When did you become a fan? [Archive]

fourrunner

11-01-04, 06:52 PM

Started with Formula 1 on Wide World of Sporta in the mid 1970's

Of course the Real Indy 500 since it was available on TV (delayed) attended 1 Indy 500.... 1969 ( Freshman in College ... in a Volkswagon Van with 6 other Hippie Types ) I Had a great time from what they tell me ! ;)

Attended Nazareth & Langehorne Speedway events ( Dirt Track with my Dad starting when I was 13)

First Champ Car Race 1980 at Pocono Raceway but followed there start in 1979 through National Speedsport News which I subscribed to till 1995 and they sided with Tony ( I was a regular letter writer, long before the internet)

Attended from 1 to 2 races every year since including all CART Races at Nazareth from the beginning

Races attended in 2004 Toronto & Laguna Seca

2005 most likely Toronto and ???? but certainly 2 Races

Champ Car is my favorite series ... Then Formula 1 ... not much after that ... If Champ Car should go away ... I'll Retire !

Sorry Sean ... it was more information than you aked for ... but I tend to over explain things! :)

ncmlj

11-01-04, 07:02 PM

1st race I remember watching was 69 Indy 500 I guess I was hooked on them ever since. To say I was a fan then like today would be BS! Back then you got to watch 2 races on TV and they were both 500's. Today is a whole new world on keeping track of your favorite sport, sometimes I wish it was back to the 60's so I wouldn't spend so much time on this damn computer. :) Anyway why do you start your poll at 79?

Sean O'Gorman

11-01-04, 07:08 PM

Sorry Sean ... it was more information than you aked for ... but I tend to over explain things! :)

Nah, the more info, the better. I love reading this kinda stuff. :thumbup:

Anyway why do you start your poll at 79?

Because I was talking specifically about CART/Champ Car.

RacinM3

11-01-04, 07:14 PM

79-80 - that was the year (1979) my pops took me for the first time to the California 500. Rick Mears lost, but I thought he was THE MAN. I was right.

RTKar

11-01-04, 07:33 PM

First Indy car race attended 1963 (Milwaukee)
First Indy car race I have any recollection of, 1965 (Milwaukee)
I was at Milwaukee in 1979 however the race wasn't sanctioned by CART, by 1980, which I also attended, it was.

....so I guess the answer is 79-80.

Cam

11-01-04, 07:41 PM

Started with Formula 1 on Wide World of Sporta in the mid 1970's

:eek: Can't vote! Started for me in the early early 70's with the battle of the mountain, Bathurst. :cool:

Open wheel racing followed from there..... F1 and so on...

/me can't wait for 'birds answer! ;)

RTKar

11-01-04, 07:43 PM

:eek: Can't vote! Started for me in the early early 70's with the battle of the mountain, Bathurst. :cool:

/me can't wait for 'birds answer! ;)

Chariots at the Coliseum.... J Stand ;)

TKGAngel

11-01-04, 08:01 PM

The mom unit loved watching Danny Sullivan, so of course, I ended up watching the races with her. I was 10 or so. I'm 23 now, and still like watching the races.

First race I ever went to was the 2000 Cleveland race. Gone back every year since. :)

Railbird

11-01-04, 08:03 PM

I'm old

My first Champcar races didn't involve rear engine cars.

Lets just leave it at that.

First CART races came my way as Michigan and then Milwaukee changed over.

RTKar

11-01-04, 08:05 PM

I'm old

My first Champcar races didn't involve rear engine cars.

Lets just leave it at that.

First CART races came my way as Michigan and then Milwaukee changed over.

:eek: :eek: :eek: ...Me too, there a few roadsters still running at my first races.

Ziggy

11-01-04, 08:12 PM

1968, went to qualifications for Indianapolis 500

Would like to become a fan someday so I could hang out at TrackForum :gomer:

Robstar

11-01-04, 08:13 PM

:eek: Can't vote! Started for me in the early early 70's with the battle of the mountain, Bathurst. :cool:

Open wheel racing followed from there..... F1 and so on...

