I luv CUP Racin' in NASCAR, but I've got to take a few minutes and mention that the racing at what's now called the Auto Club Speedway (used to be called California Speedway as I recall) in Fontana, CA is extremely BORING. My suspicions were affirmed after watching yesterday's fiasco on FOX via my TiVo.
Fontana has a 2-mile track that is extremely wide with long sweeping turns. It was originally constructed for INDY type cars that race at extreme speeds compared to NASCAR CUP cars, which are considerably slower and top out a bit over 200 miles per hour at the end of the front straight. But even at that speed, CUP cars appear to be lollygagging on that big ol' track!!!
If you watch CUP Racin' on TV and see driver interviews before a race and a driver says, "I love this track because it's got plenty of room to move around and I can choose the line that's best for the car's speed," then you're in for a boring race. If you interpret that comment, the driver's really telling you that "I ain't gotta do nothing but run around the track. I don't have to fight anybody for track space. I'll have an easy day as far as driving goes!"
When you watch a race from a smaller or narrower track, you always see drivers working their cars hard to gain space on the track. They are constantly 'battling' to use the same track space that another car wants to use too. You, as the viewer, are entranced by this constant battling and competition all around the track; battling for position on the track is what makes all types of racin' exciting.
At the California and Michigan facilities (both are 2-mile tracks and similar in construction), you don't get that type competition. California is the poorer of the two for real racin', basically it sucks. I can understand why few people want to attend a race at Fontana. They only have 92,000 seats and can't even fill those. Little ol' 1/2 mile Bristol has about 160,000 seats and is packed for two races each year.
No, CUP Racin' in California is a waste of time for the spectator. NASCAR and the TV networks love the southern California deal and think it brings them stature by being in California...truth be known, this California track will eventually die from fan boredom, with nothing beyond the TV revenue stream to support it.
If the owners of the California facility (ISC) weren't in an incestuous relationship with NASCAR, they likely would already be out of the CUP Racin' business. I don't know the specifics about the ISC/NASCAR incestuous relationship, but I do know from personal experience that watching a CUP Race from the California track at Fontana is BORING. Even the final 10 laps can be boring!
JD
PS - More opinion on Sunday's telecast from Auto Club Speedway in the comments section of this Daly Planet posting - The NASCAR On Fox Crew Grinds It Out.
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