I'm sick and goddamned tired of the NASCAR-bashing around

[Subdivisions]

here! Sheesh! I am a progressive Democrat! I have a above average IQ. I'm an environmentalist! I am a web admin. I helped to stave of extinction (for the past 10 years so far) of a small bird in Texas! I am someone who deserves and has earned the right to say that I am a DUer.

I'm also NASCAR fan. And I'm sick and tired of the stereotyping of NASCAR fans! The fact is, we come from all walks of life. If NASCAR is in a red state, the crowd will be conservative. If the event is in a blue state, like California, then the crowd will be primarily left-leaning.

We're different. We like to watch powerful cars go around in circles really, really fast and crash and shit. But we're people. And some of us aren't the kool-aid drinkin' rednecks some of you would have us all being.

[Richard Steele]

1. ...

:popcorn:

[liberaldemocrat7]

55. The Democratic party needs to run campaign commercials in the 2008 elections

using Southernors with the thickest southern drawls from all over the former confederacy who support the Democratic party and begin denouncing the Republican candidate for his or her lack of compassion for the less fortunate, for leaning too much to the wealthy, and big business, and for looking into people's sexual and reproductive lives.

Once Southernors do this for election after election independents in the South will get used to hear people with thick Southern accents denoucing the Republiklan party.

This will begin to dismantle the Southern Strategy created by Nixon and his henchmen in the Republiklan party.

Southern Democrats need to take over Southern Culture and denounce the Republicans as the fakers.

[Richard Steele]

58. That's a post worthy of its own thread! Sounds like a damn good idea to me! nm

[MrCoffee]

81. have you ever read Dave "Mudcat" Saunders book

Foxes in the Henhouse?


you should. it's fantastic.

[Bluebear]

2. "and crash and shit." - well, go on with your bad self!

Whatever floats your boat.

[Mythsaje]

3. Okay!

Everyone run to professional wrestling and get the mockery machine ready! The NASCAR thing was getting boring anyway. Too much running around in circles very very fast.

:D

[Buns_of_Fire]

69. Hey, I just thought of a new one! Professional Wrestler Racing!

:evilgrin: With cars, or without, makes no difference. I leave it to you guys to work out the details.

Need I say that I think there's a buck to be made here? ;-)

[valerief]

4. I think you explained why some people might bash (not me!) when

you said this:

<<We like to watch powerful cars go around in circles and crash and shit.>>

The appeal of this escapes many people.

[Booster]

8. It escapes me.

[valerief]

18. Me, too. I just don't want to bash devotees of the activity. nt

[Subdivisions]

21. Sure, it's not for everyone. But for alot of us

(it is the most-watched sporting event in the world) it's just plain fun. And I can absorb every nuance during the race and simply by watching the field know how strategies are playing out in the field.

And the drivers are some of the greatest people and controversy is contained fairly within the confines of the track and the race, rather than outside the track, such as football players who are arrested for abusing animals or drugs, etc.

[valerief]

23. Aesthetically, NASCAR is very ugly to look at. All those ads on every

inch of the vehicles and the uniforms and I guess whatever else can be covered up. Golf is much prettier.

[Bluebear]

27. 'And the drivers are some of the greatest people' - based on what?

And believe me, I am not challenging you, if this is what you enjoy, enjoy! But why are these the 'greatest' people?

[Subdivisions]

31. Dale Jarret, Dale, Jr., Kyle Petty, Mark Martin, Daryl Waltrip and

more. They're just really nice, down-to-earth great people. Kyle Petty sponsors an annual http://www.kylepettycharityride.com/">motorcycle charity ride and the rest do many things for charities and to help people.

[Bluebear]

32. Thank you, I am glad they are giving back :)

[Renew Deal]

10. What does that have to do with politics?

Ultimately nothing.

[valerief]

20. Yeah, but the OP was in General Discussion. nt

[qdemn7]

62. The appeal of Basketball has always escaped ME

Let's see.... Two teams of 5 people each run from one end of a court to another. When they get to one end, they then attempt to throw a ball into a hoop of metal with strings hanging from it. Person either succeeds or doesn't. They then run to the other end, and repeat the ball throwing. Sometimes they fight. Keep it up for 48 minutes. At the end one has more hoops than the the other and they win.

