Thursday, October 12, 2006
NASCAR vs Formula 1
Before NASCAR was an official sport (I denote that by being shown on network television over the weekend), I went to a few races when living in North and South Carolina. Some of my college friends (and their parents) taught me some of the strategy involved in NASCAR and enlightened me to the sport. Enlightened means aware and should not be confused with fanatic reverence. I am always interested in the last 10 laps (much the same as NBA basketball) to see if there is a close finish. Other than that, it really does not draw much effort or emotion from me.
Sunday October 8 was a different enlightening day for me. I started it at 3am based on my body clock not quite adjusting to China, yet. By 10am, I had unpacked, gone to the gym, gone back and forth to the French grocery store and was looking for something to do. The Baseball playoffs were on (Sat Night in the US is Sun morning here), so I decided to find a place where other people might be watching baseball. It turns out there is a 24x7x365 “sports bar” in Beijing – the Goose n Duck – “GnD” for short. So I took the 30-minute cab ride to check out the baseball game (I hope). When I got there, there were a slew of Americans cheering the game. Apparently, I had the most sleep, since most had been there all night and were finishing their revelry.
When the game ended, the next wave of fans appeared for Formula 1 racing. Apparently a big race in Japan was the focus of the attention. Germans, Australians, Britons, French and Canadians all congregated for the race. (Yes, note the lack of Americans, except me).
Simon, my newfound teacher from Australia, was nice enough to walk me through some of the strategy and statistics and favorites for Formula 1 racing. At the end of the day, I think it is a much more interesting and exciting “sport” than NASCAR. The cars have to accelerate and decelerate through hairpin turns, the crews get to tune the cars on their own and experiment with engines and tires, the speeds are faster and the strategy is more intense based on the course layout. Either way, Michael Schumacher was 17 laps from victory when his drive shaft decided to leave his car, eliminating him from the championship. It is a team sport, not a driver sport, unlike NASCAR.
I then realized that Formula 1 is an international sport and NASCAR is US centric. That means less money for the sponsors from consumers for the same time period based on advertising revenues. It is sad to realize that a better product exists, but is marketed poorly vs a poor product with better marketing. Formula 1 is a much more exciting, but doesn’t have the consumer marketing behind it. Someone should tell Fox that.
Sunday October 8 was a different enlightening day for me. I started it at 3am based on my body clock not quite adjusting to China, yet. By 10am, I had unpacked, gone to the gym, gone back and forth to the French grocery store and was looking for something to do. The Baseball playoffs were on (Sat Night in the US is Sun morning here), so I decided to find a place where other people might be watching baseball. It turns out there is a 24x7x365 “sports bar” in Beijing – the Goose n Duck – “GnD” for short. So I took the 30-minute cab ride to check out the baseball game (I hope). When I got there, there were a slew of Americans cheering the game. Apparently, I had the most sleep, since most had been there all night and were finishing their revelry.
When the game ended, the next wave of fans appeared for Formula 1 racing. Apparently a big race in Japan was the focus of the attention. Germans, Australians, Britons, French and Canadians all congregated for the race. (Yes, note the lack of Americans, except me).
Simon, my newfound teacher from Australia, was nice enough to walk me through some of the strategy and statistics and favorites for Formula 1 racing. At the end of the day, I think it is a much more interesting and exciting “sport” than NASCAR. The cars have to accelerate and decelerate through hairpin turns, the crews get to tune the cars on their own and experiment with engines and tires, the speeds are faster and the strategy is more intense based on the course layout. Either way, Michael Schumacher was 17 laps from victory when his drive shaft decided to leave his car, eliminating him from the championship. It is a team sport, not a driver sport, unlike NASCAR.
I then realized that Formula 1 is an international sport and NASCAR is US centric. That means less money for the sponsors from consumers for the same time period based on advertising revenues. It is sad to realize that a better product exists, but is marketed poorly vs a poor product with better marketing. Formula 1 is a much more exciting, but doesn’t have the consumer marketing behind it. Someone should tell Fox that.
