Obama goes NASCAR? Not so fast ...

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By Dan Neil, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

The Barack Obama campaign has reportedly declined the proposal of BAM Racing to be hood sponsor of the No. 49 Toyota driven by Ken Schrader at the Aug. 3 Pocono race.

In one respect, this is too bad for Obama. NASCAR fans are famous for crazy sponsor loyalty. Only the Gods of Beer know how much more Budweiser was sold because it sponsored fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. I mean, if Charles Manson sponsored Junior’s car, pretty soon fans would be saying, ‘You know, that Charlie, he’s a good ol’ boy....’ On the other hand, a losing outing for Obama’s car — and Schrader has as much chance of winning as Jesse Jackson has of getting the democratic vice presidential nod — might actually hurt Obama with NASCAR dads. That would be, in the words of the Rev. Jackson, ‘nuts.’

In other racing/political news, the McCain camp has managed to wangle a pace-car ride for the candidate’s wife, Cindy, at the Firestone 200 IndyCar race in Tennessee. To the extent that open-wheel racing appeals to the wine-and-brie set, this might be regarded as a base-broadening effort akin to Obama’s reaching out to NASCAR’s working-class whites.

I kind of think Cindy looks like an IndyCar -- all skinny and razor-sharp angles. Somebody might hang a number on her and put her in the race.