Right.......... :boring: :shrug: :rofl:

[Atman]

82. I only enjoyed basketball in high school

We had like the only all-white team in Florida (I lived in lilly-white Cocoa Beach, bedroom community to the Kennedy Space Center), and were state champs. It was fun then, because it was an excuse to go out at night and smoke pot and feel up girls under the bleachers. But once that was done, I never saw the appeal of Basketball. Especially pro basketball, wherein everyone is so good that it seems every game just comes down to who has the ball when the buzzer goes off. The final scores are alway just two points apart. It's basically, team A get the ball, shoots, scores, gives ball to team B who then runs to the other end, shoots, scores, hand the ball to team A again...repeat until buzzer goes off. I just don't get it.

NASCAR? Sorry. That appeals to me even less. Maybe if they put a basketball hoop alongside the track and the drivers had to try to sink one each time they lapped...THAT I'd watch.

Or maybe if there was pot and titties like the good old days.

.

[Toots]

73. Not to even mention the amount of fuel expended which sponsors terrorism

When we buy oil from the Mideast some of that money finds it's way into terrorist hands. So let's just go round in circles really fast and see how much fuel we can burn. Also it really helps the environment as well. Everyone knows Global Warming is only a theory just like evolution...

[DearAbby]

94. Excuse me....

you don't realize how intense a left hand turn can really be. The skill and dead on balls courage it takes to face that demon left turn. You are not worthy to carry the jockstraps of these fine specimens of manhood!! :evilgrin:

[yardwork]

5. I agree with you!

Actually, it's not just NASCAR-bashing. I'm sick and tired of the South bashing around here.

Knock it off, DUers.

[Clark2008]

97. Amen and pass the potato salad (with mustard - we use

MUSTARD in the South in our potato and egg salads. Oh - and carrots in our slaw).

[TomInTib]

6. Hey! I was the youngest member of the International Mensa Society (no kidding).

And I will watch anything that goes really fast.

Most of the NASCAR bashers here would wet their pants at 160mph.

I just start rocking, right about there.

[DemBones DemBones]

60. How old were you then? Just curious.

My husband is a college professor and he also will watch anything that goes really fast. Or drive it. ;-)

[TomInTib]

75. Eleven, I think.

My memory is shot to pieces.

[The Vinyl Ripper]

70. I've been 140 on a motorcycle before

And I was going 110 the other day on the interstate.. In what amounts to a Geo Metro.

And I think NASCAR is kind of stupid.

But that's just my opinion.

[TomInTib]

78. I don't know about "stupid".

But I will go with "redundant".

I was defending the fans and the machinery.

I am partial to road courses and cross-country.

And I have one of the fastest production cars on the planet.

[The Vinyl Ripper]

80. We used to have a Q45

I've been at 120 in that with a bunch of women in the car and they never even noticed.. I just edged up the speed slowly.

That's smooth..

[CRF450]

99. Have you really tried to top out that Q45 before?

I'v topped my Trans Am out at around 165mph, GPS verified.

[Renew Deal]

7. I'm with you.

I've been to 2 races including the last Bristol race. I enjoy being there. There's lots of tracks in "Blue" states.

[TSIAS]

9. Of course, not all NASCAR fans are Republican

But I'd venture to guess that 2/3 of fans are conservative.

Even in blue Dover, Delaware -- the whole buildup to the race struck me as faux patriotic and religious.

They always find a preacher from some Baptist Church. Lots of talking about the troops and the ol' Red, White, and Blue. Followed by a country music singer doing the national anthem.

However, I do give NASCAR credit for bringing Stevie Wonder to the California race. NASCAR's black fan must have appreciated their attempt to bring some sort of diversity.

[Renew Deal]

13. At the last race I went to, the preacher asked that the troops come home

"quickly and safe." Not too bad.

[Chemical Bill]

101. I know a guy...

that knows the black fan!1! The black fan went to one race and bought a racist T-shirt about why blacks don't watch NASCAR. He got many double takes from the crowd (after all, everybody stares at him). His biggest problem is that he can't go to local bars after the races (unless he wants a fight). But he packs his road food, like black drivers in the US have done for a long time (think Denny's). I haven't heard what he thought of the Stevie Wonder gesture.

Bill

[ThoughtCriminal]

11. NASCAR - pffffffft - boring!

Now, FIGURE 8 RACING - that's entertainment!

[BrotherBuzz]

83. Hoot! The hell with aerodynamics, think armored components

Side panels made like bank vault doors, and front ends with dozer blades. I like! :rofl:

[american_typeculture]

12. NASCAR does not = environmentalism

That shit is whacked.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

14. bhp meekly raises hand and asks:

As one who's an environmentalist, how do you reconcile the effects on the environment of burning gallon upon gallon of fossil fuels to drive cars around in circles?


