jaqua19
Team Owner
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2015
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My fellow NASCAR fans. I just wanted to share some reflections with you guys. one of the great things about being such a die-hard sports fan, is that we personally get invested. I think we can all say that about NASCAR. There are certain time spans that represent various parts of our lives. With this bias being acknowledged, I just wanted to share some nostalgic feelings I have been having about NASCAR and the 2000-2010 decade.
I believe I am much younger than most of you guys here, I just had my 27th birthday two weeks ago, and living in Massachusetts, I definitely represents a smaller sample of fans.
I grew up a Nascar fan. I don't know why I fell in love with it, but evidently at age 3 I went absolutely mental seeing Ricky Rudds orange tide car circle the track. From that day on, I was hooked. My uncle owns season tickets to the brickyard 400, and has been attending since Dale won. I didn't understand the prestige of certain events in my adolescence, but I can remember the joy I felt when I was told that Ricky Rudd won the brickyard 400.
I grew up and went to high school, and my fandom as a Nascar fan was continuously casual, and I did not necessarily have anything invested in it. It wasn't until 2003 when I went to the brickyard 400 with my uncle and saw Kevin Harvick win. From that day on, I was a die-hard fan. I was a Ricky Rudd fan, then a Carl Edwards fan, then the Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney fan.
Now, I know I am being biased, but I genuinely feel that 2000-2010 was the best decade Nascar has ever had. Yes, Dale Earnhardt jr., Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick Matt Kenseth etc where the stars that I grew up with as I became super interested in the sport. That was also a more naive time in my life, where I simply lacked the maturity and insight 1 tires during adulthood. I suppose I can say that as I finished college and pursued my Master's degree, and started working towards my career, my insight towards the world changed, as did the nature of NASCAR. And to be honest, it's depressing, and it hurts a little bit in the childhood.
And I think this is why I appreciate Jimmie Johnson so much. I could not stand seeing Johnson win five in a row. I hated it. But at the same time I loved watching all those stars from the 2000s race each other. I just didn't know any better, and now that I'm older oh, and now that Johnson is declined, I suppose I'm a fan of his now because he represents the more innocent fandom I had towards NASCAR during that decade. and personal thoughts aside, I felt the racing was better, I felt the talent was higher, and I genuinely look forward to the races every single week.
And I suppose my rants about Johnson's career are essentially me just trying to cope with the fact that the sport I idolize so much growing up does not feel like it did 10 years ago. Some of this is me, and I feel some of this is fairly objective.
I don't remember much from the pre Chase days. But I genuinely missed the 10-race shootout. It essentially is all I knew as a Nascar fan. I miss the 2000s to 2010 decade, I miss wanting to see Ricky Rudd win a race, I miss wanting to see Carl Edwards when a championship, and I miss rolling my eyes at Jimmie Johnson success. I guess I just miss NASCAR as it was and what it meant to me 10 years ago.
this isn't intended to stimulate any kind of discussion, kind of just sharing my thoughts with people who I can hope will empathize with this. There are not a lot of race fans around here and there is no one else here
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I believe I am much younger than most of you guys here, I just had my 27th birthday two weeks ago, and living in Massachusetts, I definitely represents a smaller sample of fans.
I grew up a Nascar fan. I don't know why I fell in love with it, but evidently at age 3 I went absolutely mental seeing Ricky Rudds orange tide car circle the track. From that day on, I was hooked. My uncle owns season tickets to the brickyard 400, and has been attending since Dale won. I didn't understand the prestige of certain events in my adolescence, but I can remember the joy I felt when I was told that Ricky Rudd won the brickyard 400.
I grew up and went to high school, and my fandom as a Nascar fan was continuously casual, and I did not necessarily have anything invested in it. It wasn't until 2003 when I went to the brickyard 400 with my uncle and saw Kevin Harvick win. From that day on, I was a die-hard fan. I was a Ricky Rudd fan, then a Carl Edwards fan, then the Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney fan.
Now, I know I am being biased, but I genuinely feel that 2000-2010 was the best decade Nascar has ever had. Yes, Dale Earnhardt jr., Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick Matt Kenseth etc where the stars that I grew up with as I became super interested in the sport. That was also a more naive time in my life, where I simply lacked the maturity and insight 1 tires during adulthood. I suppose I can say that as I finished college and pursued my Master's degree, and started working towards my career, my insight towards the world changed, as did the nature of NASCAR. And to be honest, it's depressing, and it hurts a little bit in the childhood.
And I think this is why I appreciate Jimmie Johnson so much. I could not stand seeing Johnson win five in a row. I hated it. But at the same time I loved watching all those stars from the 2000s race each other. I just didn't know any better, and now that I'm older oh, and now that Johnson is declined, I suppose I'm a fan of his now because he represents the more innocent fandom I had towards NASCAR during that decade. and personal thoughts aside, I felt the racing was better, I felt the talent was higher, and I genuinely look forward to the races every single week.
And I suppose my rants about Johnson's career are essentially me just trying to cope with the fact that the sport I idolize so much growing up does not feel like it did 10 years ago. Some of this is me, and I feel some of this is fairly objective.
I don't remember much from the pre Chase days. But I genuinely missed the 10-race shootout. It essentially is all I knew as a Nascar fan. I miss the 2000s to 2010 decade, I miss wanting to see Ricky Rudd win a race, I miss wanting to see Carl Edwards when a championship, and I miss rolling my eyes at Jimmie Johnson success. I guess I just miss NASCAR as it was and what it meant to me 10 years ago.
this isn't intended to stimulate any kind of discussion, kind of just sharing my thoughts with people who I can hope will empathize with this. There are not a lot of race fans around here and there is no one else here
Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk