NASCAR: dreaming in red, white, and blue
I stayed up late last night to watch the Pepsi 400 race at Daytona. A serious crash on Lap 35 left my guy, the classy Mark Martin, with no injuries but a 39th-place finish and winless in his career at the famed Florida speedway. Despite witnessing one of the best NASCAR racers of our time fall out of contention, however, I witnessed something else - Americans who genuinely, unashamedly love America. What a rare thing these days.
NASCAR is justifiably known for its family-friendly atmosphere, sense of fan community, and time-honored interaction between fans and drivers. But as political hopefuls, corporate sponsors, and television network executives have been savvy enough to note, its popularity is growing and its fan base is diverse.
Condescending ignorance
And aside from the derisive, stereotypical inferences perpetuated by biased journalists and condescending elites 
(sorry for the redundancy there), not all NASCAR fans are Southern, drive pickup trucks, live in trailer parks, guzzle beer, or plaster little Confederate flags on everything they own. No, the flag you see plastered all over everything they own is the Red, White, and Blue of the Stars and Stripes.
For all you snotty, supercilious, silver-spooned Blue Staters who think thusly and equate ignorant, trailer-trashy, brainwashed NASCAR fans to conservative politics, think again. You are not in touch with the sport's demographics any more than you understand the values and sensibilities of the families comprising Middle America, or roughly 80 percent of the country. An estimated 75 million NASCAR fans average earnings of more than $50,000 per year, 43 percent have earned a college degree, and nearly half of the fan base is comprised of women.
And oh by the way, survey after survey has shown that NASCAR fans will vote for any political hopeful -- regardless of party affiliation -- who supports our kids in the military and is committed to a strong, safe, and economically viable America. I mean come on, Clinton spouted those words and they voted for him, so stick that in your Howard Dean pipe and smoke it.
Appreciation for America
Do NASCAR fans respect America and support Her in times of strife? Puhleeze - do fish swim? At what other major sporting event would Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld be honored with a prolonged standing ovation and besieged by fans who just wanted to shake his hand or get an autograph? Yeah, right...as if that would happen at Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park. But rather than wondering why NASCAR fans love America and are not embarrassed to display such emotions publicly, perhaps the questions asked should be:
But why wouldn't the leader of our young men and women proudly serving in the military be warmly welcomed at those venues, especially during wartime? What's wrong with those people who think otherwise?
Singers Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, also NASCAR fans, can't explain this phenomenon either but express its roots in their lyrics:
Only in America, Where we dream in red, white, and blue. Only in America, Where we dream as big as we want to. We all get a chance, Everybody gets to dance. Only in America - Dreaming in red, white, and blue.
For whatever reasons, NASCAR fans not only appear to believe in this dream - they live it.