Same here Cam... except for the early 70's part... :D

Cam

11-01-04, 08:15 PM

Same here Cam... except for the early 70's part... :D

Missing the classic Brock/Moffat battles is a crime! ;)

Robstar

11-01-04, 08:17 PM

Missing the classic Brock/Moffat battles is a crime! ;)

I did see quite a few Brock/Moffat & Brock/Johnson battles but alas - wasn't born for the early ones... :)

RHR_Fan

11-01-04, 08:30 PM

Became one in '96. First race was RA '96. Was a big Al Jr. fan then. I've disliked Michael Andretti ever since RA '96.

~Nicole

Ferdman

11-01-04, 08:56 PM

I liked F1 first, but went to my first race at Long Beach '85. I was cheering for Danny Sullivan because he was a former F1 driver. Was hooked after that first race. Of course the spin and win a few weeks later solidified my love of the sport.

Steve99

11-01-04, 08:59 PM

I've been watching the Indy 500 for as long as I can remember (mid to late '70's), and also watched other CART races when I could catch them. I became a bigger fan in the early 90's and have watced all the races since. I choose '91-'92 for my answer.

dando

11-01-04, 09:24 PM

I can remember watching Indy around the time of the Salt Walter crash. I was even a #14 fan for years. :( I was an avid Indy follower through the 80s and 90s, and watched most of the other races, but not as closely as the month of May. I became a devoted Champ Car fan @ the US 500 in '96.

Oh, and FTG! Thx for fixing what wasn't broken. :mad:

-Kevin

meadors

11-01-04, 09:26 PM

1983 CART fan,

but.............

1971

Got interested in the Indy 500 cause my Dad knew Art Pollard. Indy racing had a pretty good following at the time. Andretti was a HUGE name. The Unser brothers were household names along with some pretty talented guys named Gurney and Foyt.

Anyway soon after lost interest in rouny round stuff, (never really took to the passenger cars going in circles) From about 1973 through 1979 really folllowed Formula One and kind of sorta paid attention to Champcars. Finished college in 1982 and picked up with f-1 and found out about CART. By 1987 I was hooked on CART and f-1, by 1992 really forgot all about f-1.

Methanolandbrats

11-01-04, 10:29 PM

I was busted and sent to the principal's office in 1960 for smuggling a transistor radio into school so I could listen to Indy Practice.

Ed_Severson

11-01-04, 10:42 PM

The first memory I have of any sporting event was sitting on my mom's shoulders in Turn 1 at Indy and seeing Tom Sneva win in 1983. I was 5 at the time, was a big A.J. Foyt fan (from what I'm told), and I just remember being amazed by literally everything -- the sight, the colors, the sound, the smell, the sheer size of the place itself and the crowd that filled it, the weight of the excitement that hung in the air in those days, the Purdue band (go Boilers!), the balloons, and of course, the speed.

It wasn't until 1988 when Danny Sullivan won the championship with 4 wins (Portland, Michigan, Nazareth, and Laguna, if memory serves) that I figured out there was a whole series and not just one race. At that point I started following the series whenever possible, although I wouldn't say I was really a die-hard fan until the events of 1996. That pretty much cemented it for me, especially after having witnessed a great 1995 Indianapolis 500 in person.

Now I'm such a die-hard that I'm trying to get into Champ Car after so many others tripped over each other getting out.

My mother did always tell me I was hard-headed! :)

Jervis Tetch 1

11-01-04, 10:43 PM

I was a fan when it was still USAC....I'm 42, not yet middle aged, but feelin' young thanks to my 29-year-old girlfriend...who became a fan five years ago thanks to me.

