Full Throttle

For a sport that is inexorably tied in some minds to the type of idiocy on display in such things as Talladega Nights it’s surprising (sadly) someone from the academic community can so precisely define NASCAR’s culture so elegantly.

Jim Wright a professor of sociology at the University of Central Florida has a valid “excuse” however, he grew up in the culture, and as a result has defined the culture with a capital “C”.

Wright’s book, “Fixin’ to Git: One Fan’s Love Affair with NASCAR’s Winston Cup,” documents his early exposure to racing through his father, who was a stock-car racer in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Wright also explores some of the sociological aspects of the NASCAR phenomenon, including fans, and finds that for many racing is linked to rural values - no matter where they themselves live.

Part of NASCAR’s appeal is that the NASCAR subculture intersects easily and seamlessly with other subcultural strands in contemporary American life.

There is, first, the obvious connection to the regional subculture of the South - more important is the strong link to small-town and rural culture and to traditional outdoors pursuits.

In the Great Cultural Divide between city and country, whose importance in American political and social life rivals or even exceeds the divide between worker and owner, rich and poor, male and female, and even black and white, NASCAR people are unambiguously, defiantly, proudly country folk - and that’s true even if they live in downtown Atlanta.”

One can only imagine the looks Wright receives in academic circles when he makes the admission he’s a NASCAR fan and, oh the horrors, even wrote a book about it.

Wright touches on something I suspect everyone has seen, heard or read in a forum somewhere.

Who hasn’t read or heard “NASCAR is losing its roots,” or “Staten Island, what to hell are they gonna do on Staten Island amongst those elitist snobs?”

The animosity directed towards NASCAR and ISC for abandoning North Wilkesboro and Rockingham for tracks west of the Mississippi is near legendary (nevermind NASCAR has been there for 40 years) and, to hear them tell it, have sworn off the sport all together.

Oddly, most of the “threats” are followed up with continued residence in the same blogs and forums.

In addition to Wright’s Great Cultural Divide there is a second divide that separates the sport’s fans by two distinct eras of NASCAR.

I believe that second division might explain in part some of the disparaging words directed Jeff Gordon’s way when he tied Dale Sr. this past weekend.

(David Poole cites one of the more delusional ones I’ve seen but he’s far from alone. EDIT: From the description Mark DeCotis spotted the same idiot. If you really care to know Google “Jeff Gordon