ROC and NASCAR driver participation

dpkimmel2001

dpkimmel2001

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First, I'm not sure if you're even familiar with ROC or its concept. Here's a link for those of you not familiar.....

http://www.raceofchampions.com/this-is-roc/

I really like watching this each year. This year they are going to be holding the event in the US for the first time ever. It will be hosted @ Miami on January 21-22, 2017.

I really wish more NASCAR drivers would take part in this. One NASCAR driver that is..... Kurt Busch.

I'd love to see NASCAR steal this idea and run three or four of these a year with only NASCAR drivers from all the major series behind the wheel.

If you get a chance tune in during the off season. You might hate it or you might like it. In any event, it'll be another weekend to waste leading up to the 2017 Cup season.
 
In 2002 Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Colin Edwards won the Nation's Cup portion of the ROC competition for the USA. They also have a Champion's Champion for the individual driver who bests the field.
 
http://www.raceofchampions.com/miami/event-schedule/

They're seriously holding this at the Marlin's baseball stadium? Did someone forget there's a perfectly good race track just a few miles away? That road course at Homestead look a notch up from what most other race tracks carve out of the infield.

And who set the ticket prices? The expensive seats are the ones at the bottom, and the cheap ones are the highest. Did somebody not understand the difference between watching a ball game and watching a race? Knowledgeable fans should be able to get what appear to be good seats cheap.

http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/Tic...-Tickets-Tickets_Info_Race_Of_Champions-na-x0
 
Charlie Spencer said:
http://www.raceofchampions.com/miami/event-schedule/

They're seriously holding this at the Marlin's baseball stadium? Did someone forget there's a perfectly good race track just a few miles away? That road course at Homestead look a notch up from what most other race tracks carve out of the infield.

And who set the ticket prices? The expensive seats are the ones at the bottom, and the cheap ones are the highest. Did somebody not understand the difference between watching a ball game and watching a race? Knowledgeable fans should be able to get what appear to be good seats cheap.

http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/Tic...-Tickets-Tickets_Info_Race_Of_Champions-na-x0
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I hear ya on the seats but their type of head to head racing doesn't work on a traditional track. Have you ever watched it?
 
Charlie Spencer said:
http://www.raceofchampions.com/miami/event-schedule/

They're seriously holding this at the Marlin's baseball stadium? Did someone forget there's a perfectly good race track just a few miles away? That road course at Homestead look a notch up from what most other race tracks carve out of the infield.

And who set the ticket prices? The expensive seats are the ones at the bottom, and the cheap ones are the highest. Did somebody not understand the difference between watching a ball game and watching a race? Knowledgeable fans should be able to get what appear to be good seats cheap.

http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/Tic...-Tickets-Tickets_Info_Race_Of_Champions-na-x0
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They are always held in arenas/stadiums
 
No, I haven't watched it. I'm not sure if I'd heard of it before today, or that I didn't confuse it with some other event I may have heard of.

Likely I'm making incorrect assumptions about it based solely on the list of who's going to participate, the series some of them usually run in, and an assumed commonality with the old IROC series based strictly on the name.

I'll back off and do some research.
 
aunty dive said:
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Okay, based on that video alone, I don't get the appeal.
  • I can't get excited over races that last four laps. And what's the turn-around time between each race? Is this one of those events where you spend more time waiting between races than watching them?
  • I can't tell the cars apart or tell who's driving which one. I'm sure that's easy to do in attendance when you can see both at the same time, but not with the TV coverage jumping back and forth. Even it the races were longer, this would keep me from watching. (I have the same problem with F1 coverage - I can't easily tell who's driving each car, and I damned if I'm going to memorize driver and paint scheme combinations.)
  • What's up with the cars running two different circuits? It looks like one has a bridge and one doesn't.
  • I can't tell how far along on each circuit each car is. As with much NASCAR coverage, the cameras are zoomed in too close. Pull back so I can see both cars at once; the entire course will easily fit in one shot.
Enlighten me.
 
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Charlie Spencer said:
Okay, based on that video alone, I don't get the appeal.
  • I can't get excited over races that last four laps. And what's the turn-around time between each race? Is this one of those events where you spend more time waiting between races than watching them?
  • I can't tell the cars apart or tell who's driving which one. I'm sure that's easy to do in attendance when you can see both at the same time, but not with the TV coverage jumping back and forth. Even it the races were longer, this would keep me from watching. (I have the same problem with F1 coverage - I can't easily tell who's driving each car, and I damned if I'm going to memorize driver and paint scheme combinations.)
  • What's up with the cars running two different circuits? It looks like one has a bridge and one doesn't.
  • I can't tell how far along on each circuit each car is. As with much NASCAR coverage, the cameras are zoomed in too close. Pull back so I can see both cars at once; the entire course will easily fit in one shot.
Enlighten me.
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It's head to head elimination style type racing. Cars/trucks/whatever of equal setups/power & the like. Basically, it all comes down to driver skill.