:hide:
MKJ

[Subdivisions]

24. I don't. It's a personal conflict. It's like, I still have to use a car

to get from here to there. But I don't want to. I have weighed the environmental impact and by comparison to the amount of fuel used by the whole of society, it's actually quite a small impact. However, I love the smell of burning fuel and rubber at a NASCAR event, but I wouldn't want it floating through the juniper breaks that are home to the Golden-Cheeked Warbler.

Bottom line, I'm conflicted about it. But damn it's fun!

[BlackVelvet04]

33. How do you reconcile the environmental effects of

football, baseball, basketball teams flying all over the country, not to mention all the cars driven to stadiums by their fans? How about playing under the lights....think that doesn't use some energy? How about the trash that is left behind in all of those stadiums?

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

37. Never mind.

A question with a question, favorite FAUX news approach.

MKJ

[BlackVelvet04]

38. I wouldn't know as I've never seen

Faux news.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

65. I learned about their disingenuous approach in Greenwald's "Outfoxed".

MKJ

[SidDithers]

71. Nascar has all of that too...

all the transporting of cars and crews to various tracks, the hundreds of thousands of fans going to races, racing under lights, trash left behind. But in addition, race cars burn enormous amounts of fuel as part of their competition, whereas basketballers or baseballers don't.

Your comparison is flawed.

Sid

[PDenton]

85. You gotta be kidding

The amount of fuel used in car racing vs. the amount that millions of mommies in their Suburbans use to pick up their darlings every day from school? Miniscule. You want to see an environmental nightmare? Drive by my local McDonald's every weekday morning and looking at the dozens of cars idling in the drive-thru.

Plus, the engines used in racing are often high-compression, high octane engines. Meaning they can run easily on high-octane biofuels. Alot of racing circuits are already using methanol or ethanol.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

86. Why, you make sound as if NASCAR is actually GOOD for the environment.

More NASCAR, less climate change! :toast: MKJ

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

87. IRL and Champ Car use Ethanol and Methanol respectively. NASCAR uses gasoline.

I always liked open-wheel racing better anyway.

[seriousstan]

15. Look, unless you're sitting at home looking at your album of dead people and feeling sorry for

yourself, you are not a DUer. I'll bet you enjoy the 4th of July, get along with your family at holidays and even .........enjoy a football game!!!!!! How dare you.

Just remember, the left have their kool-aid stand also.

P.S. the fool who won't let the ignorant #88 car = hitler idea go, is just that....a fool.

[CoffeeCat]

16. Hey, no one is making fun of you...

However, I am impressed that you can type!

:;):

[orleans]

17. oh, you know us...we're just kidding...

:eyes:

[BlooInBloo]

19. I don't mind non-oval racing myself. But the fact is, we're in the vast minority.

[Harper_is_Bush]

22. Nascar is not sustainable. It should be mothballed. You can find less damaging things to be a fan

of!

[IndianaJones]

25. how many mpg do those Nascars get? nt.

[AX10]

26. Truth hurts, doesn't it?

:sarcasm:

[pscot]

28. I started one of those threads yesterday

It wasn't intended to piss people off, but it did seem to have that effect. I was just poking a little fun at NASCAR and its fans. We all take ourselves so goddamned seriously nowadays that humor has become damn near impossible. When I was younger anyone and everyone was fair game. We didn't get mad, we got even. I don't know when we all got to be such sensitive plants that none of us can take a fucking joke anymore. I might suggest that women's equality had something to do with it, but I'm certain that would only dig the hole deeper. You NASCAR guys out there, buck up. You're probably in the overwhelming majority.

[FredStembottom]

46. I play with, repair and collect old radios......

I get endless "geek" and "nerd" comments from the wife - and most of my friends... and I love it! I tell them I finally got in touch with my inner geek.

As I go through old radios or continue my edumacation in tube electronics (I'm nearly all self-taught), a serenity settles on my soul that very few other things do to such an extant.

Does this deep satisfaction make me not a geek? Or prove that I am a nearly hopeless one?

At this point the buddha just chuckles.

[QC]

29. But what's the point in being a progressive...

if one can't loudly assert his superiority to the great unwashed masses?

[Lerkfish]

30. I have nothing against NASCAR fans, and haven't been putting them down, however

I personally have no interest in the activity.
I think its a skill rather than an actual sport...but hey, that's just me.

[Skittles]

50. it is unbelievably boring

I don't see what people get out of it

[Lerkfish]

68. well, golf is even more boring

and my dad used to watch that all the time.

