How I Became a NASCAR Fan
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- Опубліковано 15 лип 2024
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Even when spending the weekend at DannyB's house, Eric still has his Kenseth diecasts in the background.
This was filmed in his house that cup windshield is his he showed it in a twitter post and youtube vieeo last year.
This Eric’s place, he mentioned recently that windshield with photos that’s on the wall.
The thing I give credit for making me a nascar fan is you. I was bored one day with nothing to watch and I was recommended a video of yours titled “the time nascar lost control” and since I had nothing to do, I watched it, and I was hooked ever since.
Same way but I got hooked bc there was nothing on tv and I watched a nascar race on tv and when I watched it I was like this is pretty entertaining and I got hooked
@@chefmike146 Similar to yours, there wasn't anything but a NASCAR race on so I watched it then
I got hooked in high school a math teacher used the points system to teach i think you picked car numbers for your team and had to add up there points way back in 1996 I was all ford on my team
Eric: *exists*
Kenseth: Is for me?
Same thing for me but instead of Kenseth it was Martin Truex Jr.
Edit: Well actually it was Casey Mears but Truex was soon after
I became a NASCAR Fan in 2009. At Wal-Mart I saw a 2007 Dale Earnhardt Jr diecast, and my Grandfather has a Dale Earnhardt Hat, that's how I became a NASCAR fan. I miss my Grandfather (1961-2018), I haven't seen him since 2018.
How I became a NASCAR fan:
Just by watching the races and loving it
Lol
So this may turn out pretty long, so to whoever reads this, thank you.
My obsession with NASCAR started probably the same way a lot of other kids my age (25) started, with my dad. He was a huge Dale Sr fan. We share the same name so I am a Jr, so you can tell who I cheered for. I also remember being a Ward Burton fan early on in the early 2000s, with the CAT car. I loved bulldozers, dump trucks and even trains growing up. (still do today actually, lol) My parents unfortunately never got married and split up a couple years after I was born, but I still remember being with my mom and watching Ward Burton win the Daytona 500, instantly jumped on the phone to call my dad who was in tears. Was a rough year in 2001 for Sr fans, and 2002 started out with my dad being happy and proud that his son was rooting for the guy who just won. I'm pretty sure my first live NASCAR race was at Dover in 99 or 2000, when the track still had small grandstands on the back stretch right off of turn 2.
Fast forward a couple years... Ps2 and NASCAR Thunder 04-07 is out. My dad had his own memory card for his career modes and we would still bring up the time I accidently messed up his saved game 10 years later! My 2nd live race was also at Dover in the fall of 2007 with an Uncle. Sat in the middle of turns 1 and 2 in the upper half of the stands. After my first two races I didn't remember too much about how loud the cars were and the amazing smells they give off.
Fast forward to 2014... Graduating high school, the only thing on my mind was girls, money, and where the parties were going to be that weekend. Didn't think about racing too much in the last two years of high school, playing baseball for the school team also. I would catch parts of races when my dad was watching on TV and still root for Jr of course, but the obsession kinda faded. I raced RC cars at almost a professional level thru middle school and early high school. Traveled the northern half of the east coast racing and even announcing some multi day events. Loved every minute of it because not long after graduating high school, I found my self back out in the hot parking lots and small hobby shop tracks getting my racing fix. Eventually faded away from the toy cars and found myself at my local Autobahn indoor karting tracks. Still race in the league nights here and there but United Karting BWI is the place to go now. Your typical 70mph gas rental race karts.
So now I'm addicted again right? But now I'm older and able to understand more complicated things. I'm able to drive a car on the road, even though I've been driving power wheels cars, riding lawn mowers, even driving my drunk dad around at about 8 years old, starting a job at Amazon and now UPS as a delivery driver. But things were different now that I'm older... I knew the time with my dad was getting more and more limited. So I ordered some tickets to Dover to surprise him for his 58th birthday in the spring of 2018. Got a couple tickets for one of his friends that is like family to us, and my buddy PJ who I've kidnapped into watching racing. It was awesome, sat in turn 4 directly in front of the first pit box but in the upper section so we could see the whole track. Kevin Harvick was pitting in that box that day and man did he know how to work that clutch to get out of the box all day! What a sound it is when the drivers start to rev their engines as the car is still jacked up, and then the pop and roar the second the car is let down. One of my favorite parts of a live NASCAR race for sure, TV can never do it justice.
The field is on it's first couple pace laps and we are just taking it all in. My first NASCAR race in 10 years! Here comes the field to get the one to go signal, the drivers are revving to kick the tires in a beautiful songlike way. I catch my dad not looking at the cars, not looking at things going on down on pit road, not grabbing another beer, but looking at me... I didn't pay too much attention to it at first, and played it off by continuing to look at the cars... But when the field came back around to launch for the initial start of the race, he was looking at me again and looking for my reaction. I just smiled and shook my head in disbelief in the power that was just laid down pretty much right in front of me. A feeling you can only understand by going to a race in person.