Sean O'Gorman

11-01-04, 10:59 PM

My dad's first race was the '84 or '85 Cleveland GP. I'm not sure which, but there are pics sitting around in a long lost photo album that I could probably use to identify. However, I don't think he became a race fan until he saw GTP at Mid-Ohio in '86. My first races weren't until '88 (I was 5), but I don't remember any until '89. I still remember being in the stands at the IMSA race that year and in Thunder Valley for the CART race, and then walking the track with my parents, one of my younger brothers, my aunt (RIP) and uncle, and my cousin after the race. I think its the only time that my dad has ever gotten my mom to a race, she just sat under a tree and read the whole day. My first Cleveland GP wasn't until 1992, and I went to MIS once ('96) and Road America once ('02). Went to Indy for pole day in '90, '94, and '00, but only 1994 stands out as actually being memorable.

These days I'm still into pretty much EVERYTHING except the IRL, but my dad doesn't care for open wheel anymore. He'll watch NASCAR, World Challenge, and Grand-Am on TV, and will go to ALMS races, but that is about it. My uncle still goes to the GP every year but that is the extent of his Champ Car following. He hated the IRL for the longest time but has warmed up to it now, and goes to MIS for the race now. :saywhat: At least he doesn't bother to watch it on TV. Him and my aunt kinda lost their interest in the sport when Rick Mears retired. My cousin will go to races if I prod him long enough but doesn't watch on TV, and my middle brother doesn't really watch racing anymore, but autocrosses on occasion. And my mom, my youngest brother, and my sister have never been race fans, so at least that has stayed constant. ;)

Clown

11-01-04, 11:07 PM

The weird thing is, none of my family or friends could give a damn about racing, but I've been obsessed wth it since I was a kid. I can still remember watching the GTR's at Bathurst on TV when I was 7 years old.
As for Champ Car, I was probably a fan from when they started coming to Surfers, hence TV paying attention.

Amanda B.'s Mom

11-01-04, 11:22 PM

I put 83-84, but it could have easily been sooner. That was the year that I became a serious fan. WAtched the race before that.

tllips

11-01-04, 11:37 PM

I started watching Indy in the early 80's, but did not realize there was more to the series than the one race until my father-in-law invited me to Milwaukee in '92 or '93. I've been hooked ever since.

Rogue Leader

11-02-04, 12:16 AM

I think the reason I was a Danny Sullivan fan is because I saw him "spin and win" in the 500. I was only 4 years old at the time, but according to my parents I was very likely watching the race, and I can come up with no other explanation as to why I became a Danny Sullivan fan.

Dave99

11-02-04, 12:20 AM

I guess I became a fan of "Indy Cars" after going to Ontario Motor Speedway in 1971. Of course growing up watching and playing stick and ball sports, that excitement lasted only a few days until 1985 when you couldn't help but hear about Danny Sullivan's "spin & win". Despite the Long Beach GP every year, I never went until 1994 and I haven't seriously followed the Lakers, Dodgers, Rams or Raiders since. So...somewhere between 71 and 94. Hope that helps! :D

I don't know how or why it is, but in the early 70's I knew of Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti more than Rutherford, Foyt and Unser. Weird, considering the non-racing family I grew up in out here in SoCal and without the benefit of any racing news mag subs.

Hey Jaime, tell everyone your Mario story during his F1 days at LB. :)

CART T. Katz

11-02-04, 12:43 AM

1994.

saw my first indy 500 that year and first champcar race (which wasn't milwaukee, but detroit because our local abc affiliate aired a local telethon that weekend (but still aired horse racing of all things :flame: )).

i got hooked on to the real indycars when one of my fourth grade teachers gave the entire class a copy of indycar magazine (it was the one that had a picture of emmo on the front cover). i wanted to follow the series that was in the magazine because of the cool looking cars. still have the magazine too.

