<< WEATHER NORMAL ~ MAIN ~ FOOD STOLEN >>
CARS LIKED
Reuters reporter Patricia Wilson covers Dick Cheney’s visit to the Pepsi 400, and encounters primal NASCAR people in their brutish native habitat:
Infield spectators perched atop behemoth recreational vehicles waved American flags and banners proclaiming devotion to their favorite drivers and the beer companies that sponsor them ...
“NASCAR dads,” a U.S. political term coined in recent years, refers to blue-collar, overwhelmingly white, mostly Southern men. Staunch supporters of the military and sometimes avid hunters, they like to see cars hurtle around an asphalt track at speeds of up to 200 mph.
Wilson should pitch this to the Discovery Channel.
Infield spectators perched atop behemoth recreational vehicles waved American flags and banners proclaiming devotion to their favorite drivers and the beer companies that sponsor them ...
“NASCAR dads,” a U.S. political term coined in recent years, refers to blue-collar, overwhelmingly white, mostly Southern men…they like to see cars hurtle around an asphalt track at speeds of up to 200 mph.Don’t Formula 1 fans often root for a driver from their own country? And wave flags? And aren’t the sponsor banners representing the same sorts of products (alcohol, smokes, motor oils, tires, etc) And aren’t the fans mostly men? And don’t they enjoy seeing cars go fast? The only difference I can see is that NASCAR guys are blue collar, while F-1 fans tend to be a little more well-heeled (substitute “behemoth SUV” with “behemoth yacht in Monaco harbor”). But I’m sure a Reuters reporter wouldn’t be sneering at NASCAR fans just because they’re the laboring class. Right?
“We need to do a better job of reaching out to voters who are currently voting for Republicans when it’s not in their best economic interests.” said
Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Stacie Paxton. “Democrats too often feel they need to explain every detail of policy rather than talk about their values and how those values impact their positions, but now that’s changing.”When ever a Dem tries to explain what, exactly, it is that they’re doing or trying to do, people with any critical thinking skills either stand in stunned shock or run away in abject horror.
#
When ever a Dem tries to explain what, exactly, it is that they’re doing or trying to do, people with any critical thinking skills either stand in stunned shock or run away in abject horror.
Posted by GrimmyOr burst out laughing.
Posted by Andrea Harris, AdministratorWhat we need to learn is to just start swinging…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 07 02 at 10:12 AM • permalinkDon’t you love the patronizing superior tone of Reuters reporters?
Never had their hands dirty in their lives, and sneer at those who do.
Thank the Lord for the internet, otherwise these effete and condescending scribblers would be regarded as the bringers of knowledge and wisdom.
Now Joe Public, armed with his home computer, can point and snigger at the pretentious fools.
Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2006 07 02 at 10:41 AM • permalinkPatrica Wilson sounds like she’s describing some hitherto unknown tribe recently discovered in the jungle. Methinks she is something of a snob.
Also, I recall a significant number of soccer fans waving their national flags during the World Cup. Said event also involved prodigious quantities of beer. Did Wilson look down her nose at those spectators? One has to believe that the answer is “No”.
Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 07 02 at 10:48 AM • permalink“Vid” al Gore is the Dong of Science?
Posted by Son of a Pig and a Monkey on 2006 07 02 at 10:55 AM • permalinkDemocrats too often feel they need to explain every detail of policy rather than talk about their values and how those values impact their positions, but now that’s changing.
What, exactly, are they going to say? That they’re the party that believes in cut and run? The party of government meddling in every aspect of a citizen’s life? The party of correct thought policing? The party that is, apparently, planning to live on the dubious legacy of Kennedys and the Vietnam War until the very last old crock dies?
I’d say they’ve got bigger problems than not knowing who the NASCAR driver du jour is.
“NASCAR dads,” a U.S. political term coined in recent years, refers to blue-collar, overwhelmingly white, mostly Southern men. Staunch supporters of the military and sometimes avid hunters, they like to see cars hurtle around an asphalt track at speeds of up to 200 mph.
The biggest (and one of the few) NASCAR fan I know is white collar, a self-made millionaire and comes from Oregon. He is a staunch supporter of the military (Viet Nam vet), but he does not hunt. He is overwhelmingly white, however, being of Danish descent. But he does love to see cars hurtling around the track at breakneck speed and, aamof, raced stock cars at one time himself. Now he just restores ‘em.
Nedra Pickler of the AP is similarly out of her element.
