I was thinking about this today, because I realised that pretty much none of my Facebook "friends", who live in the same state as I currently do, give a flying fuck about this particular "hobby"...
It's actually quite rare to meet people who do like, and admit to liking, motor racing, these days, around these parts.
I go to track meets. I wear motor racing t shirts and gear sometimes (people tend to ask about band tees much more than, say, a Bathurst tee). I've been to the Bathurst 1000 twice, which is... The mecca of Aus car racing. I've always been into this since I was a kid. But yet... I've never really made friends out of it, oddly (excluding an ex who raced karts, and our mutual friend, who is an arsehole, so I won't be contacting them, lol)...
Anyway, just figured I would see what any "rev heads" here were up to, in this regard. I'm going to go to another "track meet" in a few weeks, which is like... One of the highlights of this time of year. Should be good.
Anyone else been to any races lately/planning on going to any? Obviously there's plenty of stuff on the TV, and a few decent "latest generation" games, but... In person is generally better, for this, IMHO.
What's big in your part of the world? We've established by now that I know a bit about Indycar and (less so) Nascar, but in Europe, I don't really know that much apart from Enduros, rallying and F1, lol...
Anyway, just a conversation starter, if anyone shares this common interest!
Yeah, the GP here (F1) is absurdly expensive, too…
I can’t really afford to spend like three months of savings just to go along to that (I’m exaggerating, but with hotels and flights and all - it adds up), so I tend to go to local stuff instead, where I can!
And yeah, I don’t really “get” oval racing and the like, so much, either, so I can understand that, lol…
I don’t mind some of the Indycar races I’ve seen on TV, though (the street circuit ones). They’re sometimes fun to watch, though I would say (V8) Supercars in Aus is more enjoyable. For me at least!
I'm close enough to Austin I can get away with driving there for a day and making it back home if I'm really down for a long day. I last did a race in 2018 though, the prices have at least doubled since then.
What really surprised me is the Indy 500. I was thinking prestigious race and all it would be insane. I just happened to be in town that Sunday by accident. I got a really decent bleacher seat for right around $50. There were places to stand that were no more than 25 feet from the track too and outside of a few food lines it really never felt crowded at all despite the over 300k people there. I did almost walk my legs off though, it's a huge place. I have to give them credit though, for what little I spent there was a lot of value in that day.