courses are included. But again it is for a very small percentage of the race. Nascar has also brought to light the fact that even the Indy racing league uses mostly oval tracks.

The Grueling Season
The grueling racing season of Nascar is also a reason for its criticism. While a Formula 1 race has 22 cars in its beginning, a Nascar Nextel cup race has 43. Add the 36 point races for the entire series, and the session becomes extremely hectic. The drivers are left with just a few hours to practice. Some of the drivers have even quit the sport because of their inability to cope with such stress.

Drivers who have been reasonably successful in road racing circuits have been unable to duplicate that success record in Nascar. The prime reason is the difference in the entire structure of the two.

The Cars
The technology behind the cars is another reason that Nascarhas faced so much criticism. The cars are mostly fitted with accessories from the 1950s. The carburetors, cast iron engine blocks and most primarily the use of leaded fuel have triggered huge criticism against Nascar. The reluctance of Nascar to add safety devices has also aggravated the criticism against them. The use of this equipment places more emphasis on getting an undue advantage rather than focusing on the skill of the driver.

The Business
The last thing that has received flak from critics is the Nascar business structure. The majority of revenue generated by the entire Nascar racing goes towards the France family, as they control most of Nascar . Many say that the drivers do not have a voice in Nascar and it is like a dictatorship. The penalties and fines that Nascar levied on its drivers for using foul language in the media have also been a reason for criticism against it.

This author is a HUGE fan of NASCAR licensed merchandise

Article Source: Nascar And The Critique It Faces

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/111183/nascar-and-the-critique-it-faces

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Paul di Resta - classic F1 2011

Scotland's Paul di Resta, who has made such an impressive start to his grand prix career with Force India this season, is the latest driver to feature in our revised classic Formula 1 series.

Ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix, the 25-year-old has picked his five favourite all-time F1 races. We will broadcast highlights of each of his choices in this blog and on the BBC red button to whet your appetites for the action to come in Montreal this weekend.

Di Resta follows in the footsteps of Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher, Sebastien Buemi, Rubens Barrichello, Fernando Alonso and Nick Heidfeld so far this season.

The drivers have all taken a different approach to this task. Vettel, for example, picked only races from his own career, while the others drivers we have showcased so far have all to one degree or another chosen a mix of races in which they featured and ones from before their own time in the sport.

Di Resta has raced in only seven grands prix so far, so it is no surprise that four of his five choices are from the archive.

His first is this year's Australian Grand Prix - after all, a driver will always remember his F1 debut fondly.

The rest are as follows:

The 1968 German Grand Prix, which has gone down in history as one of the great Jackie Stewart's most extraordinary victories, and one of the greatest of all time.

Di Resta says he "read about it in Jackie's autobiography - sounded exciting". The race, memorably described by Stewart himself, was held in teeming rain and dense fog, and Stewart was in a league of his own, winning by four minutes in his Matra.

The next choice is the 1979 French Grand Prix, famous for the thrilling duel over second place between Ferrari's Gilles Villeneuve and Renault's Rene Arnoux in the final three laps, the two men passing and re-passing, banging wheels in lurid, thrilling fashion, until Villeneuve finally prevailed.

It was one of the iconic Villeneuve's landmark performances, a man of sublime talent transcending the limitations of his machinery and taking on faster cars.

A similar description can be applied to Di Resta's next choice, the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington Park, which has entered F1 folklore as one of the late Ayrton Senna's greatest wins.

In a race of constantly changing conditions, Senna moved from fifth to first in the course of a stunning first lap and raced off into a league of his own. Such was his superiority that at one point he had lapped the entire field.

Finally, Di Resta has chosen the climax to the 2008 world title fight at the Brazilian Grand Prix, when, as he puts it, "the championship went to the last corner".

Many will recall that Ferrari's Felipe Massa would overhaul McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and take the title if the Brazilian could win, with Hamilton finishing lower than fifth.

Massa completed his part of the bargain and, as he crossed the line to take the chequered flag, Hamilton was down in sixth place, having recently been passed by Toro Rosso's Vettel.

In the Ferrari pit they celebrated, but with rain falling all was not lost for Hamilton. Ahead of him the Toyotas, which had decided not to stop for wet-weather tyres, were struggling, and the Englishman passed the gripless Timo Glock at the last corner of the race to sneak the place he needed.

As regular readers will know, we pick one of the driver's choices to highlight and I have to admit that the initial inclination was to run Di Resta's choices ahead of the German Grand Prix and show the '68 race at the Nurburgring.

Highlights of that race do not exist in the BBC archive, though, so instead we have moved Di Resta to Canada and chosen the '79 French race because of Villeneuve, after whom Canada's F1 track is named.

So the full 'Grand Prix' highlights programme broadcast on the evening of that race is embedded below - it has never been shown since that day 32 years ago.

Beneath it are links to long and short highlights of last year's Canadian Grand Prix. It was arguably the best race of the season last year, featuring a thrilling battle between all five of the men who fought out the championship - Hamilton, his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, Alonso's Ferrari and the Red Bull drivers Vettel and Mark Webber.

In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.


