I Hate NASCAR.com

OK, I want to hear from people on this one because I really need to know if I’m just crazy on this one.

I’ll put it bluntly: I hate NASCAR.com. And I’ve hated it for some time now.

By the way, I could put that magic little link to those words, NASCAR.com, on here, but I won't. I refuse to put anybody else through the misery I constantly endure there.

This is what I don’t understand. Is there some group of tech designers out there convinced that the more junk you can fit on a page the better? NASCAR.com is busier than a 6-year old after a six pack of Red Bull.

I spend 2 minutes looking at the page and I feel like I’m going to have a seizure. I know it’s NASCAR and NASCAR is all about a circus of colors and sites and sounds for everybody, but come on. The thing is like a big top on acid.  My eyes are bugging out of my head. Does it really have to be that way? What’s wrong with simple?

And another thing, I hate any site that has video’s that automatically open. If I want to watch the video, give me a link, I’ll click on it. There’s nothing worse than forgetting the volume is up on your computer, going to NASCAR.com and suddenly having everybody in the office jumping out of their seat because it sounds like Jimmie Johnson’s Chevrolet is coming down the hallway. Chill with the video.

The other thing, even sneakier than the automatic video, are the rollover ads. You know, those adds that do magically annoying things just by crossing over them with the cursor. Here's the deal, if I want annoying things to happen on my computer, they should happen after I've accidentally clicked on them with my mouse button. They shouldn't happen just because my cursor slid over them. Half the time when I rollover these things it freezes the whole site up. Someone needs to run over the guy that invented rollover ads. They are the banana peels of the old interweb and I’m sick of the joke.

Yes, NASCAR.com has some redeeming qualities, unfortunately, whatever simple thing you’re looking for demands first walking through the minefield that the site is. Next time I’ll just go to Jayski.com (please, please, please, ESPN, don’t ruin that one too).

Shawn Courchesne, 10:30 p.m.

Comments

[Chris]

Shawn, your article showed up on my Google homepage tonight and I have just subscribed based on this feed alone. I can see that we have a lot in common! Are you also as bored as I am with this season??

[Renz]

Shawn, you're not the crazy one. Clearly the inmates are in charge of the Nascar.com asylum. Your banana peel anology is also much lighter-hearted than my minefield thought.

My advice: in place of your former happy anticipation approaching Nascar.com, substitute some stategic training. Left hand goes first to the master mute button, then right hand on mouse. No false moves with that pointer until you've surveyed the screen landscape. Locate that pesky Nextel logo. Now, straight over the big photo, and you're home free! Pheew!

With a little imagination you can pretend you're a racedriver hitting your marks. And adding to the realism, this all works best if you drive your pointer counterclockwise!

[Deborah C]

I agree...I really dislike the front page of nascar's web site. It is sooo busy with junk until I have given up at times on what I wanted to know. I go to their site first thing in the morning when I have some rational reaction to it or I don't go at all.

[Bob]

Yes! I thought I was the only one who hated the redesign of nascar.com. Way too busy, can't find anything on it, and I hate how articles go on for page after page. I still can't find the modified series pages. All and all a case of over kill. Marty Smith being gone is also quite noticeable too. I also agree with the comments made from Chris, races so far this year have been a big yawn and have tried to keep an open mind about the COT. I could support anything in the interest of driver safety, but COT is not doing it for me. Nascar's control IS going to come back and bite them.

[Keith Cyr]

Sean,
I love you man..... No, really what I love is the fact that I am no longer the lone ranger complaining about NASCAR. Before they went through this MAJOR site re-design a gentlemen by the name of Al Bauer use to handle the Weekly Racing Series portion, along with having the contract with Turner Communications to do that. He was a great guy to talk to, but the war that I was involved in was to get the photos of OUR winners published on the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series website. Sometimes they did, sometimes they did not, and there where other times when they posted them so late that we where getting ready for another race program. My main POINT? I do sincerely love the concept of NASCAR, what I DO NOT like is what it has become..
Rock On Sean,
Race Dog

[pete c.]

that is why www.jayski.com is the permier NASCAR site, and has been for quite some time.

[Precision Automotive, Inc.]

Shawn: With regards to NASCAR.com,
each and every one of your comments about the site deserves a:

1. I absolutely agree
2. LMAO-you definately have a way with words!

Linda Case, Precsion Automotive Inc

[Mike]

Oh man, your blog entry could go on forever!

I think, without question, that it is the worst webpage for an organisation the size of NASCAR.

My biggest beef (which I hoped would be resolved with the redesign late last year but wasn't) is the lack of information. It is nearly impossible to find any information, especially if it is a session or race old. And the search function is useless. It is pretty sad when Jayski has to be used as THE reference.

Did I mention that the website just seems like one big advertisement?