I guess I"m just not a big sports fan, but at least with say basketball or football, its still a sport, pitting your human abilities against other humans.
Car racing to me is not a sport, its just skillful drivers...which is not to say that's bad, but I don't see why it succeeds as a spectator event.
I had an ex brother in law who raced nascar on the very lowest circuit level. He could barely feed my sister and their kids, but he found money to put himself into these regional races. I went to one, and watched lap after lap of sheer boredom. AFter a while, I was praying for a crash, just to have something interesting to look at.

[Skittles]

96. don't even get me started on golf

:o

[JanMichael]

34. It sucks along with televised golf and baseball!

Go with soccer, or karate, and get over it.

[Art_from_Ark]

56. But soccer sucks, too

Running up and down a big field for a couple of hours, and maybe ending up with a score of 0-0!

Now THAT'S bo-ring!

[1932]

35. I agree. It's like some people here have read a couple of the great books out there

about how Democrats should not do things like that (eg, david mudcat saunders's book), and are doing everything possible to encourage DU'ers to behave exactly the opposite of what makes sense.

[-..__...]

36. It's not as refined or universally accepted like soccer.

And because NASCAR is uniquely American (like pro-wrassling :smoke:), that many here feel obligated to look down on it.

Try bashing soccer though and watch the "but the rest of the world plays futbol" crowd have a collective melt-down.

[BenDavid]

39. I agree with Texas.....At one time NASCAR

was considered just a bunch of old rednecks but those were back in the days of the 50's-60's 70's and into the 80's, but over the last 25 plus years NASCAR has attracted a different group of folks, and I will call em the "good old boys"......Now if you think a good old boy and a redneck or one and the same then you don't know jackshit....

There is a difference between a good old boy and a redneck........... A GOOD OLD BOY RAISES LIVESTOCK...but....A REDNECK GETS EMOTICALLY INVOLVED.....

And there you go........oh and by the way a #48 fan....

I do thank you
Ben David

[OzarkDem]

43. I remember those days

back when Rusty Wallace's dad was racing and Rusty was still in diapers.

We went a couple of times to dirt track races - that was wild, watching the dirt clods fly up into the stands on the turns. You had to learn to duck or end up with a nifty bruise.

I grew up w/ parents who were racing fans, both stock car and Indy car racing. I don't go much anymore but also love the roar of the engines and the smell of the fuel.

[DemBones DemBones]

59. Did you mean "emotionally" or erotically"

involved? Or did you say "emotically" on purpose? :evilgrin:

[lonestarnot]

40. Nascar sucks ass. Stinks, noisey, dirty, waste of fucking fuel.

Mostly just a bunch of lunk heads who like to burn money and rubber when they could be doing something constructive. Asinine.

[Thothmes]

64. Like bouncing a ball around a court trying to hit a hoop/net

[cynatnite]

41. Well, Nascar sucks...

and I have to be nice and let husband watch it on weekends when he comes home since he's a fan. To me, it's pointless for cars to drive around in circles really fast. I'm just not impressed.

But husband loves it, heads to Bristol twice a year, shows off his hats, brags about who he meets and just goes all crazy about it. He's a progressive Dem, too. :)

[dysfunctional press]

42. how can somebody call themselves an environmentalist AND a nascar fan???

:rofl:

[WildEyedLiberal]

44. I'm sure all these people saying you can't be an environmentalist and a NASCAR fan.....

- don't own a vehicle

- never fly

- do not enjoy other sports, which also require a great "waste" of electricity and resources

- never use non-biodegradable products


I wish I were perfect like the contingent of DU who always show up to chide others for their lack of purity.

[Beelzebud]

48. Exactly.

They also don't use any power from the evil power grid. :D

[Vektor]

49. Shut up, FATTY!

Hahahaha. Kidding. :-) Nice talking to you today - it's been ages!

:hug:

And yeah, love the lectures about lack of purity. Me and my 4-runner. Raping the environment while driving to my Skull and Bones Blaque Majique voo-doo meetings in the tomb with the dead hooker.

[WildEyedLiberal]

51. Dude, I've been called "fascist" twice in the past month on DU

I think I'm going to go buy some sleek black knee-high jackboots tomorrow after class - wanna come? We can get a matching pair! They'll look really stylish as we cruise around town looking for innocent bystanders to taze.

[Vektor]

54. Sounds fun.

After that, we can go drink some goat's blood from the ol' S&B pewter chalice.

GOOD TIMES.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

67. Hey that's me, and I didn't even know I was an environmentalist.

Don't fly, no car and I don't watch sports.

