What got you into NASCAR racing and what keeps you into it?

Question

Me, I am 33. I got into racing when I was 14 because I had a good friend who loved it (grew up on it) and really got me into it. I have never stopped loving it. It is the one thing I look forward to all week long...It is my only form of reality TV....

What keeps me into it? I love the races, drivers. I like the fans (though there is some civil was at times) but all in all they are just a great bunch of people. Like if something went wrong with you, no matter what driver you liked, a Nascar fan would be there no matter what.

Answer 1

I met Dale Earnhardt heading south on I95. He was a real decent person and very nice to me.  I knew the name was a bit familiar but I didn't follow racing at the time.  Guess I must have glanced a sports page or two.  Anyway...after I met him I watched to see just who this guy was and what it was all about.   After that I got hooked!!!      I have been watching and attending races ever since.  I took a two year hiatus the year and year after he passed away.  I just didn't think I could watch again and didn't even try. Now it's the thrill of the chase and the excitement of speed, the stategy, and the talents of all the drivers that keep me glued and attending and rooting formy favorite driver and the others.

Answer 2

I started watching when I was 15,(1988) my boyfriend's family were HUGE nascar fans, (and they had a satelite dish that took up their entire back yard so they could get channels I never knew existed)

I'd go over to his house to watch the races. (that boyfriend is now my husband)

What keeps me here, is the pure adrenaline rush, and excitement :)

And I agree, 99% of nascar fans are amazing people!

Answer 3

Watchin the races.

I used to keep track on paper when I was little.

Answer 4

I'm 49 years old and when I was a kid there was an old dirt track called Cowtown Speedway,my family and me would go ever chance we got.I fell in love with it then.I would watch the races on TV too and my idol was Richard Petty.Between Cowtown and Petty I thought,this is what I want to do when I grow up.Sadly I didn't make it into stock car racing.In last few years when Petty made comments about women drivers my heart was broken.The one man I looked up too and one reason I wanted to race,believed I shouldn't be there.I still love the sport,my fav's are Stewart and Dale Jr.I can't really say why I love it,it's just something thats always been in my blood.

Answer 5

I grew up watching stock car racing of all sorts and when Dodge returned to NASCAR I became a die hard fan.

Answer 6

My bro got me interested in it in 2002 and followed every since. This sounds stupid but I tape EVERY race. My fav of course is...JR!!. The speed and the drama keeps me hooked. Just wish they would fire tony.

Answer 7

My friend hates NASCAR, and at one point so did I. I went over his house and he must've thought I liked it or something, so he invited me to play EA Sports NASCAR 07. I loved that game. So then I decided to try real NASCAR out. My first race I ever saw - Dover, 2007, the one that Carl Edwards one.

Before it was waiting for Dale Jr. to break the winless streak that kept me into it. Now it's gonna be waiting to see who wins each week. It's so unknown. Anything can happen from anywhere. Surprises pop out. I for one wasn't expecting Gilliland to finish 2nd. I for one WAS NOT expecting Busch to even finish Top 10.

Answer 8

When I was about 10 my best friend Debbie's parents were ambulance drivers and they used to have to be at the Pocono 500 in case they were needed.  So they took us that year and we sat atop the amublance with out drinks and snacks and that was it.  I was hooked had a great time.  We did have to get down once when they had a call but all and all it was the best day ever.

Answer 9

Channel surfing got me into it one afternoon in November ironically it was the last race of the 1997 season and watched Jeff Gordon win the Championship. The cars looked & sounded cool @ the time so it kept me interested. Then when I saw the comradeship from the teams in the very next race the now infamous 1998 Daytona 500 I decided to follow on from there & never stopped since.

Answer 10

Grew up watching it, Davey Allison, Ernie Irvan, D.J. getting his championship.... gotta keep with it...

now im with Kvapil and Gilliland and things arent as good as they were once at the Yates camp, but still gotta support.

Answer 11

I was born and bred in a NASCAR loving family.  My daddy always told me I was born with octane in my blood ;)

I keep watching because I am addicted to it.  I can't ever seem to get enough.  I go into depression during the off season.  