[Bob in Jersey]

I bookmark only two pages at NASCAR Online:

-- the "/races/tune_in" page with the television schedule (I wish it still listed non-telecast elements of each weekend such as the draw for qualifying order or the various satellite-radio shows, for reference purposes), and

-- the "/races/cup/2007/data/standings_owner.html" page to see who's dropped out of or gotten into the top 35 for purposes of exemption from qualifying.
Beyond that, I figure out the applicable pages for each race in the format "/races/cup/2007/[ordinal number of race]/data/[subject of page, either entry_list.html, qual_order.html, or lineup.html]"

I wish I could remember which pages link to the weekday "MRN NASCAR Today" and "PRN's Garage Pass" or to find out if one needs a $ub$cription to listen to longer-form programs like MRN's "NASCAR Live."

[Debbie]

I rarely go to NASCAR.com.....can't stand it! I only go there to check the standings after a race. The site is a mess. jayski is the site for me.

[Mike]

Shawn,
I couldnt agree more, NASCAR.com is one of the most cluttered sites Ive ever visited. Also I HATE that damn video with sound attached,what makes some air head at nascar think I want to hear all that junk? Of course like most things with corporate $$ attached the pin heads at the helm dont have a clue and likely never will. I hope and pray the top brass at espn wont ruin jayski.com thats the #1 site for real unadultered racing news.
I appreciate your honesty and willingness to tell it like it is, keep up the good work.

[WC]

AMEN, I removed NASCAR.crap from my favorites... If Jayski doesn't have it, I don't need to know...

[Dave]

I agree totally. I stopped going there after about a week. It just takes too long to load and has too much crap on it. I would love to see their hit conter before and after the "improvements".

[Dutchstar Princess]

AMEN! AMEN! AMEN! to all comments regarding NASCAR.com.

[Mike]

WOW, i too thought i was being left behind on this new NASCAR site. I went there saturday to find out what time the race started, ha, what a waste of time. Look at the F1 homepage, simple layout and easy to navigate. not to be stereotypical, but isnt the impression of a nascar fan slightly less sophisticated than that of an f1 fan? Nascar is a joke, i started watching every race 6 years ago, now i cant stand it.

~beware the phantom caution, it can strike anyime

[Jack H]

How can we get the total attendance at each NASCAR race for the purpose of comparing to the same attendance for said event from the previous year? I suspect that attendance is dropping,but cannot confirm it.

[Trish]

I stopped regulary checking nascar.com whenever they started that automatic video mess. If I don't start a vid, then I probably don't want to see it - Don't shove it on me. Beginning this season their site was a complete mess. You can't even check their site on your Smartphone. Jayski's site, however, is perfect!!

[john miller]

I took the site off my favorites list last year and haven't been back since. Sounds like it has done something I thought was impossible, gotten worse.

[Brenda]

I totally agree with you...too many ads and too much hunting just to find basic information that used to be clearly visable when the page loaded. I REALLY hated the spinning 'mini-pages' that were at the top during pre-season and through all of the Daytona coverage. I live in the boonies where DSL is only a rumor, so that would totally lock up my computer trying to load. I wish they would go back to the simpler times when the home page displayed standings and results without having to click 10 things to find them!! Go Jayski!

[maureen]

Thank You for that brilliant article!! I have hated NASCAR.com for quite sometime my self.

[Mark]

You are correct.... NA$CAR.com is a joke now. I have removed it from my favorites and now only use Jayski.com. I just hope, as mentioned in one of the comments, that ESPN dosen't mess up that site. NA$CAR is just being NA$CAR which really stands for is Now All we $eriously Care About is Revenue - NA$CAR..... Mark

[Terry]

AMEM...Nascar.com has become the biggest joke. Why "fix" something not broken. Another COT LOL

[Gary in Florida]

I am glad I am not alone in disliking nascar.com The whole website is way to busy, very difficult to navigate, and I hate the videos that start automatically.

For some dumb reason I subscribed to Raceview. I suppose it was for the in car audio and simulated race. However, cars fly in the air, drive backwards on the track, show the wrong leader and half the time the in car audio quits during the race. Oh the simulated race view also freezes up about every 30 seconds or so.

You can subscribe to this online but you can't cancel it online.

Jayski.com is a much more reliable and simplified source for NASCAR news and information that nascar.com by far.

Thanks for speaking up.

[Oldsmo-Bill]

Wow!
Not only do I agree with your column, but also with all of the agreeing responses you've gotten. My wife and I are recent citizens of the NASCAR Nation, although I was a big racing fan in a former life, but just over the past three seasons, we have gone from getting most of our information from NASCAR.com to only seeking it via links from jayski.com! Sloppy, cluttered pages; instant-on videos that we may-or-may-not wish to hear/see; and more advertisements than...well...an NBC race broadcast! Jayski is the best!

[Don]

I never post on blogs but with the craziness on Nascar.com I have to agree totally. I cannot stand a video opening up every time I access a web site. Jayskis forever. Don.