Who says all NASCAR people are rednecks?

[RoccoR5955]

L to R. NASCAR drivers Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle, and Jimmie Johnson pose with President Obama earlier this year.

Here's an article from this past January that I found that mentions 2 other drivers, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jeff Gordon.

CONCORD, N.C. – Count Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. among those excited about President Barack Obama and the new administration that took office on Tuesday.

“I’m as excited as everybody else is,” Earnhardt Jr. said during Wednesday’s stop at Hendrick Motorsports on the Sprint Media Tour hosted by Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “I wish I had been able to go to the inauguration. That would have been nice to have been able to have been there, but it was pretty busy it looked like.”

NASCAR’s most popular driver hasn’t met Obama but would apparently jump on the opportunity to do so.

“I’d love to meet our new president. That would be a great honor of mine,” he said. “I was as excited as everybody else. I feel like that we all understand that is in a difficult situation. Even with the bailouts and all that stuff, it hasn’t totally fixed everything. … We’ve still got a long ways to go.

“We’ve still got a lot of different areas to get uglier, so hopefully we all will survive the worst of it.”

Gordon also expressed an eagerness to see what the new administration can do.

“I’m very excited,” he said. “I think all of us right now have this sense of hope that this is a symbol of hope. I think it’s great for our country, and I think it’s going to represent us well around the world.

“That alone is not what turns economies around – it’s going to be a lot of hard work, a lot of pressure – but I’m certainly optimistic and hopeful and excited.”


It seems that some of the people that many rednecks follow, are not as conservative as some of us think. I was surprised to find that Dale was eager to meet the President, and wanted to be at the inauguration.

[SoCalDem]

1. My oldest is a Nascar FIEND..

IT 6-figure yuppie, married to a Mormon girl....I don't know how he got the Nascar gene:)

[Gabi Hayes]

2. riddle me this, batman:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1894424

[SmileyRose]

21. There's a LOT of union Democrats who love NASCAR

that article CAN'T be right. I know far too many NASCAR fans that are either solid Democratic Party voters or very liberal leaning and generally vote Democratic. I do not believe that Sports Illustrated poll in the least.

[virgogal]

3. People who stereotype,that's who.

[BlooInBloo]

4. I don't know anyone who says *ALL* of them are rednecks.

[imdjh]

5. Yeah, dress them up, but when they do the Cheerios commercials they lay hick on thick.

I have lived in the South most of my life and some of these NASCAR and CMT guys are trying a little too hard. The truth is that the farther back in the woods, the less able normal people are to understand you. It's not that you have an exaggerated Southern Mountain or Tidewater dialect, it's that you're speak pure Yorkish and no one can understand pirate talk .

[Gabi Hayes]

6. more from other link

President Obama on Wednesday afternoon welcomed 17 current and former NASCAR drivers to the White House to honor the sport’s 2008 champion Jimmie Johnson, but if their campaign contributions are any indication, they might have preferred to have been greeted by a Republican president.

The invited drivers have given a total of $113,625 in federal campaign contributions since the early 1980s, all of which went to Republican candidates and party committees, a POLITICO analysis of federal campaign finance records found.

The campaign of Obama’s 2008 Republican opponent Sen. John McCain received $1,000 each from retired NASCAR legends Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip. Johnson, who won the 2008 Sprint Cup championship by accumulating the most points from race victories last year, Waltrip and four-time points champion Jeff Gordon each wrote $2,300 checks to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s rival campaign for the GOP nomination.

...........

Here are the total federal contributions given by the NASCAR stars invited to the White House Wednesday:

Darrell Waltrip: $60,625

Richard Petty: $23,450

Dale Jarrett: $6,200

Kurt Busch: $5,000 *

Jeff Gordon: $4,300

Tony Stewart: $4,000

Greg Biffle: $3,500

Jeff Burton: $3,000

Jimmie Johnson: $2,300

Kurt Busch: $1,000

Bobby Labonte and Bobby Labonte: $250 *

* Contributions made by racing companies associated with drivers to party committees before the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act banned corporate contributions to parties

[keith the dem]

7. I confess that Nascar is a guilty pleasure of mine.

Nascar is a very complex technical activity. The people who produce need to have a significant amount of brain power. People with brain power tend to be liberal (understatement).

This is much like country music, the real talent, not the 3 cord strummers, are mostly liberal. (I was fortunate enough to spend some time with a few of the top country music instrumentalist a few years ago.)

The unfortunate thing is that this liberal inclination does not extend far with the fans.

[PM Martin]

9. The more prominent (US) country acts of the 21st century

seemed to have made their dollars off of propagandizing the "War on Terror".

[Swamp Rat]

8. tiny, meth-soaked heads are exploding in freepland

:D

[Gabi Hayes]

14. SUNDAY!!!! At beautiful US 30. the drag racing capital of mid america!

Big Daddy Don Garlits and the Swamp Rat, toe to toe with Connie Kalitta and the Bounty Hunter!!

[Swamp Rat]

17. The rest is road kill, dude!

MOPAR roolz!!

http://image.automotive.com/f/featuredvehicles/9757332+pheader/hrdp_0802_01_z+bigs_new_digger+don_garlits.jpg

[Gabi Hayes]

18. who dat? dat top one look like a toy

[Swamp Rat]

22. Dat's Don Garlits!

:D

[madrchsod]

10. i read somewhere that dale jr is a democrat.

[blueknight]

11. i played poker with jeff gordon

very nice guy, and i dont know if he liked obama, but he was quite clear that he DIDNT like bush

[Bombero1956]

12. as much as I like Nascar I have to say this

I believe that these drivers are painfully aware of the difficulties the automotive industry has suffered in the last few years and that they understand what the President is trying to do will benefit them in the long run. Nascar's philosophy has always been "race on Sunday, sell on Monday".

[NYMountaineer]

13. I'd ask it a different way...

Who says all Rednecks are crazy Freepers?

I love V8 engines, beer, football, barbecues and fireworks on the Fourth of July, and I've got Obama's back to the fullest so long as he's getting the work done that he needs to.

[cherokeeprogressive]

24. Geez, with credentials like that, I'm wondering how you got into the club in the first place?

I had to decry anything internal combustion, sign an oath promising that I believed drinking American Beer was like having sex in a canoe (fucking close to water), and tell the world that my pets spent the Fourth under the bed in the back bedroom and that I loathed fireworks and everything they stood for.

I had my fingers crossed behind my back, and for good measure, my toes crossed in my shoes. Good thing I wasn't wearing flip-flops or Birks.

[bridgit]

15. Two of our very best gf's in this world are from Indiana and all about NASCAR, fact...

When a race is on, after we take in eats & Scooby Snacks for the day I don't even bother to call them...they call when the race is over

[ohheckyeah]

16. Dale, Jr.

took a number of his fellow drivers to see Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11.

[RoccoR5955]

19. I think he took the whole pit crew.

I think that a lot of people have the wrong idea about some of these guys.
I remember, when watching a race, the pre-race show was on, and they asked drivers what their first concert was. Jeff Gordon answered "Herbie Hancock." Herbie FREAKIN Hancock, I thought!! Who would have thought that a NASCAR driver listened to jazz!

[ohheckyeah]

20. You're right. I don't know why I was thinking it was other drivers.

It was in fact his whole pit crew.

[Tyler Generation]

23. You got wonder how many people "forget"

When public people they love blatantly do things that offend their patrioctic, God loving, real American, conservative, family supporting the troops took our jobs values.

For example this, or Toby Keith supporting Obama in the primaries.