NASCAR reaching out?

[BOSSHOG]

Stevie Wonder was the grand marshall for Sunday nights race in California and gave the order to "start your engines" and Melissa Etheridge sang the National Anthem (beautiful job.) They had a nice interview with Wonder who said this was his first NASCAR race and he'd like to be a driver. Stevie ever the sportsman also wanted to play golf with Tiger Woods. At night.

[TwilightGardener]

1. Only in California. I doubt it would fly in Charlotte.

[Donnachaidh]

2. Melissa Etheridge? Wouldn't fly in Georgia

Too many of them *real men* worried the lesbian *cooties* would infect their wimmenfolk. :eyes: :sarcasm:

[SteveM]

3. Great post. Y'know, this might work in Florida...

When one considers Prince's performance at the last Super Bowl, Melissa seems rather conventional.

[Clark2008]

4. Here we go.

A thread full of South bashing, even knowing that the South isn't the reddest part of the country - the Great Plains states are.

:eyes:

And, yes, NASCAR, like any other sport/product, has to constantly grow a fan base in order to survive.

BTW, Bristol is one of my clients and I can assure you that no one who works there is stupid or backward - quite the contrary.

[madrchsod]

5. nascar`s top pr/marketing guy is from the north

and i`m guessing 50% of the drivers are not from the south. it`s no longer a "southern sport"

[Clark2008]

8. Oh - I know that and you know that, but I'd be willing to bet

that many South-bashing DUers either don't know that or pretend they don't.

:hi:

[jmowreader]

10. Where the Drivers are From

I used this week's standings...these are all places of birth--Jeff Gordon's family moved to Indiana because, at the time they did it, Indy was the big time.

Out of fifty drivers, only twenty are from "Southern" states. OTOH, NASCAR is full of California and Indiana drivers. Indiana I can really understand: the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is part and parcel of that state. But California?

Washington is another hotbed of racing...it's the home of Tom Sneva, who won the Indianapolis 500 once and managed to tear a car in half on the catchfence once. In the dictionary under the term "checkers or wreckers" is Sneva's picture--that man wrecked out of the Indy 500 more than any driver in history.

Jeff Gordon: California
Tony Stewart: Indiana
Denny Hamlin: Virginia
Carl Edwards: Missouri
Matt Kenseth: Wisconsin
Jimmie Johnson: California
Jeff Burton: Virginia
Kyle Busch: Nevada
Clint Bowyer: Kansas
Martin Truex Jr: New Jersey
Kurt Busch: Nevada
Kevin Harvick: California
Dale Earnhardt Jr: North Carolina
Ryan Newman: Indiana
Greg Biffle: Washington State
Casey Mears: California
Bobby Labonte: Texas
Jamie McMurray: Missouri
Juan Montoya: Colombia (South America)
J.J. Yeley: Arizona
Kasey Kahne: Washington State
David Ragan: Georgia
David Stremme: Indiana
Mark Martin: Arkansas
Reed Sorenson: Georgia
Elliott Sadler: Virginia
Robby Gordon: California
David Gilliland: California
Jeff Green: Kentucky
Ricky Rudd: Virginia
Tony Raines: Indiana
Johnny Sauter: Wisconsin
Dave Blaney: Ohio
Sterling Marlin: Tennessee
Joe Nemechek: Florida
Paul Menard: Wisconsin
Scott Riggs: North Carolina
Kyle Petty: North Carolina
Brian Vickers: North Carolina
Bill Elliott: Georgia
David Reutimann: Florida
Dale Jarrett: North Carolina
Ward Burton: Virginia
Kenny Wallace: Missouri
Jeremy Mayfield: Kentucky
Ken Schrader: Missouri
A.J. Allmendinger: California
John Andretti: Indiana
Michael Waltrip: Kentucky
Boris Said: California

[BOSSHOG]

11. That was not my intent my Friend

I think its a good sign. I am a red state resident (Mississippi,) and a proud former citizen of another red state (Arkansas.) Lord we have so much more to be bashed for then our love of NASCAR. And I was thrilled to see Melissa Etheride introduced, she did a wonderful rendition of the anthem, although I thought she was a tad slow, but I think every vocalist sings it a tad slow and no one seems to know that the last sentence is a question. She made no attempt to "make it her own."

[Virginia Dare]

6. I've noticed that as well..

they also have a black man and a white woman co-anchoring the pre-race coverage. Dale Jr. has that commercial with some rapper too. They still fervently pray to Jesus before every race, so they haven't reached that far yet.

[lonestarnot]

7. What did they do hit the fucking wall? ahhhahahahahahaha

[TwilightGardener]

9. "Talladega Nights" really made NASCAR look ridiculous. I loved that movie.