NASCAR Nation (5 page)

Another reason NASCAR is America's sport is because of its singular defining aspect, the invention that makes the sport possible: the automobile. The car defines America. The United States, out of all the countries in the world, has the greatest car culture. Most countries rely much more on mass transit than the United States. From Italy to Russia to Japan, public transportation is generally regarded as more efficient, affordable, and accessible than it is in the United States. This is because of our nation's great automobile industry and our love of cars, both of which stem from the sheer size of the country.

Now, some people will argue that improving our public transportation would do a lot for the country, and I agree. It would open up more stable jobs for drivers, conductors, and mechanics; reduce pollution; cut down on the back-breaking cost and hassle of insurance and constant repairs; get people around faster and easier for less; and help the economy during this
never-ending energy crisis. All of those things are true.

Yet there is something about the American car. We're holding onto it, like we hold onto our freedom. The car and the sprawling highway represent more than billions of dollars, lost natural resources, and pollution. Those are the negatives, but there are positives, too. For Americans, car keys and the purr of an engine represent economic power and freedom: the ability to go where you want, when you want. You are the driver and you have control. For many Americans, their car is their second home – we spend a large amount of our days commuting, sitting in traffic jams, or picking up the kids from school and all their activities. We vacation in cars, traveling the open roads for hours on end. What is more American than the cross-country road trip?

When it comes down to it, our cars are extensions of us. There's the cautious minivan, the gear-filled SUV, and the no-frills sedan. A red car says something different than one that's a pale tan. The tank-like trucks on the road, jacked up on massive tires make their drivers feel powerful and in control. Our cars are peppered with bumper stickers that advertise our beliefs and affiliations. And let's not forget those American flags flapping outside our windows that confirm national pride.

Then there's the American terrain: the perfect playground for a strong car culture. We've molded our
entire country around the car. We have more highways, side roads, and ways to get from A to B than most places in the world. Many of our cities have mass transit, but often these systems are poorly functioning, and smaller towns don't have anything at all. Ours is not a mass-transit culture. We're drivers and leaders – we like our hands to be on the wheel, in control of our own destiny, not dominated by others.

A car also gives us a sense of responsibility. Owning a car means having to take responsibility for all that it entails: insurance, repairs, gas. Besides all that, it's your car and you have to know the way; you have to drive well enough to get where you're going, whether it's around the neighborhood or the racing circuit. Owning a car is a part of the American dream. We don't want to give it up – it's part of the freedom for which we've worked so hard.

I remember when I was growing up how important it was to get a car. To give up your car would be like giving up a part of your life. In other places in the world, that's not the case. It's one of the things that make the United States unique. Being a car culture makes a sport like NASCAR better understood here than it would be in other places where people don't have that type of connection to cars.

Another characteristic that NASCAR shares with the United States is size. If you visit many European or Asian cities, you may find yourself feeling packed
in and abnormally big – like a human in a dollhouse. In the United States, we operate a little bit differently. We built this country to suit our mentality. We like our space. We like our backyards big and our roads wide. We like open prairies, expanses of shining sea, clear skies, broad coastlines, and tall, thick redwoods. We like large pieces of steak bigger than our faces and bellies. Our idea of big and other people's idea of big are two totally different things. We're not packed into a tiny space like many other countries.

So we drive our pick-up trucks, SUVs, and minivans to the race track with big campers and big attitudes to match, pulling into the huge campgrounds outside the track. Eighty thousand to more than 150,000 spectators show up in droves ready to take a seat, set up camp, and whip out supplies for a good ol' barbeque before the race. We admire the enormous race circuit and the sheer size of the spectacle that embodies NASCAR. We stand together for the national anthem. We root and holler for our favorite drivers and teams; enjoy our super-sized hot dogs, hamburgers, and beer; and settle in for hours of quality American sports entertainment.

The demographics of NASCAR mirror those of United States. America is not only a large country – it's incredibly diverse. Think of New Orleans, New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Nashville, Charlotte, Chicago, and all the little towns in between. The
diversity of our landscape is what makes this country so interesting. Nowadays, NASCAR's fans hail from all over the United States, and that's had an important influence on how the sport has continued to develop.