You are right though NASCAR fans are the nicest people.  Every race I get to I always walk away with the greatest feeling.  The fans are awesome.

Answer 12

my first race that i saw was the 1994 daytona 500. when i was 1 and a half. i forgot who won though. i've always watched nascar and jeff gordon has always been my favorite driver.

Answer 13

I've been watching NASCAR Since I was Little and My Uncle Was teh One Who got me hooked. When I was younger I Was a Dale Earnhardt Fan and now I am A Dale Earnhardt Jr. Did I mention that For a girl I have had the Biggest Crush on Dale Jr since the 6th Grade LOL!!!!!!!

Earnhardt Fan For Life!!!

Go Dale Jr#88

Forever a Fan of#3

Answer 14

When I was really young, my grandfather gave me a Dale Earnhardt Sr. diecast car. I didn't really like it or know what it was, until my parents were flipping through TV channels and I saw it on tv. I ran to get my little car, and watched in awe. I've LOVED NASCAR ever since, and have gotten many members of my family hooked on it as well.

Answer 15

The cars are mostly built by hand. Works of art every one of them. Watching teams of engineers, mechanics, and craftsmen do whatever they can think of to make a race car faster. Getting almost 850 hp out of a pushrod, single cam, V8 engine. 43 cars fighting for position on a 1/2 mile race track. These are just a few things that got me and keep me hooked on Nascar, no matter how bad the politics and greed try to destroy the sport.

Answer 16

i think i was born inside an engine block and i used to live in a rochester quadrajet carburetor, and vacationed inside a TH350 tranny. I kept cutting my hand on bearing surfaces, that held the races for cast iron. I've rebuilt and modified almost any internal combustion engine, even before i knew what i was doing, And so i had to start racing. and i've raced anything i could get on and steer. It's nice to kick back and let someone else put on the show. the only reason i am fixated with NASCAR is that it is basically the epitome of all motorsports.

Answer 17

I have only been watching racing for about 2 years but i love it. A close friend of mine introduced it to me and now im in love with it. I keep watching it because of Kasey Kahne, he is my all time favorite driver.!!!

Answer 18

well i started in summer 2005 when i was playing NASCAR racing 4 on my computer and my dad was out side playing with my little brother with walky-talky/radios so they my little brother came into the house and gave me one of the radios to me so i decided to play a guessing game with my dad by asking him who drove which car,so i said the number and he guessed..corectly..most of the time then i was up to like number 80 somethin and i skipped the number 17 so i went back to number 17 and he said Matt Kenseth and i remember thinking i like that name (i was 9 lol) and i also liked the way the number 17 looked.

so in 2006 i decided to start watching NASCAR races then i just got hooked (when i was 9 i did not think Matty was hot...lol)

i don't really know how i stay hooked it's probably the excitement

and the drama and Matt winning lol

>.<

Answer 19

I liked cars...so i just started watching...Jeff Gordon became my favorite because, He's from Vallejo..I'm from Vallejo...so i thought why not pick the hometown equivalent (...like the 49ers, Giants, Warriors).....i just love racing.

Jeff G. will oblitirate ALL who oppose him

Answer 20

hmmm... thats an interesting question, and has kinda a funny story to it.

Well first off I was 12 yrs old and me and my brother were over at my friends house who's whole family is obsessed with racing. My friend was sick so we were both stuck inside watching the race with her family. Which I wasn't very happy about. I'm ashamed to say I did NOT like racing back then and would have rather watched just about anything else that was on than that lol. But that was what was on and where wasn't no way anyone that was gonna change it. So after about an hour I started to get interested in the race (they were at the Glen in 03 btw) and to make a long story short I really started to like the black car (Kevin Harvick) and the way he drove (pretty much just moving people out of the way lol) so I ended up asking my bro (who coincidently is a Kurt Bush fan) who drove the #29. He said "who? that car? oh thats Harvick..." I asked him if he liked him and he said "pppfftt.... NO" and I said well I do lol. And ever since then I've been pretty much addicted. It's pretty much the ONLY thing I watch on TV. I always watch the Cup race and I watch the Busch and Trucks whenever I'm home.

