NASCAR or Formula One: Which is Better?

As a youngster, I loved Mario Andretti. Okay, I'm all grown up and I still like Mario, but the neat thing about him as a racer is that he raced in anything. The odd thing is that it confused me as a kid. I started watching when I was very young and I couldnt' quite figure out why he was in this long, practically on the ground go-cart type thing one week and then in what I knew to be an automobile the next. Now I get it, but then I didn't.

Oddly, as a child, I believe I preferred those go-cart things which I now know are the sleek Formula One vehicles. However, at some point I stopped following the sport and when I came back to it, Formula One bored me stiff, and it was NASCAR that I embraced.

There just isn't a question in my mind as to which one is better, at least for me. That's NASCAR, and here are a few reasons why.

*Formula One is elitist. It's a society for snobs. They all think they are hot stuff, the drivers strutting around like we should be grateful if they say 'hello', and the manufacturers treating their secrets like the engine designs were a way to destroy some evil world power. There's not a Rick Hendrick among them. Hendrick is a major presence in NASCAR, and he's been known to give an engine to a competitor in need. Some people wonder why so many Formula One drivers have contemplated a change to NASCAR. I recall that ex-Formula One and now NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya and his wife talking about being surprised that NASCAR folks talk to each other. There is a comraderie in NASCAR that isn't presence in Formula One. That's pretty telling, in my opinion.

*Cheating. The rules infractions that NASCAR turns out is nothing compared to the insanity of Formula One, especially with this team order business. Oh, that's right, there isn't supposed to be any team orders, but everyone knows there is. All you have to do is watch a race and see the poor second banana slowing down for no good reason. It makes me sick. In NASCAR, a driver might or might not let his buddy get five points for leading a lap, but that is his choice, and he's just as liable not to as he is to do it. Let us not forget that huge bruhaha in Formula One, too. I'll call it Alonzo-Gate. It's ridiculous, and Alonzo shouldn't even be allowed to get in a car anymore. Not only that, but how about all of the intentional hits and acts to manipulate a race? Michael Schumacher was an expert at creating this scenarios. He was a great driver,but knowing how he rigged things, it makes me wonder how many of his wins were talent, versus manipulations. Granted, NASCAR drivers are far from sainthood, but the ratio of events like this between Formula One and NASCAR is great. Formula One just doesn't police their own sport very well at all.

*The races in Formula One are boring. I"ve watched them. If you're in the top four, you might win. If you're not, you aren't going to place. There's no passing (unless you cheat, per the above). In NASCAR, drivers come from the 43rd position and win. Formula One has half of that field, but no one starting last ever wins.

There is no comparison. In every way possible, NASCAR exceeds Formula One. The above are just some of the issues that support my opinion.