I was able to watch different racing venues today (NASCAR justed started) and have made several observations.......
Although Formula 1 is extremely high-tech and the cars/drivers are probably the best in the world, it is more a soap opera than a race. A race which women will never get to participate in as drivers. This primarily because of the caveman mentality of European males in general. Great soap opera today as Raikonen lost his right front wheel on the last lap. Great theatre, but not great racing.
Indy Car racing is dominated by racing conglomerates (Penske, Andretti, Rahal, Foyt). Women are welcomed especially by those who understand the marketability of a very talented female driver (see also NHRA/Angele Savoie). Racing competition is excellent if you work for one of the big guys; if not, forget it.
NASCAR is dinosaur racing at its best. Bumper to bumper, but it seems like they are racing school buses after watching Formula 1 and Indy Car today. The anouncers never seem to run out of ways to butcher the English language.
My rankings of all three racing venues regarding the following subjects.
IQ of Drivers
1) Formula One
2) Indy Car
3) Snoop Doggy
4) NASCAR
Acceptance of women in the sport
1) Indy Car
2) NASCAR
3) WWF
4) Formula One (Accepted as umbrella carriers only)
Car Performance
1) Formula One
2) Indy Car
3) DART Bus
4) NASCAR
Preferred alcoholic beverage
1) Formula One - Wine/Sparkling Water
2) Indy Car - Mixed drinks/Champagne
3) NASCAR - Beer/Beer
Announcers' knowledge of their sport
1) Formula One
2) Indy Car
3) NASCAR (Anyone that starts the race with boogity, boogity, boogity automatically gets last place.)
A final observation
Most competitive drivers in all three venues are pretty small guys. There are exceptions such as Michael Waltrip and Michael Schumacher, but I think I could take at least 90% of these guys in a UFC-style cage match even at my advanced age. I would certainly be out-quicked, but few would be able to escape my devestating ground and pound attack once I pinned their scrawny little a$$es to the canvas. (I know the UFC comment doesn't have anything to do with racing, but as a Texan, most references to fighting whether in context or not are usually acceptable.)
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