And I'm exactly like you when it comes to what keeps me coming back to watch. My weekends pretty much revolve around nascar, which is a little annoying to some of my non-racing fan friends but it hasn't completely over taken me and I'm still able to go out and miss a race.... if I have to lol. I do prefer the cup race over the other series but thats just because it has all the top drivers in it, but If any of the drivers were racing in another series (like the Prelude at Eldora) I will watch it. It's actually kind of sad I think I'm becoming more of a race fan of anything because whenever I turn on the TV it usually goes straight to Speed regardless of whats on lol.

Answer 21

my youngest brother was watching it on TV one day i saw a cute driver name bobby labonte and i ask my brother who he is and he told me his name and i like his car when he used to drive the number 18 and now i am playing a nascar game with people and it is fun and i like to watch it on tv to see how my drivers are doing go bobby labonte

Answer 22

My dad watched when i was a kid so that got my foot in the door.  I started watching some as an adult in about 2000, and then in 2006 or so we went to a race and i have been die hard since then.  Seeing it up close made me just like breathless.  as stupid as that sounds even to me it is so true.  when my adrenalin started going i was hooked.  we go back to talladega now every year and watch nearly all of the races.  It is something we do together as a family and often we get together with friends and grill and watch.  it is just like a part of our lives now that we all love and enjoy

Answer 23

i was 7 (1997) and saw on tv these cars going really fast.  i immediately got hooked.  i can remember that race too.  it was on espn classic and it was the 1996 bristol night race when sr spun out terry labonte just as terry crossed the line first.  i remember he brung his wrecked car with the smokin radiator into victory lane. got hooked ever since. and since in 97 jeff gordon won the cup, i became a fan of his.

Answer 24

I used to watch it back in the late 90s when my boyfriend (at the time) used to watch.  I got introduced to it and we were Dale Sr. fans.  Then... I met my first husband who was not a NASCAR fan and thought racing was just a bunch of cars going around in circles all day long.  Needless to say, it was hard to keep up with something that someone else use to complain about watching, and he sort of made me feel like I shouldn't watch it because I wasn't with my ex-bf anymore.  So I got out of it gradually - unfortunately.  Then I divorced (obviously - nothing in common!) and then met my present husband, who is and has always been a NASCAR fan.  He brought me to races and got me up to speed again (no pun intended!).  Since then, I'm hooked and we're Dale Jr. fans!  We live in NC near the Charlotte area and have spent lots of time going to the track to races, museums, and JR Nation.  We've avid campers and bought a pop-up to camp and tailgate when we can.  Now there's no missing a race as long as we can help it!

Answer 25

I got into nascar because its like a mini soap opera to me who is mad at who this week or next week. i like seeing when they are gonna fight or what they say. BESIDES tony stewart and dale earnhardt jr keep me watching especially tony with all that he says hes funny and fun to watch. But they both have their moments when they get mad.

GO tony and dale jr!!!!

Answer 26

I got into NASCAR racing in 1993 for two reasons.

One reason was 1993 was Jeff Gordon's rookie season. A friend of mine called me up and told me to watch this rookie driver named Jeff Gordon who just happened to be 3 years older than myself. I thought he was cool because of his skills and his young age. I've been a die hard fan ever since!

The other reason I got involved in 1993 was because of Alan Kulwicki. He was from my home state of Wisconsin and was the 1992 Winston (now Sprint) Cup champion. Unfortunately his career was cut short when he was killed in a plane crash while flying to a race in Bristol n 1993. Alan was also the last owner/driver to win a Cup championship. I thought it was cool because someone from my home state in the North won this championship in a sport that was supposed to be ruled by down home, backwoods, southern rednecks.

I have stayed into following NASCAR because I love racing and, even though I don't race, it is something that I would have loved to have been given a chance to do.