For Candidates in the Race This Season, It’s the Pits

The mere thought of it causes chills of fear within the stoic brownstone institutions that frame the body of thought of our country’s intellectual pool. Could it be that our next president, and perhaps the political balance of the Senate, will be decided by a group of men defined by a faded T-shirt that says “Body by Budweiser”?

Politics is a game of numbers -- and the NASCAR numbers are certainly staggering. NASCAR Nextel races (the premier level of racing in the sport) often draw larger crowds than a Super Bowl, an NBA Finals game and a World Series game combined. Last year, 17 of the 20 highest- attended sporting events were NASCAR Winston Cup events. (Nextel takes over for Winston as the primary sponsor in 2004.) Overall, NASCAR has 75 million fans, which means NASCAR attracts 37% of the U.S. population.

Yet, although these numbers translate into a very impressive consumer bloc, I question whether they represent the political elixir that the public office aspirants thirst for.

Democratic pollster Celinda Lake is credited with inventing the “NASCAR dad” moniker. Lake says the Democrats need to carry about 50% of them to win back the White House. Not to be undone by his Democratic rivals, President Bush honored NASCAR champion Matt Kenseth and a large group of current and former Winston Cup stars at the White House last week.

Those who track consumer trends are well aware of the explosive growth of the sport over the last decade and, in particular, the last five years. Drivers like Jeff Gordon, the late Dale Earnhardt and his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., mark the foundation of star power that transcends the sport.

But the careful marketing and promotion of the sport’s superstars are but a fraction of the appeal of NASCAR. To me, NASCAR represents a blinding spectacle of speed and power, of man and machine. I believe that in many ways NASCAR is a metaphor for life. Who does not race through life at breakneck speeds only inches from the competition and an unforgiving wall? What could be more American than that?

The political targeting of the sport’s core fan base comes in part from the speed with which the sport has grown in recent years. You see, in the eyes of the political carnivores, one would believe that NASCAR’s 75 million fans had suddenly been discovered in some deep Southern bayou ready to be reeled in.

The reality is quite different. NASCAR is not a new kid on the block. Rather, NASCAR was started back in 1948 by Bill France (the France family still controls the sport to this day) as a means to bring some continuity to the loose schedule of races throughout the southern United States.

But long ago the sport outgrew its parochial Southern roots and today hosts events in many large metropolitan areas, including Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Boston and Los Angeles. Overall, NASCAR, through all its series, reaches every corner of the country, with 1,805 racing events in 38 states.

The image of a beer-swilling Bubba tipping the scales of power is as inaccurate as it is unfair to the diversity and sophistication of who NASCAR fans really are. Yes, NASCAR has an immense (and growing) fan base and, yes, the sport does represent a reflection of America, but it is important to recognize that reflection reveals a broad economic spectrum that just happens to share a common passion for auto racing.

Seventy-nine percent of NASCAR fans earn between $20,000 and $100,000, compared with 72% of Americans nationwide. Twelve percent of NASCAR fans earn between $75,000 and $100,000 -- the same percentage of the population at large.

Despite the perception, only 38% of fans come from the South. Sixty-two percent of the fans come from the Northeast, the Midwest and the West.

To suggest that the next president will be decided by the collective will of “NASCAR dads” is simply shortsighted.

I am a huge fan of NASCAR for the speed, strategy and wholesome family fun it represents, but not because of a kindred political trust with my fellow fans. I think that the core fans of the sport, the so-called NASCAR dads, see it not as a vehicle of political expression but rather as an escape from the almost constant bombardment of the same.

Matthew E. Adams is author of “Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul” (Health Communications, 2003). E-mail: NASCARSoul @aol.com.