(WOT) Way Off Topic Entry: The Rising Popularity of NASCAR
March 17, 2009
I am wandering far afield today. It must be all the green around me. But here are some way-off-topic thoughts concerning the Rising Popularity of NASCAR.
I’m not talking about that tired old argument about why someone would watch cars drive in circles. The same type of logic could be applied to why would someone watch 2 women spend hours hitting a fuzzy ball back and forth over a net or why why would someone watch a couple of men with 16 pound balls and wrist thingies use those balls and wrist thingies to try to knock down ten motionless pins while swilling Miller. If you put it on TV, someone will watch it. That goes without saying.
What I want to try to figure out is the growing popularity of NASCAR. What was once a redneck sport followed almost exclusively by men with beer guts, pickups, and rebel flags whose wives had jeans two sizes too small and tweety bird tatoos on their breasts, and who could kick their husbands’ butts, is now mainstream–or at least almost mainstream.
People with several initials after their names and all their teeth are now watching NASCAR. People who have never even considered “just putting a pinch between their cheek and gum” now have leather Dale Jr. jackets. It is unprecedented.
I have a few theories I would like to investigate with the great minds of those who you who are enlightened enough to read my daily wisdom
Theory 1) The rising popularity of NASCAR has less do with NASCAR itself than with the rising popularity of redneckism. People want to be rednecks, or at least associated wth rednecks, but they want to be able to do it without giving up dental hygiene. NASCAR is an easy solution.
Theory 2) God is so pleased that they got rid of cigarette sponsorships, that He blessed them with wide-spread popularity and success.
Theory 3) A few years ago, evolution came to a grinding halt and began reversing itself.
Let’s get to work on this one, folks.
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1.
Wordnut | March 18, 2009 at 2:50 pm
#3 lives forever, man. Along with my “If it flies, it dies,” sticker. And my ASSKIKR license plate.
2.
Erin | April 16, 2009 at 9:01 pm
NASCAR has grown because it is one of the few sports that I have watched that continues to keep its down-home roots. Yes they may win milions of dollars in a race, and be known across the country, and world, but many are still the same guy that they were before they started racing. In my opinion, people can relate to the drivers. Like a book I read somewhere said: I’m paraphrasing, “Fans can relate to NASCAR drivers because they have gone 90 on the interstate once.” Although the cars are nothing like the vehicles you find on the streets, they still have the same basic principles. Much of the technology that NASCAR finds for their cars ends up being used on street cars that you and I drive everyday.
I am a fan of NASCAR, and have been for most of my life. To me, it’s a way of life, and I will continue to watch it no matter what. It’s not because I consider it a redneck sport, though. I’m from Illinois, which many say is in the North, but where I live has more in common to the South than the North. Maybe that is why I am a fan. I consider myself a redneck, because I was raised one. The stereotype of a redneck is not what a redneck is. You would be surprised with some of the rednecks I meet.
NASCAR to me is unlike any other sport out there. Fans have more access to their favorite drivers than to a basketball, baseball, or football team. I read a comparison somewhere that you will never find the Boston Redsock or Saint Louis Rams opening their locker rooms up for the fans. Unlike in NASCAR, where the fans can purchase garage passes. Fans can rent scanners to listen to their favorite drivers radio communication with his team. Unlike football where its sacreligious.
I believe NASCAR’s popularity growth is because everyone can choose their own driver. A family can go to one race and root for a different driver (the dad for Jeff Gordon, the mom for Elliott Sadler, the daughter for Dale Jr, and the son for Kevin Harvick). This can’t be done at a baseball game-you only have two teams to choose from. In NASCAR, you have 43 different teams to choose from.
Go to a race, see the community that NASCAR has formed. Look at how fans band together no matter if their favorite drivers are rivals. They band together to protect the sport they love. You will see the diehards buy only products that are “Official …….. Sponsor of NASCAR” or that sponsor their favorite driver-Mt. Dew for example. You will see fans boycott products that sponsor their least favorite- M&M’s for example.
3.
Bill Hugo | April 16, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Thanks for the input, Erin.