Later that summer I took a 3 hour drive to Pocono by myself because my buddy PJ bailed. Sat two rows away from the track and loved seeing that beautiful part of the world. Spend many Saturday nights at my local dirt tracks, and have already been to Richmond and Dover this year! Maybe Pocono this weekend? Still haven't decided. Will be at Richmond in the fall for my first night race!
Unfortunately my dad passed away November 16th, 2019 from cancer. He battled bladder cancer for a while and beat it. But some how it popped up in his lungs. Watching my father take his last breaths will probably always be one of the hardest things I will be put thru in my life. It definitely hasn't gotten any easier so far. But he has left me with an addiction to NASCAR and racing in general. An addiction to become one with machine. To adapt, adjust and overcome. I still want to run and tell him any new little thing I learn about racing or any news that's going on in the NASCAR world. Every time I'm at a race track and a field of cars takes off for the green flag, I think about how he was watching to see my reaction to something he loved.
He was still mad about the Ps2 memory card two months before he passed away, that being the last time we joked about it. The good days. Lol.
I love and miss you old man, keep watching over me like I know you have been. Thank you for everything you have done for me. I hope I'm making you proud. #FuckCancer
Support your local short tracks!
HERE IS MY STORY:
I was on the training "potty" in the living room yelling GO #6 GO MARK MARTIN.
Is this Slapshoes?😂
@@papadragon695 No y?
Cha cha real smooth
@@StuffNMoreHotwheels Beacuse he’s a hardcore Mark Martin fan, do you not know who he is?
@@papadragon695 I know who he is but I've only seen a handful of his videos
For me it started when my mom got me into IndyCar. Tony Stewart left IndyCar to join NASCAR. He was my childhood hero. Then when he retired, Kyle Busch became my new favorite driver.
My Dad is big sports fan. When ever he came back from his deployments he would take me to the dirt track in Jacksonville. This was back in 87 or 88. He bought me Richard Petty race car. Playing Days of Thunder on the NES
_How did Eric get into NASCAR?…_
In simple answer: *_Matt Kenseth._*
Max Kansas!
same, but me it’s johnson
Meth Kensatt
Matt Kenseth is our God and Savior
@@Blown_engine and Hamlin but yes
Jeff Gordon fan here, followed Chase after his retirement. Cried in his last race
"I didn't believe racecars were real"
lol
I became a nascar fan around 6 , we were at our trailer camping and it was really crappy outside , so we watched the 2013 daytona 500 , im a Harvick fan but I'll always remember that day when JIMMAY won the great American race for the 2nd time
The nostalgia hit HARD during the part about "Getting out a tray, putting the steering wheel on it, sitting in a kitchen chair and playing Nascar 07" .... because honestly same 😂😂
Also I've never been to a Nascar race but been to dozens and dozens of dirt races...and there's nothing like the smells and sounds of racecars in person
My dad stopped caring for NASCAR when Dale Earnhardt died. Ever since I really got into Nascar around 2017-2018 he has been somewhat back into it and now next weekend we are going to the Poconos.
I'm going too
Same I’m going
@@nascarfanFlatTire going Saturday as well
I love the movie Cars! I searched the internet for anything and everything Cars!(I was 8) Then I accidentally clicked on a NASCAR Xfinity Race and saw KB go from the back to the front. I looked at another race 2016 Michigan, saw Larson win and Elliott finish runner up. I loved it!
The first cars movie is what got me into nascar and the first race I ever watched was the 2009 texes race don't know who won but I was a 48 fan ever since
Jeff Gordon won the Texas Spring race in 2009.
The first time I got into NASCAR was when I watched Jeff Gordon get his first career win back in 1994, which I was 5 years old.
Here's my story:
One time I was curious what my dad and his friend were watching. I saw that they were watching something (I believe it was the 2010 Daytona 500). I decided to cheer for the 2 car because it was blue and blue was my favorite color. I was kinda off and on through 2010 and even into 2011, but I specifically remember the Daytona 500, just because it was remarkable. I kinda got into it later into 2011 and started watching every race. It was at this moment that I started cheering for Jimmie Johnson instead of that blue 2 bc the paint scheme was cool and it had blue on it (this was kind of ironic bc Kurt Busch and Johnson had their rivalry those years). I have stuck with Jimmie since then and now I am a Hendrick fan as opposed to just a JJ fan. I will say I felt incredible pain the last few years bc JJ never won. But I remember the 2013 and 2016 championships and how I lost my marbles when he won it. This is also how I came to dislike BK, simply bc he won the championship and not JJ in 2012. I can assure you I was bitter about that.
