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February 3

Oval Track Racing

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In Europe, we are much more used to seeing car racing on a twisty circuit, with both right and left turns, than an oval track.

Why did oval track racing become the most dominate form of motor racing in the USA?
Is it as easy as it seems, foot to floor and steer left?

--TrogWoolley (talk) 14:15, 3 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

NASCAR racing, the dominant racing organization in the United States, started as beach racing. You raced from one end of the beach to the other, turned around, and raced back. By the time racetracks were being built, the idea of an oval track with two straight ways for acceleration and two tight turns was already popular. This is in contrast to destination racing where you start in one place and race to another. It is also in contrast to city racing, where you follow a twisting path through a city, but still form a loop that you repeat multiple times. It does create a strategy. You cannot simply floor it through the turns. You will slide and hit the wall. You must slow down. How you do it is up to you. You can slow down going into the turn, get grip on the turn, and accelerate out to shoot down the straight track. You can drive hard into the turn, slow down, and come out of the turn on the inside of the track and try to pass someone who comes out of the turn high on the track. But, the higher car usually has a speed advantage on the straight track. So you need to push it hard to keep the inside when the next turn starts. It isn't easy. If you are ever in Atlanta and go to Dave and Busters, they have NASCAR simulators (at least they had them the last time I was there). The simulators are very realistic. I watched many people hop in, slam their foot down, spin out, hit the wall, game over. If you watch a race, they often shown the inside of the car. You can see the driver constantly adjusting - and not just for a short race, but for a very long and grueling race. It is an endurance test as much as a race. 135.84.167.41 (talk) 14:41, 3 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Don't forget the moonshining angle which was a significant part of NASCAR's origins. (That was more like "destination" racing.) In any case, early American auto race tracks (such as Indy) were oval just like horse race tracks. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:22, 3 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I expect for the same reason that oval tracks have been common since ancient chariot racing. It keeps the action localized, requires more skill, and allows for strategic passing. I did not intend to imply that oval track racing was invented by Nascar. As for moonshine running, I believe that the legend is much larger than the truth and that it had more to do with fast engines than racing skills. Nascar began in 1948 (long after prohibition) and the big focus from the start was the belief that "if it wins on Sunday, it sells on Monday." 135.84.167.41 (talk) 16:56, 3 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The stories might be exaggerated. But as noted in the article, moonshining continued long after Prohibition ended, to avoid paying taxes on the stuff. As for the oval track, the reverse question could be asked: Why did some places in Europe start running auto races on the city streets, hence blocking traffic? (Kind of like the Tour de France, except much more dangerous to all concerned.) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:40, 3 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Requires more skill compared to what? European style circuits? Or drag racing? The latter I can certainly believe. The two styles of circuits require different skills for sure, but the former seems an odd thing the claim. Fgf10 (talk) 20:12, 3 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

As a Brit who has for the last few years been following IndyCar, which features roughly equal numbers of Ovals, Street courses and Road courses (i.e. dedicated racing circuits) in each season, I can see an argument could be made – Ovals generally feature higher average and top speeds, closer racing, more overtakes, and more running at the absolute edge of traction. On the other hand, drivers on Ovals are more often subject to being taken out by others' crashes through no fault of their own.

Since IndyCar has, as indicated, all three types of circuit, and also features a number of ex-F1/2/3 drivers, it shouldn't be too hard to find actual drivers opining on the subject. However, as it's now past 3:00am where I am (I've just dipped in here briefly after binging on Six Nations Rugby), I'll leave that to others. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.205.58.107 (talk) 03:17, 4 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

"Requires more skill" than a straight line in an arena. The reference is to an oval track in an arena or stadium of some kind. Assume the arena is 1 mile long. It takes more skill to race a 1 mile long oval track, doing multiple laps, than a single shot down a 1 mile long track. Yes, this is a slight against drag racing. It is well known that drag racing takes skill, but it is silly to claim that it requires the same level of skill as track racing, regardless of the shape of the track. This is the same argument you find for Ford/Chevy vs Dodge. The Dodge cars can go in a straight line insanely fast, but they can't turn. So, the car itself is less "skilled" than the competitors. Some people turn it into a straw-man counterargument by saying that "less skill" is the same as "no skill" and getting upset with the claim that drag racing takes no skill. Being able to accelerate quickly in a straight line takes skill. Being able to do it coming out of a turn and then control yourself into the next turn requires more skill. 135.84.167.41 (talk) 13:23, 4 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for all the info. BTW I didn't really think it was as easy as foot to the floor and steer left - obviously you have to slow down for the corners. --TrogWoolley (talk) 09:35, 4 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There is a joke about Bill Gates telling how he came to invent Microsoft Windows: "I heard that NASCAR was popular because of its constant crashes, and that gave me an idea...". 2601:648:8202:96B0:0:0:0:E118 (talk) 01:53, 5 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]