I’ve never been interested in Nascar, primarily because most Nascar races happen on ovals, and oval racing is just incredibly dull. There is also the fact that I’m a Formula One fan, and everyone knows you can’t be a true F1 fan and like Nascar too (call it F1 snobbery if you like).
So when Nascar came to Montreal at the weekend I was in two minds, but decided to give it a go as it was taking place on the Gilles Villeneuve circuit. Even Nascar can be interesting on a circuit like that, right? Well no, not really.
TSN, a broadcaster who grudgingly gives us a two hour slot for a Formula One race, sometimes not even live, dedicated seven hours of live TV to the Nascar race. Yes, seven hours! To make matters worse, nothing happened for the first four hours. What was that about?
We had the most boring qualifying procedure I’ve ever seen (and that’s saying something considering some of the dreary qualifying formats the FIA have experimented with) followed by an hour of analysis of why someone’s car broke down and an interview with a driver about his dislocated thumb. This lack of anything happening, coupled with the American commentator’s nasty habit of telling us the race was on “Circuit Jill Villnoove on ill note-rah dayme” almost made me switch off, but I perservered.
Finally the race started, now things would get exciting wouldn’t they? Wrong again. What is so exciting about these crappy little cars? My MG went almost as fast as they do and it was certainly more agile. They lumbered around the track, occasionally bumping into each other in a half-hearted fashion for two hours while the commentators tried to find something interesting to talk about.
Needless to say, I won’t be watching Nascar again. The Volkswagen Beetle challenge and the Ferrari challenge races that happen before the Canadian F1 Grand Prix were more exciting than what I sat through on Saturday.