I DO however, use non biodegradable products.

Well, three out of four! MKJ

[ConsAreLiars]

45. Commie hippie treehugger pinko queer-luvin' NASCAR fan here.

The simple-minded fools are those who "think" that characterizing NASCAR fans with some idiot stereotype is meaningful commentary.

[Vektor]

47. Then you might enjoy these:

http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/22514529/c/3.html

I don't know much about Nascar Racing, but I love me a pair of wild, pointy-toed cowboy boots, and thse come in some amazing colors.

I like the orange best, but I'd wear any of them.

Edited to add - oops - profile says you're a man. Maybe for the wife or girlfriend then. :-)

[provis99]

52. Hey, I don't bash NASCAR fans, but frankly, its a boring, pointless "sport"

Just my opinion. Golf is stupid and dull, too. Now Global Thermonuclear Combat on the other hand...

[WhiteTara]

53. it's just such a waste of CO2 units and gas

[SeattleGirl]

57. Yeah, baby!!!!

I am a life-long Democrat, a person of above average IQ, a college grad, etc., and I too am sick of the freakin' stereotyping of NASCAR fans, of which I am one.

Can't help but wonder if the same people who bash NASCAR fans would also be tolerant of the bashing of other groups.

Hmmmm.

Me thinks not.

[AnotherGreenWorld]

61. ...

"I have a above average IQ....I'm also NASCAR fan."

[MindPilot]

63. I agree 100%; thank you for posting that.

Now, for the next ultra-sophisticated elitist who feels it necessary to shit all over a thread with their ignorant stereotypes, how about a nice warm cup of SHUT THE FUCK UP?

[alarimer]

66. Who cares?

We have way more important things to discuss than a bunch of rednecks driving in circles.

It is a stupid, pointless, gas-guzzling "sport". A single race probably uses more gas than you or I do in a year.

[gatorboy]

72. VRRROOOOOOMMMM!!!!

Just passing through. :hi:

[BulletproofLandshark]

74. I have no quarrel with NASCAR fans.

Personally, I think NASCAR itself is about as exciting as watching grass grow.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

76. Yeah, yeah, and professional wrestling is an honest to god sport.

[goodgd_yall]

77. Cheap shots,, admittedly

I save mine for gun-owners and SUV drivers.

[Parche]

79. Nascar

One of the most boring 'sports' out there........:hi:

[THUNDER HANDS]

84. I like pro wrestling (well, before The Rock left) so I know how you feel

[CANDO]

88. The NHRA is way better.

You can get up close in the pits. And there is nothing in this world that comes close to the earth-shaking hell and FURY unleashed by two Top Fuelers tearing down the 1/4 mile strip. NASCAR is for sissies in comparison.

[The Vinyl Ripper]

98. Motorcycle road racing is less sissified than drag racing..

Not that drag racers are sissies, but seriously, dragging your knees at near 200 mph for a couple of hours is not the same thing as a five second sprint to the finish line protected by a steel cage.

Having slid down the road on my ass at 70 plus I can tell you without equivocation that it sucks big time.

[CRF450]

100. Try motorcrosss.!

Jumping dirtbikes for about 20 minutes, its right up their with the most pysically demanding sports in the world.

[judaspriestess]

89. nascar is more popular than World Cup Soccer?

I find this hard to believe

[Duppers]

90. sorry

I hate it and I'm a southerner with a brother & brother-in-law who love it, one a rethug & one a big dem.

[Dr Fate]

91. I like crap too.

I'm with you. Who is to say that my crap- or anyone elses crap is better than your crap?

Rock on and enjoy your hobbies- crack a beer for me next time your car wins or whatever!!

Cheers!!!

[liberal1973]

92. The bashing of nascar

drivers is clearly appropriate. 59% of nascar drivers are repubs. Darrell waltrip is an ahole. He is the bushco of nascar.

I'm a southerner and have been to a number of nascar events. It's very much a racist event.

That 59% number came from Sports Illustrated. Also I noticed a question asking the drivers about whether you would want your kids to drive nascar. The options were yes, no, and just your son. WTF?

[Cell Whitman]

95. After Boyer crossed the finish line upside down

and on fire - I was hooked. "Even Joie Chitwood couldn't do that." :7

a little past 4 minutes into this video if anyone has not seen it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngu95gKL_1s

there aren't but three repugs I give a pass to... Gene Autry, Pat Buttrum and Nascar drivers.

[DemGa]

93. Helps keep rebel flag companies in business

I like the ones with Hank Jr's face in the middle. Yee haww!!