NASCAR vs. Indy Car

Top speed: Indy car by a lot. Both cars run at Indianapolis, and the indy cars qualify at 224 mph. Nascar at 179 mph. Indy cars are lighter and have about the same horsepower.

harder to drive: Sort of like asking who are better athletes - sprinters or LD runners. Very different styles. Nascar cars are 3x the weight and have primitive technology. Indy cars are like a scalpel, nascar like an axe. Hard to drive 3000 lb Nascar racecar at 200 mph with terrible aerodynamics - the car is like a high powered brick. it slides all over the place. But you are only turning left.

Indy car is like a racing spike - light, fast, more aerodynamic. Much more precise, but you have to brake, accelerate, turn both ways, etc.

nascar has much more money in it. Indy Car has almost folded a few times.

nascar is more popular everywhere. Nascar fans used to be heavily focused in the South, but that has moderated a bit. Lots of stereotypes of drunken redneck nascar fans. Some of that is true, but the fanbase is widening.

Indy car doesn't really have a wide fanbase. Open wheel is just not a big deal here - sort of like cross country. Nascar is probably more blue collar.

If OP was using "Indy car" by it's true definition (IRL)then I agree. Like you hinted at, open wheel racing (Formula 1 )however is huge in Europe and elsewhere.

The cars in NASCAR have to have certain specifications to make them like the 'stock' models that they represent. The different manufacturers (Ford, Chevy, Dodge, etc..) will base the racing car off of their regular sedan models, to a degree. The open wheel racing, like IRL and F1, are race cars pure and simple. NASCAR is way more popular here in the US, and F1 is huge overseas.

As for what's harder to drive, I can't speak from personal experience. However there was an episode of Top Gear where Richard tries to drive an F3 car (smaller, less powerful version of the F1) around a track in Europe, and he can hardly take off and get moving. And the guys on that show are terrific drivers. I would have to guess that NASCAR mimics American muscle cars much more closely, and therefore would be easier to operate in general.

I work closely with several drivers and owners in both the IRL, NASCAR and ALMS series. The comments previously provided are pretty accurate, and would state succinctly the general differences between the IRL and NASCAR.

A particular driver who had great success in the IRL told me once that the Indy car was pure precision and speed, while his experience behind the wheel of a Cup car was similar to driving a school bus around a frozen lake. The IRL cars will hit speeds north of 220 MPH and race inches apart from one another (open wheel style / open cockpit). NASCAR will get some speed too, but it's no secret the cars are much safer and the driver has much more protection.

I'm a big fan of the IRL, ALMS and F1 races. NASCAR interest me only because I have a vested interest in the performance of certain drivers and teams. Take that away, and I find the NASCAR races to be painfully boring and dull.

Of course the Americans love the watered-down sport.

Indy car racing has been down for a while, but when it is at its best...wow. I'm a big open wheel fan and when I look back at the series in the early to mid 90s there was just an unbelievable depth and talent in CART. Those races were absolute battles. Hopefully with a very interested sponsor in Izod and a new direction with Randy Bernard, the IRL can make some positive strides in the next few years in terms of the series' popularity.

I've seen both Indy Cars and stocks race in person, and in terms of speed and excitement, the open wheel cars blow them away. To me when open wheel racing is at its best there isn't a finer form of racing in the world.

I agree. NASCAR is huge here but personally I like INDY much better. I attribute it to do I want to watch B-52 bombers in a race (NASCAR) or F-15s in a race (INDY).

For me it's all about the speed. A NASCAR race can take about 4 hours for a 500 mile race. A 550 INDY can be done in about 2 1/2 hours.

Indy Car: Whine & Cheese

NASCAR: Beer & Pretzels

Kevin52 wrote:

Indy Car: Whine & Cheese

NASCAR: Beer & Pretzels

I see what you did there...

but seriously, I think the average joe could drive a NASCAR vehicle and get around the track and even have some fun if they were just taking a test drive - obviously no way you could begin to race with the pros

but with an F1 car coming in cold you'd have trouble getting it around the track, feel frustrated, might kill yourself

Very informative thread.

Look at Sam Hornish Jr. though, he was a 3-time IndyCar series champion yet struggled to even qualify for NASCAR races. I think that tells a little bit about how hard the stock cars are to drive.

I've driven an Indy car. An actual car that was raced in the Indy 500. The only change was the engine was 200hp in comparison to the 600hp they run in the Indy 500.

They also were running the 600hp stock cars on the same track. The 200hp indy car runs faster laps than the 600hp stock car. The reason is Indy cars don't have to slow down for corners. This was at Orlando in Disney. The same Indy car with 600 hp doesn't have to lift the pedal on the same 1 mile track which is simply insane.

It was one of the most memorable experiences I've ever had. The G force generated by this 200 hp car in the corners was simply amazing. I can't even imagine enduring that for 500 miles let alone with another 400hp in the tub.

I'd have to say the indy car has to be MUCH MUCH easier to drive than a stock car. You just can't hardly mess up in an Indy car.

hard to disagree with anything mentioned above, so i'll add a quote i heard once from an interview with mario andretti, about the differences between driving the different types of cars:

"indycar is little movements, NASCAR is BIG movements"

he made steering wheel gestures as he said 'little' and 'big'

They are the motor sports equivalent of running a marathon on a 100 meter oval track.

Growing up in Indiana, I was a huge Indy car fan. However, I've "gone country" and am now a die hard NASCAR follower.

People who call NASCAR boring and assume the cars are easy to drive just don't get it. These cars have 750 hp on tires much narrow than open wheel cars. As such, the drivers are ALWAYS at the absolute edge of what is physically possible. Because the races tend to be longer (which is where much of the "boring" complaints come from), the teams have the opportunity to tweak the cars to run better by the end of the race. But no fancy-pants electronics to do it for you, nothing but primitive mechanical controls.

And don't even get me started on how cool it is to see NASCARs run on the road.

NASCAR is king!

Flame on.

V8 Supercars > NASCAR

yippo wrote:

V8 Supercars > NASCAR

Marcos Ambrose has stated repeatedly that the competition in NASCAR is much tougher than in supercars. And ultimately good racing is about competition.

BTW, I'm a huge fan of MA ... he will win at Sonoma and/or the Glen.

Here is the Top Gear clip where Richard tries driving the Renault F1 car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUZJVY-sHo

Here is a cool clip of Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya swapping cars at Indy (before Montoya moved to NASCAR).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3LfTrZa-p4

This is a better video of Montoya and Gordon swapping rides.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_IfM5X7QIU