Fio1

11-02-04, 03:34 AM

1983: Teo Fabi pole at Indy. I watched the 82 500, & went to Riverside in 82, but became a fan in 83. Then thanks to Long Beach in 84 & ESPN I started watching every race......I think 84-85-86 was a great era. Danny Sullivan, Little Al, Mario, Michael, Big Al, Paul JR, Fabi, Mears, Rahal, Emmo, Cogan, Guerrero, Arie, Boesel, and the REAL Jacques Villeneuve. Classic! :cool: :thumbup:

cart7

11-02-04, 08:52 AM

I'd say it was in the 60's. After going to a dirt track race at the Springfield mile with Dad, I discovered the 60's era F1 rear engine cars being run at Indy and, of course, F1 tracks in Europe. The beauty of the BRM's, Coopers, Eagles, Maserati's, etc. is still my favorite period in racing and the drivers of the era, Gurney, Clark, Hill, Stewart, Andretti, Foyt and others bring back days when racing was so much simpler and pure.

jonovision_man

11-02-04, 08:54 AM

I'm a jono-come-lately compared to you guys... I became a fan with Jacques' entrance.

I'm noticing a trend, though, and it's clearly something CCWS must be worried about...

2001-2002 0
2003-2004 0

(so far)

If there are new fans in those years, I guess they haven't fallen hard enough for it to show up on the message boards? :)

jono

pchall

11-02-04, 09:06 AM

Chariots at the Coliseum.... J Stand ;)

LOL!

That beats my 1965 at IRP!

JLMannin

11-02-04, 12:05 PM

I watched every Indy 500 from ~1970 (I was 3) to 1996, and I have Indy 500's on tape from 1990 to 1996. I discovered that "Indy cars" had other races outside of Marion County in 1980. I watched ovals only until about 1989, but did not care much for temp street and road course races. I wacthed the Portland race live on TV circa 91 or 92 and was hooked on CART big time. (I chose 1992-1992)

If TG had formed the IRL in 1990 or earlier, I would be a super-lemming right now.

Dirty Sanchez

11-02-04, 12:16 PM

A few different answers here I guess... but in the end I went with 1999. That was the first year I went to a CART race.

I was always interested in it and I can remember watching every Indianapolis 500, F1 and CART when it was on... but I was nowhere as into it as I was after seeing a race in person. That's what really started it all for me.

Yeah I'm a n00b, but I might be the most experienced n00b on the planet... :cool:

Dvdb

11-02-04, 12:34 PM

Aunt and Uncle live outside Indianapolis and for years would say come on up for the race. Would always say why would I want to watch cars go in circles?

Flash forward to '85. Decided there are certain things you have to do in life. So, with a massive hangover, a beer in one hand and a chicken wing in the other, I am standing outside turn 4 at pit in. Cars do the parade lap and I think, ok, that's interesting. Another lap, hey, kinda cool. Pace car peels off, 33 cars zip by, WOW.

Up to speed, cars darting for position, and I turn to my Aunt and yell, F^&K, and there guys in there doing this!!

Hooked ever since, but stopped Indy after watching Zampedri catch the fence in a dash for the finish (1990??) and the whole IRL fiasco.

Forza Lancia

11-02-04, 12:35 PM

I became a CART fan after attending the (inaugural) 1982 Cleveland 500k. But I was a Formula One fan since 1972, after watching Jean-Pierre Beltoise win in the rain at Monaco (on ABC Wide World of Sports). And my father took me to Mid-Ohio the year before that to see the Formula 5000 race (I guess they called it Formula Continental back then, as I recall).

Wingnut

11-02-04, 02:39 PM

Um, I started going to the Toronto Molson Indy in the late 80's, early 90's (found my ticket stubs a few weeks ago. Sweet!) but wasn't really "into" it. After my DH had a major industrial accident, we started watching more TV and he would watch the races. One day I decided to watch with him. It was a race in California, on October 31...my first race was Greg Moore's last. :(

KaBoom21

11-02-04, 02:57 PM

Went to a CART race at MIS in '93 and I was hooked. The speed, the pit/paddock action, made it a ball to follow.

