By Alan Didway
Here we are at the beginning of another NASCAR season! NASCAR is the one truly American sport with the longest season and the only sport that starts its season with the biggest event of the year. History was made Sunday February 26th at Daytona International Speedway, but not the kind that anyone who traveled to Florida for the biggest race of the year wanted to see.
The Daytona 500 has a long history of exciting races, but this record buster cannot be called exciting. For the first time in the event’s 58 year history, the Great American Race was postponed due to weather. Over the years, millions of people have flocked to Daytona Beach to partake in the festivities of Speed Week and watch the Daytona 500. They have brought their friends, in-laws, clients, kids, money, and support for their favorite driver in the hopes of witnessing a trackside rivalry, the big wreck, pit stop strategies, and a photo finish. But, this year, they had to wait… until Monday or Tuesday or … whenever Mother Nature decided.
So today we think about support for our favorite drivers. The big news this week has been that Republican presidential primary candidate, Rick Santorum, has paid for sponsorship of the No 26 car driven by Tony Raines. The Rick Santorum for President’s campaign message was on the hood and quarter panels of Raines’ Ford Fusion for the season-opening of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Santorum’s advice to his driver was this “When you’re starting way back in the pack, just hang back there for a while, let all the other cars in front of you wreck and then run hard in the last few laps and win the race.” Sounds like a race strategy to me, of some sort!
At first glance, though, this may seem to be an odd way to spend campaign dollars when faced with the deep pockets of rival candidates. I mean really… NASCAR has its beginnings in redneck, moonshine runners who dislike government revenuers! How would this decidedly religious candidate support a sport that keeps people out of church on Sundays while they drink beer and carouse in non-church-like fashion for an entire week prior to the “event”? But, much to this fan’s surprise, politics and NASCAR have a rich history. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush have both attended the Daytona 500 and President Jimmy Carter of Georgia was a passionate NASCAR fan. The living legend Junior Johnson remains a staunch Democrat today, having endorsed candidate Barack Obama last summer, even though it was a Republican, Ronald Reagan, who’d granted Johnson a presidential pardon for moonshining. Did you guys know this?
GM, and Chrysler cars in the field. We paid 663 billion to be sure that GM had the advertising budget to support NASCAR and its drivers. The US Army has of budget of somewhere near 7 million dollars to be certain young men of enlistment age see how cool they are and the National Guard sponsors the sports favorite son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Who is paying this bill? The American people are paying both with our tax dollars and as consumers who buy the gear. How about this? There are over 75 million NASCAR fans in the U.S. We are proud, flag-waving Americans who vote in significantly larger numbers than the general American population. We could be a force to be reckoned with if we all got together. Let’s all write in our candidate for the next president this election year. This NASCAR fan will be writing in “D.W for president” will you join me?” boogity boogity boogity!!!
Until the next race, may your caution flags be few, and your gas tanks be full.