I started watching when I was Four years old. I could remember every single driver and their sponsor, Driver, and Manufacture. The first Video game I ever played was NASCAR 2000 on the N64. I’m 29 years old now and have been a NASCAR for almost three decades. My favorite driver was also Matt Kenseth. It was originally Jeremy Mayfield
I’m going to pocono raceway for my first race I’m so excited
I’m going to Road America for my 2nd race
I’m going to the Championship in Phoenix for my 16th race. Only been to three other tracks. Sonoma 13 times, Daytona and Talladega once.
I’ll be there. My first race was at Pocono 20 years ago. Only felt right to come back this year.
My dad got me into NASCAR when I was like 4 in 2011 and it was the Daytona 500, I really had liked the movie Cars at the time and my dad compared the two and I was immediately invested, my favorite was Jeff Gordon, and I started collecting diecasts and I still do to this day, and I got my first video game in 2012.
I played with diecast so much that i created a groove on a table. i was in high school in the early to mid 2000s . i wore alot of Jeff Gordon jackets and shirts i got mostly gordon stuff we used to have a nascar shop at our local mall i have pictures of me in gordon shirts a few times
The fact that you created a *groove* is honestly quite impressive 😂
I was 7 years old and was at my uncles house and I saw the 2012 Watkins glen race and and ever since I’ve been hooked
I got into nascar because of their diecasts. I was majorly into hot wheels, matchbox, etc. Eventually bought a nascar Authentics from Walmart. Loved the detail on them. Fast forward a couple years and now I only collect nascar diecasts and am a huge fan of the sport.
And I remember a few years ago I watched Chase Elliott's first win and I cried tears of joy when it happened and I loved the part where Jimmy Johnson pushed him to Victory Lane and it was the best moment of being a nascar fan
My story is simple. My Poppop went to a NASCAR race and thought is was the coolest thing ever and got my Nana into it and then got me into it when I was born
I got into NASCAR in 2005 when I was 8. I've been a Life Long Racing Fan. My favorite is Jimmie Johnson, and HMS and Chevy
I remember going to a local restaurant in my city when I was about 6 or 7 I was playing with some coffee cream containers and raced them like that they were cars
I was 5 when i became a nascar fan because my dad used to work on sundays and called so i could see cars racing on tv. That race happened to be the 2009 aarons 499 at talladega and the finish got me hooked
Edit: only my younger brother an i are nascar fans
The way I got into NASCAR was with my mom and my step dad taught me some stuff about it and then I started studying it myself and I just got hooked on it. I got into it when I was 4. So I have been a fan for 8 years
I became a nascar fan by clicking on a race (las vegas fall 2018) and it was fun and the bad part of the race was when my favorite driver denny hamlin crashed into the grass and ended his race and after that race was over I decided that i was gonna watch nascar from now on and it has been so much fun to watch since the las vegas race 2018 fall. I also attended my first nascar race at circut of the americas (cota) in 2021
I was the first person in the family to get into nascar with all my uncles into drag racing ! Got my pops into it also !! I was 8 years old watched rusty win his 89 championship and was hooked and he was my fave till he retired !!! Then tony till he retired .. now chase 🤣
My first ever nascar memory was watching Trevor Bayne win the Daytona 500 live. First time I cried because of sports was when Jimmie Johnson won a race at auto club. I finally appreciate NASCAR for what it is. I want to watch every race of a season lap by lap.
I became a nascar fan when I was looking for a movie, and I came across a DVD that had two Nascar races, and one of those races were the 2007 daytona 500, so that's what I watched (Note the 2007 Daytona 500 was condensed on the DVD, I watched the full version on UA-cam in 2017).
I got into nascar when I was 2 because my dad and his friend were standing behind the couch with beers and watching a nascar race (I remember it being either texas, atlanta, or charolette) and after that point I loved nascar
i was at my grandpa's house one day in 2013, it happened to be the day of the April Bristol race, Kasey Kahne won that race, i got hooked that day and since then i've gone to 30-40 some races.
Funny that's the first race i went too
@@danielpaine6608 I was 6 when i went to my first race that year at the fall Michigan race, I've been to maybe 6 or 7 Michigan races now.
How I became a nascar fan:
I like cars so 40 cars going around a track was mind blowing
Got into nascar at age 4 or 5 when my dad put it on one Sunday. I originally was a Joey logano fan simply cause his name was similar but later moved to jimmie johnson after tiny me saw him winning so much(keep in mind I got into it in the middle of the five in a row era) as years went on my interest flickered a little cause I didn’t know which channel it was on half the time. But In 2011 I went to the inaugural Kentucky race, standing about 15ft from the track in turn 3 was awe inspiring. Stuck with jimmie till the day he retired cause I fell in love with his character on and off the track and now just root for Hendrick in general. The only other race I’ve been to was Atlanta 2013(or 2014) but it was rained out
Fall Martinsville 2015 was when I got hooked
Here’s how I got into racing and NASCAR. Four letters, one word:
CARS
(the movie)
ALSO…
Me since last years Daytona 500 as a Kyle Busch fan:
Aw shucks
Jk lol. Keep up the good work Eric
In 2019, I went to Texas Motor Speedway in the spring and thanks to Denny Hamlin, I had the best time.
