Why Don't More Spectators Race?

By Tom Worthington

This isn't meant to belittle anyone's choice of how they go about having a good time. Rather, it's just an observation. How many folks avidly enjoy watching an activity in which they have never participated?

I can't sit and watch NASCAR for long. For me, it has no particular interest. I can sit and watch drag racing, but I find I enjoy watching the sportsmen more than the Pros. The Pros make it to TV more often, but if I see them listed in the TV Guide, I'm less likely to sit and watch them than I would to flip over to a movie I enjoy. It might even extend to my choices in movies. It seems the ones I most enjoy watching have some connection to something I've actually participated in. 

I like watching football games, and I've participated in football. I like watching soccer, and I've done that, too. However, baseball generally leaves me cold. Guess what? I never had a particular desire to play baseball. I guess it isn't all THAT cut and dry though. I've played quite a bit of basketball, but don't particularly care to watch it on TV.

It might only be me though. How many avid drag racing fans have never made the trip down the track themselves? It has to be a ton of them. There are plenty of opportunities to do it, but there have to be an awful lot of folks that pay huge amounts of money to sit and watch others run down the track who haven't made a pass themselves. No, I don't mean making a pass in a maximum effort nitromethane burner. I mean at least just a pass or two in the family wagon, or in their late model muscle car which, on the street, is actually a duck out of water. 

As I say, maybe it's just me. I couldn't stand not to try it out myself. But then, I've been trying it, and liking it, for about 25 years now. :-) Take care. 

Tom Worthington
http://www.hotrodder.com/Tom396