Also consider that most of the lists posted concerning deaths in stock car racing include more than just Winston/Nextel/Sprint Cup. I also see trucks, grand national, and unrelated incidents. Also note that the nascar season has twice the races, twice the number of cars on track, and lasts an hour or two longer. In reality, amateur racing kills many more participants per year than in the pro ranks.
That being said, I would feel much safer in a stock car than an F1. Not that I have any first hand basis for my comment, I'm merely thinking about the distance between my squishy bits and danger.
Give it a shot, David. There's a reason that there's a net influx of drivers to this style of racing rather than outflux.
It's also for the fans who pay good money to see a good race. I wouldn't want to sit in the rain and watch cars running at 60% of their capacity. When it does rain, they try there best to dry the track and run the same day, or wait until monday.
As for the parc ferme, I think what comes close is the impound proceedure. Often the garage area is locked over night so that nobody can get to the cars. This also applies to the race teams themselves. They cannot make changes to the cars typically after 5pm the night before the race, and cannot change the car in any way before the start of the race. They can put air in the tires and inspect the car to see if anything happend over night. Altering the car or changing parts causes a driver to have to start from the back of the pack. In fact, changing major drive components after qualifying also results in having to start from the rear. Remember, 43 cars start the race. You might end up next to Robby Gordon or some other hooligan.
Well, tickets are $125-$160 at Bristol. That's pretty high considering seats for the U.S. Grand Prix(2004) was $75-150 if i remember correctly. Only 2 section were above $140, and the rest around $100. So i think NASCAR is pretty pricy compared to F1.
Comparing ticket prices doesn't work when you only look at the US Grand Prix, because its tickets are much cheaper than most other grands prix. Tickets to Silverstone, for example, I think are in the £150-300 range (someone correct me if I'm wrong on this point).
£99 two years ago at Silverstone for all three days, with open grandstands on the Friday. Woodcote Grandstands would be mega bucks, and I didn't even look that far down the price list!!!
£99 is roughly $195 at the moment, but was probably closer to $175 then.
A three day grandstand at Silverstone for F1 starts at 209 pounds and if you want to go just to the race on Sunday you will need to find 160 pounds to have any type of reserved seating, which is what you would get at Bristol.
You can get roving grandstand 'seats' but you will have nowhere to sit and your not allowed in the stands and must find a place on the grass. A three day ticket for this is 100pounds.
Grandstands are pretty restrictive anyway, so I wouldn't pay for them. It was nice to have somewhere clean (ish) to sit down for lunch on the Friday though, and we watched some girly Porsches braking for Stowe from one whilst we ate.