Probably one of the strangest stories ever for myself
For a long time I have been a fan of LEGO. In 2019 (I think) they came out with a NASCAR Cup Camaro which I though was pretty cool, so I got one of those and decided to find out more about NASCAR. I think this was around the time of the 2019 Kansas Playoff race. So yeah Lego got me into NASCAR
my first experience was during the red flag when montoya hit the jet dryer and i thought it was boring because there was no racing but then i started watching in 2013 and that’s actually when i started watching you and i loved the stop motion videos, my first race i went to was at chicagoland for the truck race where kyle busch won and that’s how i became a kyle busch fan
I became a nascar fan because of 1970s-1980s F1. My dad grew up in Colombia in South America and loved watching F1 with his dad. Fast forward to the late 90s-early 2000s Juan Pablo Montoya from Colombia making his name on the F1 scene. And since my dad is Colombian he supported him along the way. Then in 2006 Montoya went to nascar and my dad watched him there along with my brother. And since Montoya raced until 2014 I got a chance to watch him race and become a nascar fan along the way. I loved the 42 from Larson, Kenseth, and Chastain until they merged with trackhouse. But in 2017 I got a new favorite driver. Daniel Suarez. My mom is Mexican so I loved him in Xfinity and now I loved him even more in cup. Now, trackhouse is my favorite team along with my favorite drivers Suarez and Chastain. So I shall thank my grandfather although probably not knowing about nascar. He made me a nascar fan.
Been a fan for almost 15 years and I just went to my first race 2 years ago at my home track, Michigan. Really need to go to more. Interest fell off after Jr. retired but I've still had Truex as my backup so I've been rooting for him since. His live sure has turned around since his early days.
I've been to MIS even through I live in Maryland. My grandparents live in Michigan so I got to watch 2018 fall practice and qualifying at the track.
I became a nascar fan when my dad wanted me to watch the Daytona 500 with him. I remember thing to myself “ugh ok 200 laps I have to watch and then no more” but then i saw the drafting, the train racing, the side by side action, and all the colourful cars flying at high speeds kept me watching. Ever since then I’ve been hooked
As a kid my grandpa got me into it. Every Sunday he’d come to my house and we’d always watch the races start to finish. There for a couple years things were great I was the biggest dale jr fan. I had diecasts all over the place from Jeff Gordon to kasey Khane and so many more. I also played the old EA games growing up. Then in 2013 he passed away and I grew apart from the sport for a bit I loosely paid attention to Dale Jrs success those last years of his career. Then I fell completely off the fandom when he retired. Then primarily my focus was high school playing other sports and just focusing on school. Then after I graduated thanks to ole covid. My best friend and I started playing the Nascar heat series and I fell back in love it. Then he started dirt go cart racing and almost won his first race. But now my dad and I our friendship has come back to how it used to be. He was always a Jimmie Johnson fan and I know get the nice experience with him watching Jimmie grow as a driver in Indy Car and also watching Hendricks Motorsports success so far this season. I found your page a couple months ago after the Daytona 500 this year and I just want to say thank you for the content every video has been great. It’s nice hearing your story and how you became a fan. Unfortunately I am one of the fans that has never seen a race in person which I live in Tennessee but I was hoping that the race at Nashville would have been my first one but hopefully I can go to Bristol in the fall.
This is my story on how I became a NASCAR fan:
My grandmother was into it, to start off. Richard Petty was her favourite. Then it got passed on to her daughter (my Mom). She was into Geoff Bodine at the time. Today it is Chase Elliott. I would come and watch once in a blue moon but I was too young to understand what I was watching and to be honest thought it was too long and boring (kids and their short attention spans lol).
I had NASCAR 2000 for PS1, had a steering wheel and peddles, but was never into it. Probably more into Need For Speed III Hot Pursuit.
It wasn't until I was 18 in early 2006 when I owned NASCAR 2005: Chase For The Cup (similar to how you got into it) when I starting becoming a die hard NASCAR fan. I would watch every race that season including practice and qualifying on SPEED and that show i forgot the name of on the same channel with Jimmy Spencer and Kenny Wallace before the race was on.
