I never see any of that stuff - only them going around in circles. What's drafting? By head games do you mean, the decisions the drivers would be making or something else?
Because you golf, I assume that you appreciate the lie the player has, the distance to the green, the wind, the difficulty of the hole location, the trouble lurking just off the green, the slope and pitches of the green, the player's current position, how many strokes behind/ahead he is, how many holes remain, ...
Yep.
Well, there is a similar constellation of factors in other sports.
Okie-dokie.
In motorcycle
Stop right there for a sec. Motorcycle. That's probably my favorite mode of transportation. Okay, thanks. Carry on.
In motorcycle racing, each rider is getting the feel for how his bike is performing that day, based on setup changes made over the previous few days. He's sizing up what he can do and where. He's sizing up what his competition is doing and trying to guess how close to the limits of their machines they're performing at. He's finding the fastest way through corners. He's finding the most protectible line through corners, which is different -- it's the line that lets him hold off a challenge from another racer while still getting a good drive out of the corner. He's finding out who has the top-speed edge on the straightaways. He's doing all this, and he's also trying to hide his findings from the other racers, so they don't get a clear idea of his limitations. And oh yeah, he's racing around the twisting track at the limits of his bike's performance envelope, braking as hard as he can before turns without locking up the front tire and crashing, hanging off the bike as he leans in turns as much as possible without levering the bike onto its side and sliding off the roadway into the gravel.
And there are ~45 laps like that, with increasing urgency on everyone to be leading when the finish line appears on the last lap.
See, now motorcycles I can relate to, and I think it would be safe to assume that a lot of that goes on in NASCAR as well.
(Drafting, btw, is tucking in behind another vehicle and riding in his slipstream. Basically, letting him cut a hole in the air and riding through it. It's why migrating birds fly in a V formation -- it's more energy-efficient for all but the lead duck. In racing, though, the lead rider knows that and doesn't like being drafted. (We'll ignore slingshotting.))
Oh,
drafting... as in air currents, etc. I guess I had football on the brain - the only thing I could think of is the NFL draft. Interesting note that you start the sentence with birds and finish with ducks. Birds/Ducks/Geese (why did I not just say fowl?) also take turns at being the lead fowl. ('Nother fact about me, I love watching animals, fish, and fowl. Love to study habitats, etc, and could sit and watch them for hours on end.)
Ignore slighshotting? But now I want to know what that is!
Okay, we can ignore it if you say so.
