Educating People on Motorsports

[JohnBM01]

Part of the reason why most people don't really like or understand racing is because of all the different intricacies of racing. So I've taken this time to develop this thread to talk about how we can educate the general public more about motorsports. Why do you think most aren't really able to comprehend motorsports?

I'll try to talk about what things people don't grasp about racing as well as how they can learn it better.

My favorite show on ESPN is "Pardon the Interruption" with Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon. The two discuss NASCAR and the IndyCar Series, and sometimes Formula 1. The two don't admit to being gearheads. They don't understand the different nuances of race cars themselves. Like the 2005 Indy 500. There was a problem with fuel pressure for Danica Patrick as Dan Wheldon won the race. The usual stick-and-ball person would just say that Danica didn't go for the win. Some people just don't like racing as much as most traditional sports. Look at it like this. Most people would just think that golf is just drive a ball down a field. But it isn't that simple. You have to find the proper club and whack the ball to (hopefully) a fairway. You still have to make sure that you clear the course with as few strokes as possible. I have no golf experience other than video games (usually the good Golden Tee arcade games). But this is just an example of understanding every nuance of a game or sport even if you don't really like it.

Allow me to talk about my understanding of racing. I got into racing in 1998. First race I saw and enjoyed was the Texaco Havoline Grand Prix of Houston just outside of downtown Houston. I had very little knowledge of cars. I thought the McLaren F1 was made by Ford then (don't laugh). I thought the F-Body Camaro was a supercar. I always envisioned a night race on a city street course, just like most racing games. I learned over time about cars. I've been into (then) CART and even learning racing through NASCAR. My horizons were expanded with getting Speedvision on my parents' Dish Network at bout April 2001. I saw my first Le Mans that same year. But even before then, I loved watching the Momo Ferrari 333SP win Petit Le Mans in 1998. There are still a lot of things I don't know about racing. Most technologies and technical intricacies are still beyond me. People talk about how the 1970 Spa-Francorchamps circuit was the "real" Spa circuit, much like how people think the Nürburgring Nordschleife is the real Nürburgring. I don't know a lot about F1 champions and classic champions. I'm still very shaky on the days of Can-Am, the World Sportscar Championship, the classic IMSA days, and that sort of thing. I'm still not extremely knowledgable on drifting. As much as I know about racing, there's still a lot I don't know about. I even don't know about racing techniques like heel-and-toe shifting or whatever. I still educate on this because it's the sport I love before most traditional sports.

So how can we educate more people about racing? Again, this is one of the threads not related to any specific style of racing. It's about in-general stuff. I'll release a similar thread soon. But for now, please answer the question this thread asks about if you don't mind.

 

[KAMKA-Z]

Hey John,
I've been nuts about cars my whole life. My mom tells me I didn't go anywhere as a kid without a matchbox car in each hand. When I was eight, my dad and brother took me to a race at Donnybrooke Speedway where my brother had volunteered as track staff. It was an incredible initiation to the sport: USAC Champ Cars on a road course. (1969. yes that makes me in my forties) I was completely unaware of the caliber of racing I was seeing. Although Mario Andretti was a recognized name, I was completely unfamiliar with the Unser Brothers, AJ Foyt, Dan Gurney, or Mark Donahue just to name a few. I do remember it being incredibly loud. After the race we were walking through the paddock and my dad stopped a driver to get his autograph. He hapilly signed our entry form and we were on our way. I asked my dad, "Was that Mario Andretti?"
He chuckled a little and said, "That was Dan Gurney, the guy who won the race."

I have been a huge race fan ever since. From then on I absorbed anything I could on racing. Hot Rod Magazine, Books in the library, and later Autoweek and Road and Track. Races on TV were few and far between in the early 70s and were frequently replaced with local programming. When they were on, I was watching.

Over the years, I've seen Can-Am, Trans-Am, IMSA, F5000, SCCA club races,
CART, F1, ARCA, ProRally. Stick and ball sports mean nothing to me. I did a little amateur racing in my twenties.

This year I brought my own kids to Watkins Glen for the IRL race. The kids don't share my obsession yet, but to meet drivers in an autograph session and absorb the smells, sounds and excitement when the race began, well, the seed is planted.

Do we need to educate people? Information is available everywhere now to the self motivated. You can't go anywhere without running into the mad marketing machine of nascar. I love my roadracing. But it's difficult to promote without filling the senses with the real thing.


I did run into an interesting link the other day with a lot of cool racing history articles. http://www.forix.com/8w/index.html If you're looking to educate yourself, there's good reading there. It's probably time you look up your local SCCA group and get involved, John.

PS Samuel Clemmens said "Golf is the perfect way to ruin a nice walk."

 

[Blake]

I remember I used to say things like “Racing is just cars going in circles”. I got GT3 in 2002, and I’d began watching a few V8 Supercar races in 2002, and I watched the 2002 CART race at Surfers Paradise which was the first race I’d watched completely and enjoyed. I caught a few F1 races in 2003, and really enjoyed them.

I remember seeing the Monaco GP which JPM won, and he became my favourite driver. I also remember seeing the British GP, the German GP, and the Japanese GP. After Suzuka I bought the 2003 F1 game, and was just loving everything about it.

I decided in 2004 I’d tape every race, so I really got into it that year. At Spa when Kimi won from (the big bad wolf) Michael Schumacher I then switched allegiance and claimed Kimi as my favourite driver.

2005 was when I reached a really good level of understanding of the sport, reading into the technical and sporting regulations, reading transcripts from press conferences and interviews. I really got into it then. 2006 was the first race I went to, in Imola for the San Marino GP.