Later that year on October 29th, 2006 I went to my first ever NASCAR race at the Bass Pro Shops 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. I still remember Tony Stewart's number 20 Home Depot car winning that one and got to experience his signature climbing the fence with his pit crew which felt like no more than 50 ft away from me. I even got to experience the pits, infield garage etc. Since then I had been to Pocono 3 times and Montreal for NASCAR's first ever race in the rain in 2008.
I stopped watching after Jimmy Johnson had won the championship 5 times in a row. I was a sore loser, what can i say? 🤣
Then as of 2017, I got back to it full time, and this time don't plan on leaving the sport. I have grown up and not salty anymore. Kyle Larson is my current driver but I do respect all of the other drivers pretty equally without malding about if they win. I am just a huge fan now, that's it
I was born in Daytona, I grew up around racing and was the first sport I was shown from my parents, my parents were friends with a lower ranked racer not a full cup series driver and my whole life was just around playing the ps2 games and watching the races so ever since I was a small infant I enjoyed Nascar!
do you remember what driver?
You are right take them to a race I took my friend and we've been going ever since 2016 we used to go to Kentucky speedway but they're not there anymore this year we're going to make it to Bristol YAY! stay safe keep up the great job and have a good day and thanks for sharing a little bit of your personal life👍
I got into nascar bc of my older brother. He was a sports fan watching most sports from hockey to nascar. He would talk about it to me and my younger brother and became a fan in 2012 after my parents had bought us nascar inside line and nascar unleashed for the wii. I never watched it seriously weekend to weekend bc I was 6 and didn’t watch Nascar seriously until more recently in 2018 as a 13 year old.
I still play Inside Line on my Wii
I became a NASCAR fan off of watching races when I was like 6 years old, even tho I never knew who was racing it nor how good they were, I always loved the flames on Jeff Gordon’s car, so I rooted for him, not knowing I was rooting for a legend in the sport, in 2013 when I was 9 I broke my right femur and it was then I got taken to my first NASCAR race, the 2013 Pure Michigan 400 at well you know where. I live in Wisconsin so that was the closest track of that time. We got tickets to the “champions club” seats, and a couple drivers would go there and answer questions from fans, and Jeff Gordon so happened to be one of them, I raised my hand and he actually answered a question of mine, and I asked what his favorite win was, and it was the inaugural brickyard 400. The year following that I would return to Michigan and if you know a little about the track, Jeff Gordon would end up winning that race for his 3rd to last win of his career. I actually got to get a picture with him that year and an autograph from him, and ever since then I’ve attended 4 Daytona 500’s and just loved the sport more and more. I today am now a Chase Elliott fan ever since he took over the 24, I’m so fortunate that my parents were able to afford these magical experiences of a lifetime. That is how I became a NASCAR fan
@Tristan Ellis Gaming 2004
I wish I could trade die-cast with my friends
Same my friends know nothing about nascar or even care to know
@@Footyshorts923 ya same
@@Footyshorts923 some of mine do but they don't really follow it
Eric, my very informed friend. It bit me in the ass in ,'99. Yourself and I r too much alike. I'm 43 & you care about the wellbeing of the sport in-whole. U have my “informed” RESPECT!!! THANK You!!!
I got hooked on Nascar when I was about 8 back in 1990. My dad was always a big fan and we would listen to the races on the radio every week and remember it being such a treat to get to watch them when they were on our TV. I remember exactly where I was in the car listening to the conclusion on the iconic finale to the 1992 season and where I was the next year when we lost 2 of my favorite drivers. I too became a huge Matt Kenseth fan when he can up through the then Busch Series and my fandom grew throughout his rookie season! I remember being so excited when he beat Dale Jr for ROY. The fact that they came up together created that rivalry for me. I don't think anyone expected Matt to have far and away the better career of the 2. Now I have a few drivers I really cheer for but no one has really replaced Matt.
Jr was better than Matt but concussions and his dad's passing affected him
The First NASCAR race I watched on TV was in 2012. It was the Talladega race where Stewart flipped. Anyway I saw Casey Mears in the 13 Geico car at the front pushing Michael Waltrip and I LOVED the paint scheme on Mears’ car. And that’s how I became a Casey Mears fan and a NASCAR fan.
Also the First race I went to in person was the Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan in 2019
Nice to see a Casey Mears fan! I'm one too!
I got into nascar in 2011 my uncle was watching the dover race and i was glued to the tv watching the cars I don’t remember who one or what happened all I remember is the cars were awesome and ever since then I’ve been a fan
eric, i want to personally thank you for getting me into this great sport. seriously, youve had a huge impact on my life.
It's crazy 8 years ago I searched up "Toy Nascar" and saw your videos! I'm confident this made me become a superfan ever since.