NASCAR has made an effort to start catering more to its fans' needs. Trying to make itself more available to everyone, it has set up tracks around the country in new regions. Just like the country in which it was founded, it is always moving forward, stretching its boundaries from sea to shining sea.

That's why the France family – the first family of NASCAR, the folks who started it all in the 1940s and the biggest players in the development of the sport – are pushing NASCAR to the next level. They're even going where there aren't as many fans in order to expand NASCAR's fan base. They know that this is a sport that connects Americans – not just certain types of Americans or Americans who can afford to buy the best seats, but
all
Americans. As well, they're taking NASCAR on the road. They want people from all over the world to appreciate NASCAR. It doesn't have to be a sport just for Americans – it can be a sport that appeals to all car lovers and race fanatics. And there's no doubt in my mind that they'll be successful, just as they've been successful for over sixty years. The reason for their success is simple: the values that NASCAR represents are reflected wherever you go in the grand ol' U.S. of A, and soon, we will see
them reflected internationally. Proof of NASCAR's international appeal: EURO-RACECAR was designated a NASCAR touring series in 2012.

Sure, NASCAR started out as a grassroots sport in the South, but today with all its technological advancements, it has truly become a pinnacle of engineering advancement and cutting-edge entertainment. Still, it holds onto its roots and all the morals that come with them. That's why country music, which is also very southern in many ways, has often been associated with NASCAR. Just as country music has become more mainstream, allowing itself to be influenced by pop and rock, NASCAR has become more mainstream, opening up to major broadcasters like FOX and welcoming new advancements to improve the quality of its races.

NASCAR and country music share a lot of the same values. Look at the famous country singer Toby Keith who has played for hundreds of U.S. audiences and has even had the honor of performing for and inspiring our troops. He has said some very moving things about patriotism and the lack of it. Whether this was sparked by some critical comments made by the Dixie Chicks about President George W. Bush and the resulting anger that some country-music fans expressed, I can't say for sure. Politics aside, it's important to be proud of who you are and where you come from and to remember what
being an American means. If we forget that and fail to respect ourselves and our leaders, then what do we have?

When Keith said that he would never apologize for being patriotic, this is what he was talking about. Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, George Bush or Barack Obama, we need to stand behind our country and our leaders together, in the same way that those NASCAR fans stood together after 9/11 – without prompting, in thankfulness, in solidarity, and with pride. Those are the kinds of Americans who fill the stands at NASCAR races. They're the people we should all strive to imitate: hard-working, patriotic, loyal, sincere, and proudly filled with the American values that make both our country and the sport of racing great.

It's no surprise that this mentality and spirit attract major fans from all walks of life. There's also an enormous appeal for other sports leaders to come over to NASCAR. People who have excelled in playing, coaching, and owning in other sports find themselves drawn to the spirit of NASCAR.

There are several examples of this. Take a look at Joe Gibbs, a man who had a very successful career in the National Football League. He was drawn into the world of NASCAR and created his own team: Joe Gibbs Racing. He hasn't done too badly for himself, either, since switching to NASCAR. He's employed
the likes of Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte, and has taken home three NASCAR Sprint Cup championship trophies. He was apparently retired for some time – I suppose he defines retirement differently than the rest of us, since he came out of “retirement” to go back to work for the Washington Redskins. From Daytona to the Super Bowl, Gibbs has really played the field in the sports world. No great sports enthusiast can stay away from NASCAR for long.

John Henry is another example. Henry is a fascinating person and a fine example of the American dream. His parents were farmers and now he is a trading advisor, owner of the Red Sox, founder of John W. Henry and Company, and co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing.

Both Henry and Gibbs are intelligent businessmen and savvy sports enthusiasts. They're attracted to NASCAR not only for its worth as a sport, but also as a business venture. They know how loyal the fans are, and they know that NASCAR is constantly growing and spreading in popularity while it advances as a sport. They're probably attracted to the sport for the same reason many fans and drivers are: the challenge of a good competition and the ongoing battle of man and machine.