So my education has really been one of gradually increasing exposure and enthusiasm. And I think that last word is key, enthusiasm. That is the key to learning anything, so I guess when you want to teach someone about motorsports you have to approach them as a fan. People understand the emotion behind sports, and if you share that with them, maybe then they will want to learn the nuances of the game.

 

[Alex.]

I first begun watching F1 in 1997 and only stopped when schumacher won every race for 4 years or so. I try and talk about motor racing to my freinds and it seems I'm infectious, now I've got people who are cricket fanatics talking formula 1 on the way home instead of how crap england are at every sport.

 

[Appie]

my first race that i watched in F1 was Monza 2002 and since then i was watching it. I wasn't really a race fan in the beginning. I loved trucks and everything around then, then i watched F1 and you all now the rest.

 

[hadlou]

i started to watched motorsports in 1997 when schumacher tried to pass villeneuve and i have watched all the season until spa yesterday.

but my passion for motorsports started really in 2006 when i could watch motors tv and play GT4 then i tried to know the signification of V8, V6, FF, FR, MR and all things like that.
Also i started to watch DTM V8 ALMS LMES champ car WTCC and any race to increase my knowledge

 

[JohnBM01]

A lot of you are talking about how you got into racing. But, how do we educate those who aren't as educated about racing? And is racing really tough to get into thanks to all the different terms and technical bits?

 

[Blake]

A lot of you are talking about how you got into racing. But, how do we educate those who aren't as educated about racing? And is racing really tough to get into thanks to all the different terms and technical bits?

I think what makes motorsport hard for people to appreciate is that in most sports you can experience how hard it is really easily. Anyone can pick up a tennis racquet and run around hitting a ball until they get tired, but not everyone can get into an F1 car and experience the strain of 5G under braking and cornering.

Most people will drive their car to the shops and think that driving is easy and that these people aren’t athletes, but give them 1 lap in an F1 car at full pelt and they’ll be dripping with sweat and be hurting the next morning.

 

[hadlou]

maybe you should try to do some karting with them and then try to talk about motorsports with them

 

[MagpieRacer]

started watching F1 in 1997, only missed a handful of races and bunch of qualiying sessions.

 

[nitro_2005]

I think what makes motorsport hard for people to appreciate is that in most sports you can experience how hard it is really easily. Anyone can pick up a tennis racquet and run around hitting a ball until they get tired, but not everyone can get into an F1 car and experience the strain of 5G under braking and cornering.

Most people will drive their car to the shops and think that driving is easy and that these people aren’t athletes, but give them 1 lap in an F1 car at full pelt and they’ll be dripping with sweat and be hurting the next morning.

that's exactly my point when people say that F1 isn't a sport and that it's easy. OK, I'll admit, the money side of F1 is business, but F1 IS a sport because it's both physically and mentally demanding on the driver, and doesn't it say that a sport is some kind of physical and comppetitive activity. But some people just don't understand just how fit you have to become to even get to step into an F1 car professionally. Some guys are fitter and healthier than top sprinters even. They say it's easy? The day they can say they can drive an F1 car for 1/2-2 hours at ten tenths with high temperatures, speeds of up to 220mph and cornering and braking forces of up to 5G without any training whatsoever AND prove it, then I'll say it's easy. Until then, my point stands firm.

 

[Pupik]

A lot of you are talking about how you got into racing. But, how do we educate those who aren't as educated about racing?

I think people will only be as interested in the sport in as much that the racing will be interesting. How do you become interested in a game of chess? Or learning about Buddhism? Or flying an airplane? And why would anyone want to be interested in those things? The simple answer is that you can't compel anyone to be interested in something. Someone might look at last week's F1 race at Spa, and say:

"Great driving by Kimi, he had the right strategy and car set-up."​

But someone else might say:

"No passes or battles for the lead. No crashes. Who cares about who finished in 8th place?"​

The tough part about motorsports gaining acceptance compared to traditional stick-and-ball-or-puck sports is that:

1. Car surrounds the "athlete", he can't be seen. The car is the athlete.
2. Perception that it doesn't take any work to drive a car, since anyone can do it.
3. Schools don't train you to drive, but they can tell you how to run/catch/throw.
4. I don't know/care how a car works or how they operate effectively.​

NASCAR, for better or for worse, has changed the perceptions of the American sports community. Terms like "yellow flag" and "pit stop" and "pace car" are part of everyday language. The races take national attention, the top 10 drivers, towns like Daytona and Talledega are fairly well-known nationwide. Even mundane things like rush-hour highway traffic and car maintenance refer back to Sprint Cup races.

Overall, I feel NASCAR's popularity improves importance of all racing, rather than tarnishes it, even if the racing of Cup cars is a lot more contrived, the cars turn left 98% of the time, and the rule book is written on a dry-erase board. The fact is, it legitimizes motorsport as sport, and opens up an avenue to other forms of racing like drag racing, motorcycle racing, road racing, rally racing, et cetera.

There's also a lot more information now available thanks to the internet. People can watch clips of racing events, read about drivers and cars on all sorts of sites, learn the history of tracks and events, and so on and so forth. They can even do the old fashioned thing and take out a book at the library like I did 20 years ago (it's the 796 section, IIRC).

...is racing really tough to get into thanks to all the different terms and technical bits?

The popularity of NASCAR might prove that, since Sprint Cup cars are about as "technical" as the average road-going car. The cars "look" like average cars, so people might relate to the driver and racing action a bit more. I think a lot of F1 fans have no grasp of the technology of it all, probably because a lot of information is mostly secret. The past is far easier to understand in this respect, because it was a lot less complex then.

If people start to become fascinated with how cars work -- how they look, how they drive, how they're made, what they're made of -- then motorsports are easier to follow and the concepts of it all are easier to grasp.