I've practically been a NASCAR fan since I was born. I was born in 1998. My 1st race watched was the 1998 NASCAR Truck Series race at Walt Disney World Speedway. I've been a Dale Sr fan my whole life. Still am to this day. That number 3 will always have a special meaning for me. Another cool thing is, I went to school with the daughter of one Dale's former crew chiefs. NASCAR is pretty much my whole life. I love the history of it. I've learned a lot of the NASCAR language. NASCAR for me is like a good addiction. It's an escape. Hopefully one day I'll get to be out on the track. I'm even friends with some drivers on Facebook. I've really become immersed in the culture of the sport. It's why I plan on staying single forever. Cause I'll never find anyone who will match my love, respect and passion for NASCAR
Hi Can we be trustworthy friends?? this will not lead to anything else, just friends? Ok??
My grandfather used to race and my day put the races on here and there I really liked kyle bush when I was 7 and ever since I've been a hard core nascar fan and kyle bush fan
I would say the thing that got me into NASCAR was the Cars movie. My family was not racing fans but after that movie we started watching NASCAR. I became a Jeff Gordon fan because of his awesome flame paint scheme and brother became a Jimmie Johnson fan. Our family was really invested after going to our first race Chicagoland speedway 2012.
I was born and people in my family loved NASCAR so I grew up watching so now I love NASCAR.
I always liked nascar but never was a super fan until the pff season between 2018 and 19 I watched alot of your videos and now I cant miss a single race thanks Eric 😂😂😂
I have been a Nascar fan for as long as I can remember as the earliest I could trace back was watching the 2005 Brickyard 400 with my Dad at just 3 years old and arguebly became a Stewart fan early on cause he won that very race. It was always an interesting love affair, growing up in northern New Jersey it was never very popular amongst schoolmates, hid my love for it a lot. And while I did loose regular interest for a few years in the mid2010s for various reasons, I've gotten back into it like old times since 2017, have seen the sport at it's peak and its lows and without question played a large role on my early life and even somewhat today.
I started to know what NASCAR was when I was little. Specifically, when I played EA sport NASCAR Sim racing made. I would remember myself playing as Tony Stewart in his #20 Home Depot Car since it was the only sponsor I knew. I would definitely go back to play that game in which I still have.
At a different time period around when I was 8, I found Jimmie Johnson's Chevorlet (yes a car dealership around my hometown). With that, I wanted to learn more about Jimmie in terms of what number and sponsor he races. This is where I learned that Jimmie grew up near my hometown as I learned on the news covering his recent championship at the time. That was where Jimmie Johnson became my favorite driver and the only driver I knew until I followed the sport in years to come.
With both NASCAR Sim racing and Jimmie Johnson were influences to for me to become a NASCAR fan, it was around 2017 is where I started to follow the sport on a weekly basis. It all started with social media, specifically where I followed NASCAR on Instagram and I have been seeing their posts pop up. It was also that I was into Monster Jam. I had some online friends who enjoyed mainly Monster Jam but also watches NASCAR. It also helped that since Monster Jam had a short season in terms of championships, NASCAR basically gave me something to enjoy. So then because of social media in general, I wanted to watch a whole NASCAR race on TV. That first race I watched was the 2017 Brickyard 400 in where Kasey Kahne got his final win of his NASCAR career. Because of how intense the race was due to the crashes and battles towards the end of the race, I was immediately hooked into the sport. Before that, I had thought that racing was boring to watch because I also had friends who have other races until that race. Now today I'm proving them wrong. I have kept up with the sport ever since.
The best way to get into NASCAR. Go to Daytona every year with your dad. Yeah that’s how I got into racing in general
I became a NASCAR fan ever since I watched Disney Pixar Cars which is based around NASCAR and I remember some NASCAR drivers that are in the Disney Pixar Cars universe such as Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suarez, and also Darrell Waltrip who’s the announcers in the Cars universe in the Piston Cup booth! Then, I started to discover what Disney Pixar Cars was based on and it’s based on NASCAR. That’s how I got into the sport, watching all the races, and even buying the diecasts.
Good point on needing a driver to be a fan off for NASCAR to retain fans. I was a huge Gordon fan 2000-2009 (stopped watching NASCAR for the most part around 2009). Then when Gordon announced his retirement in 2015, I watched every single race of that season. Since then, I’ve got back into NASCAR. The power some drivers have over fans is crazy.
Hi Can we be trustworthy friends?? this will not lead to anything else, just friends? Ok??
I'll never forget the beautiful orange and black tracker boats impala no. 1 of Jamie McMurray winning the Daytona 500. I've been a fan ever since.
Favorite memory as a mark Martin fan, in 2002 seeing Mark win the Coke 600 at Charlotte....it was always special seeing Mark win in the 6 car for Roush....
I was at that race. His Pfizer viagra schemes especially that year were amazing.