I guess I became somewhat unhooked the last couple of years. Different priorities and no time for all the BS.

sadams

11-02-04, 03:12 PM

Used to go to midgets and drag racing with my dad back in the 60's. Followed NASCAR and CAN AM then IMSA and the five hunnerit. So when CART split off it was a natural to follow them as well.

oddlycalm

11-02-04, 04:00 PM

I became a champ car fan during the roadster era when the 500 was on the radio and Ike was in the White House. Like most families I knew, we gathered around the big console radio in the living room to listen to the race. The first year I attended Indy was 1963, but by the mid-70's the USAC Trail was overshadowed by F1 and sports car racing for me. I eagerly anticipated the breath of fresh air that was CART, and was a solid fan from day 1.

oc

Tim

11-02-04, 04:20 PM

Became one in '96. First race was RA '96. Was a big Al Jr. fan then. I've disliked Michael Andretti ever since RA '96.

~Nicole

Ditto for me except i was a Rahal fan because my Dad drank Miller. I watched races but never followed until 95-96.

mueber

11-02-04, 05:24 PM

Local short-track driver, John Klotz, is a family friend. Watched him at area short-track races in the mid 60s, and then he progressed to USAC stock cars. Watched him qualify on the outside pole at Milwaukee in a privately entered car. Foyt and Parnelli Jones were in row two. Big deal for me, I was about nine years old.

Earliest champ car memory is Andretti wrecking in the Lotus at Indy, as I recall it nothing was left of the car and Mario was left standing in the middle of the track, then he won in the Hawk. Some years later met Denis Daviss, chief mechanic for McLaren the year that Rutherford won his first Indy 500. My aunt is his stepmother. Followed him to Indy, Pocono, Michigan, etc. That really cemented my love of Champ Car.

RTKar

11-02-04, 07:32 PM

...I wish I had all my old ticket stubs. One thing I do have, are some old 8mm or 16mm home movies of a race or two at Milwaukee in the 60's when our family used to go every year. I definitely need to get them transferred to disc.

nissan gtp

11-02-04, 08:34 PM

84... more of an F1 fan then, then Champcars and IMSA.

ah, the good old days... 88,89,90 :thumbup:

Ozarkian

11-03-04, 12:28 AM

Was a casual fan since seeing my first roadster on display at the local track (Ozark Fairgrounds in Springfield, Mo.) in the early '60s. Then we got Tower Terrace tickets to the '80 500 right above Rutherford's pit. I was hooked, and didn't miss a 500 until '96. Got interested in and watched/attended other CART races from the mid-'80s on as time allowed. Reflecting back now, I wish more time had allowed ...

Andrew Longman

11-03-04, 12:08 PM

1967. Watched Indy on ABC Wide World of Sports (or the like) and was hooked. Mario and Donahue were my heros as a kid and I followed anything they drove. They got me into F1, CanAm, TransAm, F5000, LeMans and NASCAR. But I wasn't too picky about driver and still am not. The exception being that I immediately developed a dislike for Foyt and any Unser. Its hard to explain, I don't remember how it started.

I also got into NHRA. Sox and Martin, McEwen and Gartlis were my guys

But champcars were always the top of the pile for me. F1 was too far a way and except for Monaco, it wasn't on TV. Besides, Champcars are faster (top end) Going to my first Champcar race live at Pocono in the early 70s just blew me away.

indyfan31

11-03-04, 02:02 PM

Like several others here it was the '79 California 500, I had never seen anything so fast in my entire life ... and that sound! Before then, I only watched Indy and Monacco, after that I watched every Indycar race I could get my hands on. It wasn't until I got ESPN that I discovered F1.

oddlycalm

11-03-04, 02:03 PM

Sean O'Gorman

11-03-04, 03:15 PM

Ziggy

11-03-04, 04:31 PM

Mr Longman

A glossy 8 X 10 of Sox and Martin is on the desk from which I type this reply, along with official "Hot Wheels Club" membership dated March 3rd, 1970.

A 70 'Cuda sits in the garage....

Motown Missle was also a favorite.....

