NASCAR and Formula 1
Both have their roots in the car races of the early 1900's. The European races of the 20's and 30's for Formula 1 and the beach course races at Daytona Beach, Florida in the 30's. Formula One is open wheel racing, meaning simply that the cars' wheels are open, or not covered by the skin of the vehicle. The sport is basically technology driven. Manufacturers spend time and money in research and development to produce new parts construction materials to make their cars faster than the next guy. The courses are generally road courses, a term meaning that the course consists of left and right turns as well as straights. As mentioned by others Formula 1 races are sometimes run on courses made of blocked off city streets. They also race in the rain and use a different type of fuel. Formula 1 races take place all over the world. NASCAR is stock car racing, meaning that the cars are loosely based on 4 door sedans currently in production by the auto makers that compete in the series; Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, and Toyota starting in 2007. The cars do use older technology, but they are meant to emulate the classic American hot rods. It's the idea of taking what you have and doing enough modifications to beat the other guy. Although, in NASCAR, those modifications must meet the standards and fit the rules. They compete on many different tracks, although most are considered oval. There are many configurations though; ovals, tri-ovals, quad-ovals, nearly rectangular, triangular, and even egg shaped like Darlington. They also race on two road courses each season. The oval type tracks differ in more than shape. They fit into three categories by length, "short tracks", "intermediate" and "super speedways". The tracks also have varying degrees of banking which, along with length, contribute to the attainable speeds. Two of the super speedways, Daytona and