2003 Soap Box Archives

NASCAR 06/30/03

To some people it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to sit and watch a
bunch of cars go speeding around in a circle for three or four hours.

I mean after all, it’s the same thing over and over again with the
occasional bump and run which at 185 miles an hour gets pretty messy at
times. So why do people like me sit glued to the television set on a
Sunday afternoon watching Junior and Jeff and Sterling battle it out on
some stretch of asphalt in Talladega or Darlington and being thankful
that the NFL and NASCAR are on at different times most of the year.

I really can’t answer that question to your satisfaction. If you have
to ask it you probably wouldn’t understand anyway. Stock car racing
was born and nurtured mostly in the Southeast and I sometimes think
that us people from that part of the country are born with a little bit
of 40 weight motor oil in our veins. We just can’t get enough NASCAR.

Daryl Waltrip, Jeff Hammond, Larry McReynolds and crew have raised the
television coverage of NASCAR to the next level to actually being
there. The graphics, the savvy, the experience and most of all the
voices of these guys have brought racing into the living rooms of
America in a way that even the rankest novice can understand.

These guys have done for NASCAR what John Madden has done for
professional football. Their “been there done that” commentary
delivered in a genuine southern accent is dear to any race fan’s heart.

They know the tracks, they know the drivers and they know the cars.
They know NASCAR racing from first hand experience and can usually tell
you what is wrong with a race car before the pit crew has a chance to
identify the problem.

Every race fan has his favorite driver whoM they follow through thick
and thin and nobody ever had more fans than the late Dale Earnhardt.
Since his tragic death I believe that a lot of that affection has been
transferred to Dale, Jr.

A lot of the ladies like Jeff Gordon. He’s a good looking rascal and
one heck of a race car driver.

Me, I like them all but I’ll have to admit that I show a little
partiality to Sterling Marlin who just happens to be from Tennessee.

Did you ever notice that all the television shows worth watching are
all on at the same time? Sometimes on Sunday afternoon I’ll sit in
front of the television set, remote in hand and flip back and forth
between a golf tournament and the NASCAR race. And if the Atlanta
Braves have an afternoon game it further complicates things.

I don’t want to miss seeing Tiger do something fantastic or a Chipper
Jones home run. And I dang sure don’t want to miss seeing Dale
Jarrett take the checkered flag.

Boogity, boogity, boogity, let’s go racing boys!!!!!

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

 

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