#11—Racingism—LOL
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 07 02 at 12:05 PM • permalinkUshie — Please tell them to stop at once before they confuse Reuters and the AP.
Everybody who’s anybody in the media knows overwhelmingly white people drive their cars recklessly at Daytona and Talledega and Burlington, while people of color drive their cars recklessly in front of a long line of police cars and helicopters on the 405 and the 10 Freeway and around and around in South Central and East LA… please don’t mess with their meme.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 07 02 at 12:16 PM • permalinkal-Reuters needs to check itself. NASCAR is becoming increasingly popular even in rarified Hollywood, with the likes of Paul Newman, Jason Priestley, Bruce Willis, Chris Tucker, Will Ferrell, Luke Wilson, etc. Why, 100 of them even thought the NASCAR venue was good enough for tsunami relief.
I personally prefer the much more dignified and responsible conduct of the cream of American society on the, say, Newport-Ensenada Yacht Race…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 07 02 at 01:28 PM • permalink#15 “I’m telling you, I’m living in some kinda Utopia, where I keep seeing African- and Asian-Americans wearing NASCAR gear. And rockin’ it well, too.”
Well ushie, consider that Charley Pride spent his entire career around racist, intolerant gun toting rednecks, beginning in the racist, intolerant 50’s and never got so much as a scratch, while rappers are routinely shot and killed by their own kind. So I reckon hanging around NASCAR events would be statistically safer for “people of color” eh?
Posted by Vanguard of the Commentariat on 2006 07 02 at 01:41 PM • permalinkLOL, Richard. Anyone who’s ever been in Ensenada on the receiving end of that race knows what you’re talkin’ about.
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 07 02 at 01:43 PM • permalinkAnd aren’t the sponsor banners representing the same sorts of products (alcohol, smokes, motor oils, tires, etc)
Well, unless it’s a race in Europe, where they’re not allowed to have banners advertising tobacco (or soon, alcohol), lest they make it onto the TV broadcasts and corrupt impressionable young minds into thinking that tobacco (and soon, alcohol) actually isn’t outlawed yet.
(Brought to you proudly by the EU nanny-state that will even make non-smokers, non-drinkers like me feel uncomfortable.)
The only difference I can see is that NASCAR guys are blue collar, while F-1 fans tend to be a little more well-heeled (substitute “behemoth SUV” with “behemoth yacht in Monaco harbor”).Don’t be fooled by the “lifestyles of the rich and famous” type of reporting on F1 races…the average F1 fan is just as blue-collar as NASCAR fans are.
I really despise these elitist fucks. Okay, so some guy is driving a car that is of a size disproportionate to his needs. He enjoys a sport that makes a bit of a mess. He doesn’t sit around drinking black coffee and debating the works of Derrida and Foucault with like-minded philosophes. He may even be crude in his speech and simple in his outlook. But - and this observation is from my own extensive anecdotal experience - such people are likely to be productive and good-natured members of society - contributors. Give me one of them any day over some arts graduate wanker who can write a 15 000 word dissertation on Roland Barthes’ trip to Japan, but calls out an electrician when a lightbulb blows. And then wonders if it’s worth paying the invoice because they’re moving to an arts collective in Melbourne soon anyway.
(inspired by a true story)
Posted by James Waterton on 2006 07 02 at 02:12 PM • permalinkTexas Bob — May a disgruntled E-4 shred your hand receipts.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 07 02 at 02:21 PM • permalinkHmmm…Swap a couple of letters and
infield spectators
becomes
infidel spectators
. Coincidence?
Posted by feartheroo on 2006 07 02 at 02:33 PM • permalink35 years ago, I was on my way to the Southern 500 as a passenger in a 1970 Ford Torino 427 with the words LANGLEY FIELD SPEEDWAY on both sides.
The driver was an illiterate black man (actually, a Lumbee Indian but you’d never have guessed) who had asked me along to read road signs.
As we crossed the border into South Carolina at 140 miles an hour, a white state trooper began chasing us. Hank, the driver, took a $20 out of his wallet and wrapped it around his license when we finally stopped.
Great, I thought, I’m spending the weekend in the Florence jail.
Hank and the trooper chatted about NASCAR for about half an hour and we were on our way.
That was the day I realized that my native South had definitively changed.
Racingism indeed.
Posted by Harry Eagar on 2006 07 02 at 03:32 PM • permalinkObviously a writer who has never heard of:
- Formula 1, where trackside advertising is many times more abundant (and gaudy) than at NASCAR tracks. Their drivers are worshipped at least as much as their NASCAR counterparts and many are celebrated national heros.
