At Home Mechanic

America is the land of wide-open spaces, vast miles of prairie stretching beyond the horizon. As the country grew new highways were laid out in straight lines, unimpeded by mountain ranges. In the interest of efficiency, natural barriers like ravens or bodies of water were bridged or filled top keep the new roads as straight as possible. New cities were laid out in rectangular grids of straight boulevards. To Americans driving across the country or across town, roadways are mostly straight lines running off into the distance. Certainly, there are sections of winding twisty roads in America, but the vast majority of highways in the US are largely straight lines.

In Europe, roads were built along natural contours rather than across them. Highways are built upon ancient and traditional routes that meander across a landscape that is less than uniform. Although modern European and Asian roadways are world class and nearly as straight as American highways, the majority of driving is on winding roads that twist through the country side.

As we drive, so we race. Americans see mostly straight lines on their roads and so they prefer to race in straight lines. Racing illegally from stop light to stop light in the cities, it is not hard to understand how drag racing became a popular sport I the US. In Europe and Asia, crowded cities did not lend themselves to straight line racing in an urban setting so drag racing did not emerge as a popular choice. Instead, Europeans tended to race cars out in the countryside from town to town on public highways. The sport of rally racing has emerged in Europe and Asia as a popular choice because it more closely resembles the type of performance driving found in those countries.

To make a business of auto racing, it is necessary to enclose the grounds and charge admission. While purpose built race car tracks were rare in the early days of racing, there were plenty of horse racing tracks across the US laid out in an oval shape with a ready built grandstand. Nearly every county seat in the country has a fairground that lent itself to early auto racing in the US. From that tradition, it is not hard to understand why oval track racing like NASCAR has ascended in the US as the motor sport of choice.

Horse racing in Europe is very different from the US; over there a horse race is likely to be run on turf (grass) rather than plain dirt and include leaping over hedgerows which is not suitable to auto racing. As Europeans were used to driving on twisting highways, their purpose built auto racing tracks reflected this type of driving with seemingly random swings in direction from left and right plus elevation changes.

Racing is a reflection of the way in which the general population drives. If your reference as a driver is long straight roads, you are likely to be drawn to racing that mimics that type of driving. NASCAR's oval tracks are as close as possible to replicate the US driving experience within the confines of a racetrack. Formula 1's twisting tracks reflect the typical driving experience of Europeans and Asians and that is why it is so popular in those areas.