Ziggy

Don Quixote

11-03-04, 05:09 PM

Good thread but I wonder how many people will post on similar threads in the future and write that it was the 2003 or 2004 season that hooked them, and talk about Bourdais or Tracy the way we talk about the top drivers in the era when we became hooked.
oc
I can only speak for myself, but I have three teenage boys who will look back on these as the glory years. I have been dragging them to one or two races a year since they were in strollers, and they are hooked for life true blue champ car fans. :thumbup:

stymie

11-03-04, 05:33 PM

Was a fan of the 500 for as long as I can remember, going back to my first in '69; however I did not follow the IndyCars until Johnny Rutherford's Vermont American chief mechanic moved in across the street and attened a race at Mid Ohio in '87. Was then and still now mostly into Midget, Sprint and Silver Crown; I did watch the races when I could but did not follow them race to race until then.

Andrew Longman

11-03-04, 05:47 PM

Ziggy: I HAD to have a Borg Warner speedometer for my Schwinn because a BW ad in Hot Rod magazine featured Sox and Martin. I had the pleasure of meeting Ronnie at Englishtown a few years ago and was thrilled.

As for my son, I'll bet he'll say it was going to Nazareth in 1998 that got him hooked. He was 3 and wouldn't leave me alone until I took him.

My youngest son will probably say 2004 after his trip to RA this year.

Rogue Leader

11-03-04, 07:27 PM

Good thread but I wonder how many people will post on similar threads in the future and write that it was the 2003 or 2004 season that hooked them, and talk about Bourdais or Tracy the way we talk about the top drivers in the era when we became hooked.

oc

My mom and dad never had much interest in the racing I watched besides NASCAR and occasionally F1 until this year (aside from the Indy 500 they didnt really care for american open wheel stuff). Now however this year i brought my dad to Montreal with me and he is a new fan, my mom too after she saw how nice Alex Tagliani was to me in helping me out with my attempt at a racing career.

RaceCat

11-03-04, 07:43 PM

Hum, I don't see an option for me to pick in this pole. I was an open wheel fan in the 60's and went to an open wheel race with my Dad out at Riverside raceway (Ca.) and then in 1975 I attended the very first Long Beach Grand Prix and have been attending that race every year since then. I guess I'm just old. :(

RaceCat

Joe in LA

11-04-04, 01:03 PM

@1973 or 74. First started with the tape delayed 500, then I got to go to Pocono for several years. I very quickly drifted away from us racing to F1, but became a CART fan in the early/mid -80s as road and street circuits were added. Never disliked the ovals, but never liked it to be the focus of the series.

Megger

11-06-04, 08:58 AM

Watched I-500 every year when I was a kid 70's and 80's. Went hardcore in 95. Went to my first race at Road America in 96(Sucks its not on the 2005 schedule). Attend around 4 races a year.

oddlycalm

11-06-04, 02:34 PM

My mom and dad never had much interest in the racing I watched besides NASCAR and occasionally F1 until this year (aside from the Indy 500 they didnt really care for american open wheel stuff). Now however this year i brought my dad to Montreal with me and he is a new fan, my mom too after she saw how nice Alex Tagliani was to me in helping me out with my attempt at a racing career. That's great to hear RL. I too have some family members that have gotten interested recently and I know some folks locally that are new fans. I guess it's not when you get interested but whether or not you do that counts. :thumbup:

oc

Jayblues

11-06-04, 10:46 PM

Followed Brock and Moffat and then Dick Johnson in the 80's. Happened to watch the 90 indy on TV and was BLOWN AWAY.

Happened to be going to the USA for the first time that year and bough tickets for the 90 Monterray race as soon as i landed in LA. TV was great but being there and seeing Andretti, very young tracy, Mears (gas problem on the last corner of the saturday race for an Andretti win) etc and i was hooked.

Had a pit pass for Surfers 93 and didnt understand how big the whole Mansel thing was. I went to his first press conference after qualifying and got into an arguement with some Euro journalist who said i was in the way - i explained that i had paid for a ticket but he didnt seem to think that was important.

Other highlights include playing blackjack with little Al at Jupiters casino and getting the Indy story and seeing the ring, Carps at the bar more than once and everything about this race in Denver.

Benn to Surfers, Vancouver, Denver, Monteray for a total of 7 races, every time is better than the previous one. Get a pit pass every time. This is definately my favorite sport.

Paul