hats off to NASCAR

I spent a good portion of my life thinking low of NASCAR. I'm not sure if it's the 'yankee' in me who simply don't get it or maybe it's the idea of setting a fair amount of my time to the side to watch cars drive around in circles all day. The only excitement i could ever imagine coming from that would be an accident of some sort... which is an awful thing to sit around and hope for.

and much like country music, i get sick of hearing how it's the most popular thing in the country. they say country music's more popular than rock and roll and NASCAR's more popular than football. even if the facts back it up, i just don't wanna hear it. enjoying either can sometimes seem like such an alien concept to me. my stubbornness takes over and i refuse to accept it.

but i've decided to try and put the hate away. ok, so i don't enjoy it. but i don't gotta piss on everyone else that does. and from here on in i won't.

and if you think about the roots of NASCAR and stock car racing in general, it's hard not to dig the hell out of it, at least for its historical importance.

stock car racing comes from the times of Prohibition. alcohol's illegal so someones gotta supply the illegal juice to the masses. those were bootleggers. bootleggers would tweak their cars so they could drive faster. this would help when they would find themselves being chased by those dastardly, booze-hating, buzz kill cops.

at some point, people decided to have a little fun and race these cars against one another. who's got the faster car? who's better at the artful skill of outrunning the cops?

fast forward many decades. multiply the fans many times over. find advertisers and multiply them many times over and it turns into the major conglomerate that NASCAR happens to be today.

i don't think it's any coincidence that today we see beer companies pour tons of money into advertising with NASCAR to get their names and logos on race cars and uniforms. NASCAR and alcohol couldn't have a closer relationship unless the drivers were allowed to drink while on the job.

hats off to you NASCAR. a sport rich in tradition, built upon the foundation of America's love for booze. God bless America and God bless NASCAR. but most importantly, God bless booze!