Gibbs won three NASCAR Sprint Cup championships, two NASCAR Nationwide Series owner championships in 2008 and 2009, and a
NASCAR Nationwide Series driver championship in 2009. He once told me that he always wanted to be Richard Petty, not famous football coach Vince Lombardi. Petty was the king of NASCAR, a multi-championship winner, victor of two hundred races, and second-generation driver who lived a fast youth. Yet Gibb's life path seemed to go in another direction. He said his football-coaching career fueled his NASCAR habit. This is a Hall of Famer with three Super Bowl rings talking – the same guy who fielded drivers who went on to claim four different championships in NASCAR. NASCAR became his passion. He simply grew up, like so many Americans, in a culture that encouraged a love for cars, watching a sport that created an obsession with speed, risk, and challenge. He's a man who is very deep in his faith, a deeply patriotic American who is deeply in love with NASCAR.

There are entire families who catch the NASCAR bug. Take, for example, the Gilletts. They're very involved in everything from hockey to stock-car racing. They know racing is a costly sport and difficult to sponsor, but they also know that being involved in this type of sport puts them on the map in the eyes of the American people. These are driven men, in business and in sports. They go from one thing to the next. They climb one mountain, stand on the summit, and look for a higher mountain. NASCAR is one very
tough mountain to climb, but if you want to be the very best, it's one from which you can't walk away.

These are not the days of Richard Petty when the competition was lower and one star could dominate the track. The competition is fierce and the cars are expertly made. That's what makes drivers like Jimmie Johnson and teams like Hendrick Motorsports so impressive. Being able to dominate for five years in the face of such strong competition requires that they never lose their edge. Winning isn't easy in NASCAR. And winning the Daytona 500 – with the costs of car engineering and maintenance, the logistics of sponsorship, the challenges and risks posed to drivers, and the length and difficulty of the championship – could be said to be more difficult than winning the Super Bowl or the World Series.

Taking the current economic climate into consideration, looking at the neutralized state of the NFL due to salary caps, and the financial pull of baseball teams like the Yankees, it's difficult to say how easy or hard it is to take a championship when there's so much going on. Yet if one could somehow have the same amount of money to work with and the best talent, winning a NASCAR race would certainly be more difficult. Granted, in the World Series you have to win four out of seven, which can be a great challenge for a team. A lot can happen in that time. Yet in motorsport racing, there is so much
less control over what's going to happen – out on the track or inside the car. Drivers and teams don't have a great deal of control over the track, the car, or the competitors' vehicles. There's no telling what can happen – a blown tire, a wonky malfunction, or a sudden turn in the wrong direction by the car next to you can mean the difference between first place and twenty-first.

In NASCAR, you could win races most of the year and find yourself dominating the sport – then in those last ten races end up in an unexpected wreck that may not even be your fault. Your chance at the championship can vanish in a matter of minutes. It's the unpredictable nature of driving and of relying on a machine that makes NASCAR so difficult as a sport. Yet the car is the essence of NASCAR – you can't say NASCAR without car, just as you can't picture the United States without them.

Many Americans grow up around cars. I know I did. My father worked on cars as did his father. There are generations of proud Chevrolet and Ford owners in the United States, and they're often the same people who follow NASCAR and will do whatever they can to support American growth. That's what's so admirable about them. Of course, this strong devotion to U.S. business can occasionally lead to misunderstandings – like the fans' resistance to Toyota signing on as an official NASCAR sponsor. Many
fans, who are natural supporters of American business and advocates for keeping jobs in the United States, didn't want that invasion. Even Jack Roush, the founder, CEO, and co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing, was resistant to opening the doors to an international car company before doing everything possible to make sure that we were supporting American business and economic growth. However, since Toyota actually works with Ford, we don't have to sacrifice anything by having them sponsor NASCAR. It doesn't mean that we're un-American and that we've lost our roots. NASCAR
is
America's roots, and keeping a hold on those roots is vital.