NASCAR basically died for me when they mandated those restrictor plates. Now its ALL about the driver, not much for the skills shown by the chaises builder or engine builder.
You can call it the Stepford wives do NASCAR!
Well, the restrictor plates are only used on a couple tracks - those with enough banking and length that the cars can build up enough speed to easily go airborne - these things, unlike other race types (Indy, F1), at least look like cars instead of airplanes without wings, and thus run into aero troubles at around the 220+mph mark. No one benefits from a stock car in the grandstands.
Like so many other things, the racing may seem simplistic if you don't become interested enough to learn all the factors and strategies. The same might be said of the shooting sports, don't you think? ("Just driving in circles...."= "Just punching holes in paper.."= "Just chasing a little white ball around...", etc.,etc.
NASCAR sponsors all types of stock car racing, if you want to see the most raw forms, check out your local dirt tracks on a Saturday night. There should almost certainly be a level that satisfies what you want to see.
But please, no matter your interest level, do NOT question the skill levels of these drivers. Their seat-of-the-pants feel of a vehicle is unbelievable...enough to slightly slide a car of this size around corners at the exact limit of control, and do it perfectly each and every time for hundreds of times...and to be able to tell what that car needs to do it 1 or 2 mph faster, understanding how it changes with tire wear, etc., and be able to hold that skill through a 3 hour wrestling match at 130 degree temperatures. After a couple hundred miles, some races are determined by fractions of a second.
We always think of "back when...", but when stock cars were closer to actual stock cars, a certain manufacturer might find a design that was superior, and totally dominate the sport for a couple of years or more until rule changes were made to close the gap....i prefer when more than one make or team has chance to win on any given race day. I don't like ALL the changes, but I do applaud the efforts to make it more appealing to more people. If you can find a professional sport that isn't "All about the money...", I think you are likely mistaken.
Think you could do it? You would likely be as embarrassed as if you were trying to keep up to a PGA pro on the golf course.