The turnaround time between races is minimal. Very minimal. Little time in between races.

I didn't watch the video that you saw but I can't say that I've ever had time telling the cars apart. So, I can't relate to that comment.

The cars are running on two different lanes but it's actually one continuous circuit. It's always an even number of laps. The bridge is the crossover that keep them from wrecking into each other. Because it's an even number of laps the track length for each driver is the same.

The crossover gives you an easy view of the difference between runs as well as the clock that displays the difference between the drivers runs.

Like I said in the first post..... You might hate it or you might like it but basing your like or dislike of it is a little premature if your only experience is a YouTube video.

Personally, I like the head to head competition in ROC. I would never want to see it be NASCAR's format but I sure would love to see the entire field of NASCAR drivers compete in this series. It would be awesome to see who the best driver is overall. JMO
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
... I didn't watch the video that you saw but I can't say that I've ever had time telling the cars apart. So, I can't relate to that comment.

The cars are running on two different lanes but it's actually one continuous circuit. It's always an even number of laps. The bridge is the crossover that keep them from wrecking into each other. Because it's an even number of laps the track length for each driver is the same.

Like I said in the first post..... You might hate it or you might like it but basing your like or dislike of it is a little premature if your only experience is a YouTube video.

Personally, I like the head to head competition in ROC.
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I couldn't tell the cars apart, at least in that video. Both appeared to be identical black.

So it's as if they were starting on opposite side of an oval? Far enough apart that they can't get together, given how short the races are? What I though were four laps were actually two?

I agree about basing an opinion solely on a video. I did find it a good basis for several questions, though. :D

I like the head-to-head concept too. But I wish they were racing longer, at least 5 minutes. I don't think I'll hate it; few sports are worth that much effort. But it does remind me a whole lot of monster truck racing.

Thanks!
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I couldn't tell the cars apart, at least in that video. Both appeared to be identical black.

So it's as if they were starting on opposite side of an oval? Far enough apart that they can't get together, given how short the races are? What I though were four laps were actually two?

I agree about basing an opinion solely on a video. I did find it a good basis for several questions, though. :D

I like the head-to-head concept too. But I wish they were racing longer, at least 5 minutes. I don't think I'll hate it; few sports are worth that much effort. But it does remind me a whole lot of monster truck racing.

Thanks!
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Again, I didn't see the video that you're talking about but IIRC they also have a flag representing the driver that also allows you to tell the difference. I really think that if you tune in this January, telling one drivers car from another will be a non-issue for you.

They start side by side. One on the inside lane and one on the outside lane. If you follow one of the lanes the you mouse for two laps, you'll see that they are actually both in the same lane. Again, it would make perfect sense if you were to watch things play out.

I honestly don't remember more than two laps. In any event, it would have to be an even number of laps because of the crossover. As long as they are running an even number, they will be traveling the same distance.

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I miss the original IROC series (before they were only ovals). But the ROC series is interesting because it is head to head and drivers from all race series compete each other. The Nation's Cup title consists of three drivers from a country competing. The Champion's Champion title is the best individual of all the drivers.
 
It looks like the US team is Kurt Busch, Alaxander Rossi, and Scott Speed (the web sight is a bit awkward on listing the team members). Teams usually consist of drivers from different types of series. It looks like several Indycar drivers will represent their countries. It is something to look forward to and since it is in the US it should be on at a reasonable time.
 
I believe one year I watched it online, so possibly they will at least stream it.
 
Zerkfitting said:
I don't know, their web site doesn't mention television coverage but CBS Sports is listed as an Event Partner.
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*WEAVER* said:
I believe one year I watched it online, so possibly they will at least stream it.
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Motor Trend On Demand is too, so I figure it'll be streamed and then rebroadcast on CBSSN. I watched the Barbados event online a couple of years ago.
 
Motorsport.com is the world’s foremost motorsport platform operating in multiple languages and editions and will support the Race Of Champions with enhanced editorial coverage of the event throughout the weekend. Coverage will include live interviews, event footage, live stream action and award-winning reporting from its stable of reporters headlined by Motorsport.com Editor-in-Chief, Charles Bradley.
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http://www.motorsport.com/general/n...al-partnership-with-race-of-champions-860726/
 
The top two drivers in each group progress to the quarterfinals. Then it's a knockout tournament all the way to the Grand Final, when this year's Champion of Champions will be crowned.

