The great race – the Bathurst 1000 – has been run and won again for another year on Mt Panorama.
The event generated huge ratings once again, averaging 2.3 million viewers during the duration of the eight-hour race. Additionally, crowds at the event are generally in excess of 200k, impressive for a country town.
These numbers put the event up there with the recent AFL and NRL grand finals in terms of public interest.
With these statistics and the popularity of the touring cars in general, it could be argued that motor racing is a top-five sport in Australia. It’s a similar situation in America with NASCAR. Unlike the NRL and AFL, which unites most of the country – at least those on either side of the Barassi Line – motor sport seems to not get the same widespread following.
This is probably because it is the most disliked sport, as well as being one of the most popular. Make sense?
I am part of the camp that can’t stand the sport. I would rather watch anything besides car racing. Maybe it’s because I am not a ‘car guy’, or because all I see is cars going around in circles without appreciating the intricacies of the sport.
I guess one thing that people don’t like about the sport is the perceived “bogan culture”. Motorsport fans are labelled ‘petrolheads’. I say perceived, because I have never sat on Mt Panorama and experienced the action (with its one case of beer limit per person per day) and neither has anybody I know.
Formula One racing is seen as more glamourous and is more successful at attracting outsiders. Formula One drivers are international playboys, far removed from the ‘rev-head’ stereotype.
It’s a similar story with the supposed redneck culture of NASCAR racing in the United States.
The fact that the sport thrives in the poorer southern states adds to the stereotype. The Will Ferrell movie Talladega Nights grossed $162 million at the box office by making fun of the NASCAR culture.
Many of us will also remember the 12th Man’s Wired World of Sports in the 90s – “they just go round and round, it’s so boring”.
Whenever a motor racing story or interview comes on, I switch the dial immediately. Saying that, the few times I have heard touring car drivers speak, they are quite eloquent and better speakers than most footballers of any code.
Since my move to America three years ago, I have taken a bigger interest American football and ice hockey (I was already an NBA and MLB fan).
I would probably appreciate football a lot more if I moved to Europe and AFL if I was to move to Melbourne or Adelaide. However, most people I know could never adjust to liking motor sports. I think you either love it or you hate it, there is no in between.
In a vote, motorsport would come up top in ‘the most disliked sports category’ but also right up near the top of the list as a popular sport. Contrast this to a sport like, say field hockey, not the most popular sport in the land by a long way but a game most people could appreciate and watch.
The other sport that may give it a shake is horse racing, which coincidentally is one of my favourites.
Roarers, do you agree? Or is there some other sport that gets you changing the channel quicker? Motor enthusiasts, what is it that you appreciate about the sport, what am I missing?
Is it simply that most of us want to see a ball being hit or kicked in some fashion or is it something to do with socio economic factors?
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