- Rally cars, whose on-vehicle advertisements make most Nextel Cup cars (at least until recently) look absolutely monocromatic. Not to mention the all-too-frequent episode of a car going over a hill a little too fast, failing to make a turn, and plowing into a mass of fans.
- Le Mans, a track in American-leftist-utopia-grass-is-always-greener Europe, which runs an annual 24-hour race without anyone complaining about fuel consumption. The Pepsi 400 is over in less than 1/10 the time, and has 7 fewer cars running.
But yeah, auto racing is obviously a stupid gas-guzzling American redneck excuse to get drunk every weekend from February until November.
The biggest (and one of the few) NASCAR fan I know is white collar, a self-made millionaire.
Yeah, me too. The only fanatic NASCAR nut I know is a rich Jewish Manhattanite who is the VP of a multi-billion dollar company. He drools over NASCAR relics and trivia. He drags his kids all over the country to go to the races.
I can’t get him to touch a gun tho (my hobby) altho I’ve arranged very well-attended management shooting parties, so it just goes to show…
TJ
Yeah but those people drive at places like Limerock,Watkins Glen,Sonoma, Mosport and places in Canada. NASCAR does Watkins and Sonoma but they don’t like it-proving how superior they are.
You drive a GT and a Porche around these places not a, yuk, Dodge!
Plus the drivers have mostly European names like Didier, Dumas and Vilander not Gordon!
Plus all dem sponsors sound more sophisticated than Nascar. Even some of the cigs are European sounding. Much more brie.Wonder if Warner can name the other Sadler? Just asking. May have to re-think my next M&M binge.
Here’s my homies
http://ritaren.tripod.com/bakersfieldboys.html
and, on another note…
#34 we have profiles?
Here’s the enlightened commenters at HuffPo reacting to the AP version of the story:
talkradiodumbass says: “Fans at a NASCAR race. Add up the IQ’s and take an average…....7 maybe?”
jesusjuice says: “good ole boys and gop loving morons”
lornejl says “trailer trash base”
enlightened1 says: “the trailer park white trash NASCAR morons”
————-
Then there’s this already notorious Kos screed:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/6/28/181447/773If this keeps up, the Republicans have “08 IN THE BAG.
Then there’s this already notorious Kos screed
Nothing like a hate-filled, ignorant screed against people that the writer claims are hate-filled and ignorant. I thought that this passage was very telling:
This is the reality of the situation: deep south bible belt whites, mainly poor, increasingly hostile and always Republican now own a disproportionate amount of political power in America
So, the left now believes that the problem with America is that ‘the poor’ are in charge?
You know what would really get my attention? What would really make me sit back and say “you know, maybe they had a point, maybe they were right after all!”
You know what would do that? If they all got together and made a real statement by committing mass suicide.
Really, honest… they’d win all the arguments if they’d only do that.
It would have to be all of them though. Otherwise it wouldn’t have the same effect. You know?
Are NASCAR dads married to soccer moms?
Inquiring minds want to know.
#40 jic,
No, the problem, as the lefties see it, is that they are not in charge. That’s why people like Kos have no actual ideas or arguments, just a lust for winning power the size of Jupiter.Posted by Michael Lonie on 2006 07 02 at 08:13 PM • permalinkGets me that she has to get in the dig that Cheney is powerful but not popular. Wanta make a little bet on that one? Bet he is super popular at the NASCAR tracks, just not in the Hamptons, something for which he should thank his lucky stars. I really cannot imagine even wanting to go to the Hamptons for any reason at all. The people there are so stuck on themselves that it is unbelievable. Remember that bitch Gutman who back into the crowd because they dared to stand behind her car and not move right away when she wanted to leave? She is already back in their good graces. That is reason enough to hate the lousy f**ks!!
On one of the car forums I used to read, it was interesting to see just how many people (diehard Ford/Chevy fans even) would respond with derision any time NASCAR came up in a discussion. While some of their arguments might have some merit (I tend to agree that the term “stock car” no longer applies when the cars being used no longer share anything but a name with models on the showroom floor) Most of the time it didn’t amount to much more than knee-jerk canned phrases. I suspect you’d find 95% of those types of people voting the straight Democrat ticket…
Kyda, I’ve wondered about that ever since. I didn’t see the trooper take the cash, and I didn’t see Hank or me get arrested, and Hank didn’t get a ticket.