CLICK HERE TO WATCH SHORT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 CANADIAN GRAND PRIX
CLICK HERE TO WATCH EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 CANADIAN GRAND PRIX

The details for the BBC red button on digital television in the UK are as follows:

Long highlights from France 1979, short highlights of Europe 1993, Brazil 2008 and Australia 2011 plus extended highlights of the Canadian Grand Prix 2010 will be broadcast on satellite and cable from 1500 BST on Wednesday 8 June until 1700 BST on Sunday 12 June.

Unfortunately, a lack of bandwidth because of the Queens tennis tournament means we are unable to broadcast these highlights on Freeview.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2011/06/paul_di_resta_-_classic_f1.html

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Nascar Fan Factor Up Close And Personal

There is no doubt that Nascar is one of the strongest brands ever in America's sporting chronicle. But what makes Nascar to be such a hot brand? Who is behind the success of Nascar? Well, the winnows of Nascar, who else?!? Nascar sports fans are the most faithful devotees in the world. You will never see the fans of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. drink any other beer other than Bud. This is because Dale is the brand name ambassador for Budweiser. Jeff Gordon is affiliated with Dupont paint, and most Jeff Gordon fans never use any other paint.

The brand name commitment of the sports fans is then cashed in by the sponsors. A survey divulged that in order to have their name and logotype on the lid of a top Nascar Nextel cup car, a person and or corporation has to pay $1.5 million! Now that is big money. The drivers are the main factor behind the success of the Nascar cars. The drama associated with the sport and the adrenaline rush cannot be compared to that of any other sport.

Loyalty To The Drivers
If a Nascar Nextel cup driver suddenly advertises Pepsi before the race, then the sales of Pepsi during that race will be incomparable. All the fans of that driver will simply quit using any other soft drink and start using Pepsi. Similarly, if a driver connects himself with a particular brand of shopping store like, say, Home Depot then all the fans will shop at Home Depot.

Role Of The Media
The media, too, will encounter a big role in promoting some of the stuff. For example, if Bill Elliot is seen eating at a specific restaurant and the photo hits newspaper headlines, the coming week, all of his devotees will eat in the same eatery. During the race, the fan following hits a new level altogether!

Individuals come from far-off distances to watch the races and then the sales of accessories and branded stuff hits the roof. Drivers like Jeff Gordon who are associated with car dealerships are also cashing in on the popularity. The sales of the cars have inflated dramatically after these drivers linked themselves with the car companies.

Automotive Productions
Automotive products, too, have established a market like never before, thanks to the growing popularity of Nascar drivers and their ever increasing fan following. If a particular Nascar driver uses a specific brand of paint on their car, then that paint has to be used by all his fans as well. The most common instance is that of the headlamp restoration product used by most Nascar drivers. The product which restores the condition of the headlamp to as good as new is exceedingly popular and is now used by many Nascar fans across the world as well.

This author is a HUGE fan of NASCAR licensed merchandise

Article Source: Nascar Fan Factor Up Close And Personal

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/111196/nascar-fan-factor-up-close-and-personal

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Nascar And The FX Race Technology

With the coming of engineering in the 21st century, reality television has made the front seat. As more and more proficiencies are formulated to make TV more interactional and advanced, sporting events are not left far behind. Nascar has started the race F/X technology, which has enhanced the interest further amongst TV audiences. Well, the technology was primitively started by FOX, which started trailing the hockey puck on national television. The trick was hot, and it became an instant hit.

Nascar brought in a synonymous technology to track their cars. But tracking a puck on a hockey field and tracking a car moving at 200 mph on a racing circuit are two different matters entirely. In Nascar, the commentators talk about a car and then the car is spotlighted with a glowing halo around it. It looks incredibly cool on television. The statistical information about the car is also presented just above the car.

The Technology Behind The Trick
Race F/X uses a wide range of parameters to showcase their final product. GPS orbiters form an integral component of the Race F/X technology. They are used to dig up the cars as they move around the circuit. They work in tandem with an earth-based navigation system. The tracking is so accurate that the car is tracked up to 20 millimeters distance from its real position.

In-car sensing elements in the cars also play a important part in enhancing the telecasted event. They help the GPS locate the cars and also help the networks to collect as much statistical data about the car as possible. The info is highly detailed and contains minute contingents like RPM, acceleration, speed, fuel consumption, and even braking. This information is gathered at the speed of ten times a second. So you can rest assured that it is most recent information that you see on top of your favorite Nascar cars.

You Will Be In It
The day is not very far when you will be able to control the Nascar cars race F/X technology and you will be able to select and highlight the car that you want to follow. This will be done with the help of a set top box, Nascar says. A video game variation of Nascar is also on the advent. This will enable you to race your own virtual car on the racing circuit with the greats of racing. So the days are not far when your own car will be racing beside Jeff Gordon and you will be in your living room all the time. Now isn't that cool?

This will propel Nascar racing into a entirely different realm altogether. So, get ready, get set, GO!

This author is a HUGE fan of NASCAR licensed merchandise

Article Source: Nascar And The FX Race Technology

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/111182/nascar-and-the-fx-race-technology

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