I was talking to a friend today about NASCAR, the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing, or as I call it, Asscar. I am not a fan, myself, but I know a lot of rednecks are. So I guess there is a debate right now which redneck drunk Podunk town to have Nascar’s hall of fame in. Atlanta will be a bigger draw and get more people, I guess, but more teams call Charlotte home. Atlanta races don’t require a restrictor plate so they are the fastest races on the circuit so some say it is the best place to sit on metal bleachers drinking beer and praying for a 25 car pile up. How do I know Atlanta doesn’t require restrictor plates you ask? Because Brian Williams, the NBC Nightly News pretty boy is a big Nascar fan and was on the radio a few weeks back talking about it. Riveting, I know.
Anyway, I find Nascar fascinating. I like fast cars as much as the next guy and my friend Bill says it is a great experience. He said you can buy radios and listen to the cars talk to their support crews. That would be kind of cool. I was on an American flight a couple of years ago and one of the radio channels was air traffic control and the pilots. I listened for like an hour and I think it would be the same with the cars.
NASCAR is actually a huge sport in this country. Here in the northeast it is not big, but elsewhere it is huge. Races get like 100,000 people to sit there in the blazing sun getting drunk and shouting to each other, asking if the Sharpie 500 is a better race than the Aarons 499.
Nascar is the number 2 rated sport on television if you can believe that. There are 75 million fans nationwide. It has a 10 month season which is the longest out of any pro sport. Teams don’t have a hometown so loyalty lies with the driver. And as we all know, it’s a giant marketing sport.
I tried watching it on TV a couple of times and got bored. It was fun looking at the fans with their RVs but that only lasted a few minutes. I have been told that being at an actual race is kick-a** so I want to try it, especially with the radio thingy.
So I guess I’ll give the races a shot one day. Not high on my list of things to do, but definitely on there. If so many fans are into it, and not all of them are drunk rednecks, then it can’t be too bad. Still, I can’t help but wonder. If I put bleachers on the side of interstate 95, I bet I could get Nascar fans to pay 50 bucks to sit there, drink beer and watch cars go by
Comments