Race Of Champions Draw (Saturday)
Group A
Sebastian Vettel (Germany)
Travis Pastrana (USA)
Helio Castroneves (Brazil)
Either Scott Speed (USA) or Alexander Rossi (USA), to be decided by playoff

Group B
Juan-Pablo Montoya (Colombia)
Petter Solberg (Norway)
Felipe Massa (Brazil)
Pascal Wehrlein (Germany)

Group C
Jenson Button (Great Britain)
Kyle Busch (USA)
Tony Kanaan (Brazil)
James Hinchcliffe (Canada)

Group D
Tom Kristensen (Denmark)
Kurt Busch (USA)
David Coulthard (Great Britain)
Ryan Hunter-Reay (USA)

Sunday's ROC Nations Cup will feature 10 teams split over three groups. There are three home teams in action, all in the same Group A: Team USA NASCAR (Kyle and Kurt Busch), Team USA IndyCar (Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay) and Team USA Rally X (Travis Pastrana and Scott Speed) will all have to battle Team ROC Factor Canada (James Hinchcliffe and Stefan Rzadzinski).

Three European teams meet up in Group B: Team Germany (Sebastian Vettel and Pascal Wehrlein), Team Great Britain (Jenson Button and David Coulthard) and Team Nordic (Tom Kristensen and Petter Solberg).

Finally, Group C is an all-South American affair: Team Brazil (Felipe Massa and Tony Kanaan), Team Colombia (Juan-Pablo Montoya and Gabby Chaves) and Team ROC Factor Latin America (Helio Castroneves and Gabriel Glusman).

The top two teams from Group A will meet in the semifinals, guaranteeing a North American presence in the final. The winners of Groups B and C will meet in the other semifinal. The knockout rounds are best-of-three: if scores are tied at 1-1 after the first two heats, the third decisive heat is always contested by the two winning drivers.

ROC Nations Cup Draw (Sunday)

Group A
Team USA NASCAR (Kurt Busch & Kyle Busch)
Team USA IndyCar (Ryan Hunter-Reay & Alexander Rossi)
Team USA Rally X (Travis Pastrana & Scott Speed)
Team ROC Factor Canada (James Hinchcliffe & Stefan Rzadzinski)

Group B
Team Great Britain (Jenson Button & David Coulthard)
Team Germany (Sebastian Vettel & Pascal Wehrlein)
Team Nordic (Tom Kristensen & Petter Solberg)

Group C
Team ROC Factor Latin America (Helio Castroneves & Gabriel Glusman)
Team Brazil (Tony Kanaan & Felipe Massa)
Team Colombia (Juan Pablo Montoya & Gabby Chaves)

Sunday's action will conclude with a new, Ryder Cup-style points-based event that will make its debut at ROC Miami: America versus The World.
The six U.S. drivers will take on the drivers from the rest of the world in an extreme driving challenge, with individual line-ups decided in advance by the team captains. Competing across a maximum of three rounds and 10 races, the winning team will be the first to amass eight points.

Round A features six races, each of which is worth one point to the winning driver's team. Round B has just three races but with two points for a victory. If needed Round C will feature a final, single race showdown to decide the inaugural champions.
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http://www.racer.com/international-racing/item/137735-roc-head-to-head-matchups-set-after-draw
 
Okay, no bridge? Is the idea that the car on the shorter loop will get back to the cross-over area before the other car completes the longer loop? And is that barrier at the S/F line there to stay?

I like the asymmetrical layout. When traveling down the center, will the cars be headed toward home plate or the outfield?
 
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Charlie Spencer said:
Okay, no bridge? Is the idea that the car on the shorter loop will get back to the cross-over area before the other car completes the longer loop? And is that barrier at the S/F line there to stay?

I like the asymmetrical layout. When traveling down the center, will the cars be headed toward home plate or the outfield?
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On this weekend’s new track layout the drivers will each tackle different halves of the circuit simultaneously until they have covered the same distance. When the lights go out, the driver starting on the left will speed off down the left-hand loop A, while the driver on the right heads onto the shorter right-hand loop B. When they arrive back at the shared start-finish straight they swap sides and each driver races around the opposite loop (see diagram below).

Because Loop B is shorter and quicker, the driver who starts on that side will arrive back at the straight a few seconds before their rival. But in each heat both racers will have to race along both loops, effectively completing an identical lap before arriving back at the start-finish line to see who comes out on top. Expect the dash to the line to be mighty close: the Race Of Champions is well-known for the tightest of finishes, with the world’s best drivers often separated only by a fraction of a second.
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http://www.raceofchampions.com/news...-new-track-ahead-of-this-weekend-s-roc-miami/
 
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