NASCAR "Tragedy in Daytona"

[ben says]

^ALL of those require some sort of physical prowess beyond using a foot to push a gas pedal....

[If_I_Loved_you]

^ALL of those require some sort of physical prowess beyond using a foot to push a gas pedal....

Ben stop embarrassing yourself driving at speeds up to 200 mph drafting on the back of the car in front of you doing 190mph takes a lot of skill!

[Overstreet]

^ALL of those require some sort of physical prowess beyond using a foot to push a gas pedal....

Obiviously you just don't understand the physical, tactical, teamwork envolved in the sport. Try not to be so closed mineded.

[ben says]

^ALL of those require some sort of physical prowess beyond using a foot to push a gas pedal....

Ben stop embarrassing yourself driving at speeds up to 200 mph drafting on the back of the car in front of you doing 190mph takes a lot of skill!

A lot of things require skill. Surgery, baking, writing, reading, playing an instrument...that doesn't make them "sport"--not to mention 'skill' is just one component of sport. The main requirement of 'sport', by definition, is physical exertion...which seems to be lacking in driving a car, that is, unless you count using the gas pedal or holding the wheel.

[Debbie Thompson]

I had not actually thought of crochet as a sport.  It only involves a hook and some yarn. I guess it could be competitive if you tried hard enough.  Croquet, however, involves wooden balls and mallets.  (Sorry If_I_Loved_You...I couldn't resist!)  LOL

Boxing...have to agree.  Getting paid for something which, if performed while drunk on a street corner at 3 AM with another drunk would land you in jail.  Of course, I guess you could say the same thing about NASCAR if you were driving that fast at 3 AM.  After all, the roots of NASCAR was with moonshiners outrunning revenuers, and then getting together to see if they could outrun each other.  :-)

[I-10east]

I'll watch NASCAR on TV if it's on Fox. It's especially entertaining for me during the last 30 or so laps. I'm sick of the perception of NASCAR just being entertainment for only a bunch of country hillbilly simple folk. With these race venues that are often in big cities (ATL, Vegas, Phoenix etc), the huge Fortune 500 companies, and star fans like freaking 50 Cent, and Ludacris stopping by to take in a race in the infield, yeah backwater for sure... Sure, the roots of NASCAR was all for the good old boys, but that's not 100% the case anymore.   

[thelakelander]

I don't have anything against NASCAR.  Its big money.  Heck, I wish we had something like the ISC up here in Jax.  Give them another 10 years or so and International Speedway Blvd will look completely different.

[simms3]

I've been to a 500 and a few other races...been in the stands and in the field.  Let me tell you that Nascar is every bit as much of a sport as many of the others.  It's tiring enough doing a 500 mile road trip in your comfortable car going 70-80 mph with a few fast food/stretch stops, let alone a nail biting DANGEROUS 500 miles taken on a closed and super-inclined track at 200 mph inches and often touching other cars going the same speed.  The teamwork involved is very difficult to understand, but it is there.

There's also some sort of vehicular race track in lots of cities, and most people in America seem to have some sort of interest in car racing, whether it's stock cars, Sprint Cup (Nascar), Formula 1, street/drag racing, etc.  Nascar is certainly growing in popularity as evidenced by the iconic stature of Danica Patrick, Nielsen's media ratings, increasing ticket prices, etc.

Back to discussion - when you're in the stands you are "right there" and can actually "feel" the cars go by.  I can believe that this happened, but I cannot believe that this happened.  If they raise the fencing and make it more impermeable, it will destroy the ambiance of watching the cars live in person (which I never watched Nascar on TV until my first 500 in person...WHOA).  Then again, safety first?

[Debbie Thompson]

Gosh. I-10 and Simms. I have nothing against car races either. Just not my thing. Boxing on the other hand. I just don't get. People beating each other to a pulp. But lots of people enjoy this and call it entertainment. As for me, I don't understand the attraction.

Back to Daytona. Is everyone going to be ok?

[If_I_Loved_you]

I had not actually thought of crochet as a sport.  It only involves a hook and some yarn. I guess it could be competitive if you tried hard enough.  Croquet, however, involves wooden balls and mallets.  (Sorry If_I_Loved_You...I couldn't resist!)  LOL

Boxing...have to agree.  Getting paid for something which, if performed while drunk on a street corner at 3 AM with another drunk would land you in jail.  Of course, I guess you could say the same thing about NASCAR if you were driving that fast at 3 AM.  After all, the roots of NASCAR was with moonshiners outrunning revenuers, and then getting together to see if they could outrun each other.  :-)

I'm in my 50's and growing up in the 70's I wasn't much of a NASCAR fan. But I like to watch it on TV now and maybe someday I will go to a NASCAR race in person. My kind of auto racing is "The 24 Hours of Daytona" I grew up watching Peter Gregg #59 wow what a professional race car driver! I was sadden of his suicide back in December 1980. "One should Never act as if they know what another is going thru unless they can wear his or her shoes?"

[Cheshire Cat]

New reports indicate that 28 people were injured as a result of this crash.  Some of them seriously.  Reports also say that both an engine and tire actually went through the fence and into the stands.  There are still a number of individuals in the hospital and are all reported as stable.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/Speedway-to-review-crash-that-injured-fans/-/475880/19077466/-/5k2a98/-/index.html

[I-10east]

Gosh. I-10 and Simms. I have nothing against car races either. Just not my thing. Boxing on the other hand. I just don't get. People beating each other to a pulp. But lots of people enjoy this and call it entertainment. As for me, I don't understand the attraction.

Back to Daytona. Is everyone going to be ok?

Did I even call anyone out in particular on MJ? No. I'm not trying to forcefeed anything down nobodies throat, if it's not your thing, then it's not your thing. I was just talking about the general perception of NASCAR by alot of the prudish uppity general public is that it's all star & bars bearing hillbillies, and that isn't the case. Is it okay to have an opinion on MJ, because sometimes I think that we must all be boring robots, and agree with everything in unison.

As far as the topic at hand, it looks like everyone (track side fans) will be okay, so not much to talk about there, other than improving that catch fence. Hopefully my post won't be deleted by an anonymous moderator for having an opinion.

[Cheshire Cat]

It appears the Daytona track had an engineer design the current safety fence in response to a serious accident at another track some time back.  The current fence was thought to have been engineered to preclude this type of accident.  My guess is we will see additional modifications to the fence design and several lawsuits.  Some of the fans had quite serious injuries and there is a good chance not all of them will be okay with that.  Twenty eight people seriously injured does not translate to a safe environment for fans, no matter what the sport.

I remember other serious injuries to fans by hockey pucks at professional sports arenas, one killing a child in the stands and another where a monster truck ran up into the stands killing a child and injuring several others.  All resulted in changes to safety precautions and ended up in lawsuits.  I think fans attend a sports event with the reasonable expectation that they will be safe and that is not always an accurate assumption.   

[If_I_Loved_you]

Gosh. I-10 and Simms. I have nothing against car races either. Just not my thing. Boxing on the other hand. I just don't get. People beating each other to a pulp. But lots of people enjoy this and call it entertainment. As for me, I don't understand the attraction.

Back to Daytona. Is everyone going to be ok?

Did I even call anyone out in particular on MJ? No. I'm not trying to forcefeed anything down nobodies throat, if it's not your thing, then it's not your thing. I was just talking about the general perception of NASCAR by alot of the prudish uppity general public is that it's all star & bars bearing hillbillies, and that isn't the case. Is it okay to have an opinion on MJ, because sometimes I think that we must all be boring robots, and agree with everything in unison.

As far as the topic at hand, it looks like everyone (track side fans) will be okay, so not much to talk about there, other than improving that catch fence. Hopefully my post won't be deleted by an anonymous moderator for having an opinion.

"Is it okay to have an opinion on MJ, because sometimes I think that we must all be boring robots, and agree with everything in unison." I-10east you don't have to agree with everyone or anyone? But you may be  labeled a "Troll" which isn't really that bad. The first time I was labeled a "troll" it really ticked me off? But then after awhile I thought about it and noticed how some of my postings were just that. I also put a lot of MetroJacksonville posters on my "Ignore List" so when I post. I don't have to view what they say unless I click on their posting. 

[I-10east]

^^^That's okay if I'm labeled as a troll, or is on some ignore lists. The posts that someone deletes usually involves somebody making a brand new redundant thread that's been talked about over and over again; Apparently 'trolls' like myself know how to use something that's called a 'search feature'. If someone wanna talk about something old, fine pull up an old thread and not make a new one; Even most newbies know that on forum sites.