I did see my life flash in front of my eyes the next day when Richard Petty crashed in turn three and headed right for me. I was in the garage, sitting on a stack of tires and couldn’t get my legs out to run away. Thank de lawd for reinforced concrete.
Posted by Harry Eagar on 2006 07 02 at 09:50 PM • permalinkThis is the reality of the situation: deep south bible belt whites, mainly poor…
Yep. so poor they can barely afford them 50-foot RV’s in the infield…
... and always Republican ...
Boy, that’s gonna surprise the grits out of Nathan Bedford Forrest, Huey Long and Robert Byrd…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 07 02 at 10:07 PM • permalinkI wonder if precious Patrica has ever stumbled across that other neo-con motor sport bastion,the NHRA.What would she make of the fact that one of the top top-fueller teams is sponsored by none other than the US ARMY and if that’s not bad enough they also sponsor a motorcycle team that runs in the Pro Stock Bike comp.Even worse one of the US ARMY bikes is ridden by a female and the other one by a black man and just to totally rub it in,their riders are currently first(Angelle Sampey) and fourth(Antron Brown) in the season pointscore standings.
Well, Harry, there was a time when he wouldn’t have thought twice about taking the bribe and tossing both your butts in jail. Things certainly have changed (though perhaps not quite as much as we’d all like to think—from what I’ve experienced of the new South, plenty of hearts and minds still bear a few remnants of the old south—but, we’ll get there). Hey, how many people can say they almost died in a Richard Petty crash! (besides Richard Petty)
Excuse me for straying OT (still in the neighborhood), but this has got to go into the KosKids Komments Hall of Fame. Come on, fess up. This Anna Sukrana person is one of you. Right? Link
Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 07 02 at 10:50 PM • permalinkNascar? Gay. Slow, corporate, boring, not enough wrecks. Give me 50 cent beer nite at the Jefferson dirts, especially when they’re doing figure 8 trailer racing.
Right before the feature heat, me and my girlfriend Tiffani and her kid usually smoke a few rocks of crystal meth to celebrate when they behead a captured newpaper reporter.
51. Boy, that’s gonna surprise the grits out of Nathan Bedford Forrest, Huey Long and Robert Byrd…
Excellent Richard. Not to mention the guys who gave us Dred Scott, Jim Crow and Lester Maddox. You know, the guys the KosKids conveniently forget to acknowledge because they’re too busy calling us racists…
Posted by Vanguard of the Commentariat on 2006 07 03 at 12:39 AM • permalink#53 Kyda,
Read the link, laughed at the link. What exactly does “hard right” mean?. I like to think of myself as the Semi-liquid Right, or on a bad day the Gaseous Right. These people are a mystery to me.Posted by Daniel San on 2006 07 03 at 01:34 AM • permalinkMother Jones wrote about wooing back NASCAR Democrats back in 2003. I guess they’re no longer Democrats. Mind you, liberals use the phrases NASCAR Dad and NASCAR Democrat as derogatory terms.
http://kalroy.blogspot.com/2003/10/nascar-democrats.html
Kalroy
Patricia Wilson attempts to do to NASCAR as David Williamson did for tropical cruises. Yet another example of how the comfortably off intellectual left despises the class that gave birth to them. What a tool.
Posted by walterplinge on 2006 07 03 at 04:14 AM • permalinkWish there was an edit function available :/
anyhoo the FIFA 500, a race that is about finesse and endurance! Rules: no touching. No bumping into each other. If you are touched or bumped into you should spin out into the infield and rock your car back and forth in agony until the judge awards a caution flag and allows you to the front of the line for a restart.
There was an article in the Sunday Times praising NASCAR and suggesting that it might not be too long before British race fans will be able to catch a race or two. What probably most impressed readers was the fact that 40% of fans are women.
I would bet that is far higher than the percentage of women footie fans.
Posted by Andrew Ian Dodge on 2006 07 03 at 08:22 AM • permalinkOK, followed link at 53. I’ll bite. What the hell is karama costs?
Posted by Harry Eagar on 2006 07 03 at 12:44 PM • permalink#67 from your link:
“The product had expanded from treating baby bottoms to a variety of other ailments, including heat rash, acne, bed sores, abrasions, chicken pox, shingles, razor burn, feminine irritation, poison ivy, fever blisters and even chapped lips.”
I need to look into getting me some of that. Anything that can duel use as a personal deuglifier and reduce the likelihood of women being irritated by my proximity… that’s gotta be worth a few bucks.
Page 1 of 1 pages
Members:
Login | Register
| Member List
...to describe winners.