Horse Racing (and Other Sports) and Auto Racing: Discrimination?

[JohnBM01]

GTPlanet, think about it.

America was in love with Smarty Jones because the horse won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, but of course, lost the Belmont Stakes. And sure, horse racing been around longer than auto racing. Which brings me to AUTO racing. Tom Kristensen won Le Mans outright and has a chance to knock off Jacky Ickx for most Le Mans wins. Did the sports media care? No. Michael Schumacher won at Canada. Did the sports media care? No. ESPN show "Around the Horn" had a question asked to sports reporters, "which is the better Indiana event, the Indy 500 or the Pacers/Pistons game?" And of course, the reporters answered "the Pacers/Pistons" game. Chicago Sun Times sports reporter Jay Mariotti said "it's just cars racing around a track."

I don't know if this is the same case in your home country, but surely in American media, I think a lot of people couldn't give a damn about auto racing even if it were the last sport (yeah, you heard me, SPORT) on Mother Earth. I can't do anything about it, but this a variaton of my "Is there Discrimination In American Racing Coverage?" topic. Let me ask you in this variation topic:

Is there discrimination against auto racing? Golf is revered, baseball is revered, I'll watch NFL and NCAA football, college basketball is revered, but not racing. Is there discrimination? Double standards? or what? Reply now.

 

[Dorifto]

Different people have different interests.

 

[Sleek Stratos]

I'm guessing you've been watching "WindTunnel" recently, since awhile ago it was brought up how newspaper, etc. ads are predominantly about 'stick-and-ball' sports, rather than having some racing events advertised as well. There was a short mention of motorsports not being sports, moreover, drivers not being athletes. (that's loads of bull**** IMO)

I liked how some guy e-mailed the show declaring that those people that put the ads in the newspapers are frustrated 'little-leaguers' who could never cut it in 'regular' sports. Don't know how true that all is, but it's one theory.
Or maybe the average sports fan would rather see 'human effort' instead of 'machinery effort'.
Not to say drivers aren't putting in their part, to get back to that comment of racers/drivers not being athletes, how can some people call baseball players athletes and not do the same for racers? What burns me up even more is what those guys make for standing around all day.

So, yes, there is discrimination. I like to think it's getting better though.

 

[JohnBM01]

As much as I've bashed NASCAR, I think NASCAR is proving that it can compete with MLB and the NFL and whatever else. And if you ask me, I think FOX's NASCAR coverage seems more enjoyable than when TNN and ESPN shown these races. Now look at ESPN. They got IRL and NHRA. And I know that people may have other interests in sports interest, but... I don't know. I guess what pains me is that people see racers as hobbyists then athletes. What pains me is that watching crap-happy horses run across... a track is more interesting and exciting than watching cars do the same thing. And race cars are much more diverse than horses, have bigger crowds to watch them compete, and overall just blows horse racing out of the water. Despite my racing loyalties, I'd rather watch a dirt track race with sprint cars than a bunch of horses jockeying for position. Smarty Jones obviously didn't cut the mustard in getting the Triple Crown, but I just feel so violated that people see racing as a hobby.

I released a topic sometime ago called "Auto Racing: Sport or Hobby?" or something like that. I discussed whether or not racing is a hobby or a sport, and I got some good responses. Well now, I've come to a point where I wanted to ask if people should regard racing as a sport instead of talking about Barry Bonds and Rasheed Wallace and stuff. Yeah, different interests, but come on. Racing a car is as extreme as trying to return a kickoff or punt for a touchdown. I mean, I just feel so disgraced with people who don't appreciate what being a race car driver is like. Maybe I should have watched the NFL and ditch racing because others don't think racing is a sport. I think there is discrimin... no wait. I think there's BEEN discrimination on racing. NASCAR may change that.

 

[Sleek Stratos]

You musn't forget that about 99% of the crowds that attend horse races, or watch them on TV, have money riding on the events. Horse racing would fall apart instantly if betting on it was prohibited.
Of course, it isn't impossible to bet on a motorsport race (hell, you can bet on even rallies nowdays) it's just that motorsports in that sense aren't as reliable as horse racing is; also, in the spirit of 'fast and easy' money, horse racing takes way less time, you can't really push the horses for more than 1 lap. Maybe big-time rollers have a short attention span too, I dunno.

 

[animateria]

Does any cable or satellite have british racing channels? I bet they care about racing.....
You can't watch racing here so nobody can care about racing events..... (Same with UFC fights.. Pay per view? How is anybody going to care if it is pay per view?)
But then not many people in this country know anything about racing...... Nobody knows much about kart racing, rally racing, or TOCA....
Although NASCAR getting more attention is a good sign... It probably won't be able to effect any other racing event.....
And then..... how many different race events does the U.S. compete it anyways..... F1? TOCA? WRC( yes Ford, funny that nobody cares)?

 

[Jimmy Enslashay]

Horse racing sucks. But I like the crashes. JK .

 

[Rich]

Part of the problem is that Motor racing is quite complicated. I'm in the UK, and I'm into motor racing and also cycling competitvely.

Motor sport is getting on the TV more and more these days, cycling isn't really on at all, except the Tour de France.

However, both these sports are in some ways quite simialr I think, in that the basic idea seems quite simple - 1st across the line wins, but in reality, it is much more complicated.

There is alot of tecvhnology involved (more so in motor racing obviously), and also tactics which aren't instantly obvious, a lot of skill which isn;t instantly obvious to the casual observer.

Also, there are periods where not a lot of action is happening, and the casusal observer doesn't like that - the lack of overtaking in F1 is always supposed to be a problem for example.


Also, both are team sports, but nor in the easily accessible, traditonal way (like football is for example).

Therefore, I guess in summery the issue is that both of those sports are quite 'complicated' to understand, and you get more out of it the more you put into it. as a spectator. Which means that they are more hard to market/sell, and less popular to the casual observer.