You truly really become a nascar fan when you actually go to a race and see, feel and experience the power of these cars and the speed they go
The only reason I watch these videos is because of the Double E Cup series! I’m a nascar fan because I was born in 2005 and was watching the Cars movie since before I could talk
I became a nascar fan just last year i have heard of nascar before but thought it was boring watching cars until the daytona 500 2020 i was at my grandpa house and he was watching the race he the told me that corey lajoie who was running in the 10 was a 3rd cousin of me my grandma and his grandpa don lajoie were cousin. At the start i was watching the race not really understanding much but with your video eric i learned a lot and now i am such a big fan of the sport watch every truck xfinity and cup races
I went to Sonoma every year since 2008. I was 2 then. My grandparents would take me. I wasn’t completely into it for a while. 2015 I started paying attention more still wasn’t completely in. I remember watching Jimmie Johnson who is my favorite run out of gas at the end of the 2015 Sonoma race with only a few laps to go and Kyle Busch won. The next thing was seeing Austin Dillons catch fence crash at Daytona on TV. It wasn’t until the amazing battle of Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin in the 2016 Sonoma race that got me hooked. Since then I watched whenever I could. I missed a few races in 2017 still went to Sonoma. In 2018 I went to the Daytona 500 and that was an incredible experience. I didn’t go to any races in 2020 for obvious reasons. This year I’ve already been to Talladega, also amazing, and Sonoma I’m going to the Championship race at the end of the year. Haven’t missed a race since Fall Talladega 2019 because it got delayed to Monday and I was in school. Anyway Nascars awesome and screw Kyle Busch.
I got into Nascar after my dad died when I was a kid. He was a racing fan, and my mom kept watching the races I suppose to keep some part of my dad with her. To this day, I still remember the 1990 season more clearly than any other. It just left a lasting impression on me and my then 5 year old brain.
Davey was my guy. He was just so cool. He was such a nice guy and seemed to care about his fans, yet he was still a tough as nails competitor. Just loved him. When he died, I lost my passion for the sport for a long time. I still feel a twinge of loss whenever I'm reminded of it. I so wish he and Alan Kulwicki hadn't died.
Watched again sporadically during the boom of the late 90s and early 2000s, but never really recaptured the feeling I had from the early 90s. Just got back into watching again last season with the Daytona 500, and I was so sure Ryan Newman had died from that horrible wreck. Was almost convinced I was cursed. So glad he recovered so quickly.
I already liked cars as a kid and NASCAR popped up on my tv screen and the speeds and cars got me hooked
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I got into NASCAR as a kid hearing stories from my grandfather and dad who went North Wilkesboro and Rockingham. They would bring back pieces of rubber from the track and other goodies. I started watching races in 1996 and have been watching it ever since.
Amazing story Eric! Very similar to my story how I also became a NASCAR fan as well.
I went to my very first Nascar race when I was about 6 months old at bristol and saw the Jeff Gordon's rainbow Warrior cat and ever since has been a Nascar fan. That's also how I found my passion to race go karts every weekend on dirt.And my dream has been to make it to NASCAR.
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Nothing will ever beat the entire pack coming by. Last year during Covid my wife and I went to Kansas for the fall race. I think I closed my eyes and just felt the pack go by multiple times.
Funny story: i was 5 years old with my dad at Darlington for my first race. Bill Elliott was still in the 94 McDonald's car and he was my favorite driver. I was sporting my red 94 hat from the souvenir trailer and about half way through the race, a rather intoxicated (but friendly) fan from the row behind us wanted to buy my hat for 100 bucks. Of course, my dad politely handled it and we went on about the race. To this day 25 years later, I remember my dad telling me after the race, "I should've sold it to him and bought you another one."
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Back in 2013 I was watching Jeff Gordon and then in 2017 I turned on the Dover race(my home track, I was also glued to Disney cars), I saw chase Elliott in the 24 trying to hold off Kyle Busch for the win but Chase got passed for the win but chase has been my favorite driver since
My story of how I became a nascar fan is pretty cool I think. It was 2005 and I was 5 years old when my dad had the race at Auto Club on and I was interested and asked him who drives the number 5 car (because I was 5 years old), he said Kyle Busch. I then rooted for Busch through the race and he ended up winning, I was hooked at that moment. It was my first nascar race I ever watched and it was his first cup win in his rookie year. I've been his fan ever since, so thats 16 years of being a Kyle Busch and nascar fan.
Was watching tv at my house and was going through the channels and then I saw the cars moving fast and just stayed glue to the tv for the rest of the race
I became a fan because of you. It was 8 years ago when I found out about your channel, but eventually became a NASCAR fan as I was discovering more and more from the sport (2016 was my first full year as a full fledged NASCAR fan). We all gotta start somewhere.
My dad was a relatively big nascar fan in the '90s, he'd watch most of the races. But I never got into it until we got NASCAR 2005 on the PS2. I was three at the time, and that game legitimately taught me my numbers and how to read (sponsors). I played that game for hours a day and eventually started watching the races with him. Been a fan ever since.
