What the hey is so fascinating about stock car racing? Or any auto racing for that matter. Seems a bit inane. Do those things burn gasoline?

i agree with mike.  stock car racing used to be just a bunch of good ole boys driving fairly stock cars around a track.  now they goto wind tunnels and fly from race to race.  many of the drivers today aren't even from the south.  i think the demise of nascar really hit around the time they stopped running at north wilkesboro and the king retired and jeff gordon started driving.  in my mind that general time marked a sharp decline in nascar in my mind.  on the good side you can still catch a lot of those old races on "victory lane" -i forget the cable channel that carries it.  sloth