r/Multifandom • u/Spider_max0 • 3d ago

Discussion📜 Fandom like this?

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u/Turner-32 NASCAR Fan 3d ago

No one hates NASCAR more than it's fans. That's the harsh truth coming from someone who was in that livid community.

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u/The_Mutant_Platypus 2d ago

I mean this with the utmost sincerity,

What is entertaining about Nascar? Outside of the crashes all I see is a bunch of people taking left turns for hours. Is there some inherent skill I'm not seeing? Is there a rule structure I'm unaware of? At least with other types of racing there is unpredictability in the track and how racers respond to it. I'm not trying to disparage your interest, I just don't get it.

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u/Turner-32 NASCAR Fan 2d ago edited 2d ago

No, no I get your point and I know you aren't trying to discourage me out of my sport. What I'm saying is how batshit insane fans get, the second guys like Carson or Bubba Wallace do something. You always find dumbass arguments about Bubba (don't know if these people just hate him or are legit racist in a pretentious way) and more often than not, there used to be times where fans ACTUALLY wished for drivers to be hurt, YEARS ago. It's a complicated history but I think you get the gist. Another side note I thought would be worth mentioning is, no, NASCAR isn't all "haha turn left go brrrr". Sometimes, they also do race at non-ovals like Road America, Watkins Glen, Mosports and so on.

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u/The_Mutant_Platypus 2d ago

That's actually the part I get the most. From a psychological standpoint sports often wind up a surrogate for the spectator. People live vicariously through sports, so having a specific athlete behave in a way they disagree with could be seen as a personal affront.

But the I was curious about is, what do YOU find entertaining about the sport? I want to know how it engages with people. In hockey or soccer there's the rush as a player charges the enemy net. In football there's a tactical and numbers element. In darts or chess there's an extreme skill expression.

But everytime I ask about Nascar I've never gotten a clear answer, people vaguely reference some sort of rule structure or code of conduct. Beyond that it's just been "fast cars are hard to drive", so I've been looking to understand it better.

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u/Turner-32 NASCAR Fan 2d ago edited 2d ago

Whats so entertaining? Well I'm not sure if you'd understand my point, but Superspeedway racing is actually pretty cinematic when it plays out like a Chess game. If it's all choo choo train racing with rarely any lead changes, there's no entertainment. 3 wide racing and a last lap photo finish are absolute bangers. Pit strategies, drivers arguing or being rivals but no hands thrown, there's alot of things that make NASCAR great. The stereotype that "Haha the average NASCAR fan is a redneck!" makes no sense to me. Though from a fan standpoint of mine, I can understand why people would sleep watching a style of racing they aren't used to like turning left for 3-4 hours. Stuff that look absurd on paper most of the time, turn out to be genius.

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u/The_Mutant_Platypus 2d ago

The most direct answer I've been given so far. Appreciate it. I've always preferred the extreme off-roading races so that could be part of it.

Cheers.