My dad is a race fan, so yeah, I grew up watching races with him
I’ll give the 2006 Pixar Cars movie for ultimately getting me into Nascar. And even tho it’s not an official nascar game, the 2006 PS2 Pixar Cars game featured about 5 of those oval-like speedway tracks and I played at those tracks like crazy. And even tho he’s fictional, Lightning McQueen was my “favorite driver” guy that I rooted for as a kid. Nowadays it’s Elliott, but I’ll never forget those endless hours of playing as Lightning McQueen at that Palm Mile Speedway track from 2006 to 2010ish. I even was able to get my older uncle to play that very game with me during then. Good times. Miss those days.
Yep, I got Nascar 04 for Christmas when I was like 5 and I was just hooked from there
I became a nascar fan in 2016/2017. Idk how but I remember this. So one day when I was about 5, ( I am 12 now) my mom and I went to target, and she let me buy something. So as I was walking through every section, I saw a target Kyle Larson first win car, and I bought it. The first race I ever saw was 2017 spring Michigan where Larson won, and after that I was hooked. My grandpa also worked at Lowe’s and at that time, they gave out race cars and I still have all the race cars that I got and now, 7 years later,I have about 1000 nascar diecasts. I will never forget that first trip to target that started it all
One of my grandfather’s was a fan when Richard Petty and Chrysler Corp owned the Winston Cup back in the 70’s but once Chrysler pulled out and Petty stopped winning he stopped watching. Then when Bobby Allison started driving with Miller as his sponsor my other grandfather, who worked for State Alcohol Distribution, started following him in the 80’s. My Dad grew up with that and his favorite driver became Rusty Wallace when he started driving the #2 in the 90’s when my Dad was in college. In the 90’s as well my Mom’s family started getting into NASCAR, my great-grandmother was an Intimidator fan and then a Jr fan for the rest of her life, my Mom was a Mark Martin fan, my grandmother and aunt were Tony Stewart fans, my Great-Aunt was a Labonte brothers fan, and my Uncle was a Jeff Gordon fan. There was no consensus on who was their favorite driver so when I started understanding what racing was, around 2004, my favorite became the rookie Kasey Kahne who I followed until he retired. Now it’s pretty much just me watching every week cheering for whoever I happen to like.
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Great video! Your passion was conveyed almost tangibly
This is such a fantastic story and we now know Eric just that much more from it. Love it buddy!
Tbh, it was Herbie fully loaded. Jeff Gordon finished second so I picked him as my favorite. I started watching in 2006. Been a fan ever since. I now root for Chase Elliott
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My dad never watched football or any other spots other than Nascar. He also drove on the local short tracks so I grew up around race cars. Always had an interest in racing, but what got me hooked was building models of nascar racecars ( which I still do). I remember seeing the days of Thunder kits and AMT kits at the local KMart and they just caught my attention. My first nascar race live was the 1992 Diehard 500 at Talladega where Davey Allison was injured and Bobby Hillin took over and nearly won. Couldn't believe how fast the cars were in real life. Tv never can give you that feel. I'm 43 now and still attending as many races as I can, just was at Nashville this weekend.
When I was little my family had a friend that raced a stock car at a local track in Atlantic city so every Sunday we would go to the track a watched them from the roof of our pickup camper.
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My father was a local racer, and him and mom had been to many races split between Kansas Speedway and Knoxville (we live between them). My first race was the ARCA race at Kansas in 2003, and generally we went every year to one of the two tracks. There was a stretch of 6ish races where we never got to finish watching a race because it would storm everytime. I played a lot of NASCAR Thunder 2003, and man did I have a lot of diecasts and I would race them either around a rug in the kitchen or around the edge of the pool. Road courses in the sandbox, making race tracks out of legos. I would commentate all of my diecast races and that is where I got my love for commentary and broadcasting.
I am a big fan of local guys, so my favorite driver hands down was Carl Edwards. The backflip was fun and as he lived 4 hours from me was super cool. Next would be Jamie Mac, and I was always a huge Ford fan as basically my favorite drivers were all together (Carl, Jamie, Kenseth, Biffle, and Martin).
I don't really have anyone I super root for every race. If I had to choose one specific driver, I'd go with AJ probably. He was one of my favorite when he was in cup when he first joined, and I still love the excitement. If I'm forced to choose a cup driver, Chase Briscoe probably. He won me over at Darlington. That and probably Reddick. But I like a lot of drivers. It is easier to list the drivers I don't like.
Started watching Nascar and other racing on TV first and liked it....but totally agree with the live race experience. My first Nascar race was June, 1995 at Michigan. Still remember it like a flash memory, it was such a powerful experience.