A Sport At a Crossroads

We all have our guilty pleasures; that fattening food we regret eating the next day, the televison show or movie we won't admit we like to our friends, the song, band or performer we hide from our streaming playlist.

Guilty pleasures can extend to sports, and one of mine is NASCAR! To many activists and allies, it is odd that someone like me, a critic of rural Whites, would be a fan of a sport that has it roots in the rural, American South. The sport is trying to broaden it's base with drivers like Daniel Suarez, a Mexican and Bubba Wallace, an African-American in the top level series and Hailie Degan, a female, in one of the developmental series. In the owner's suite you may find NBA great Michael Jordan or music superstar Pitbull. American Football legend Emmitt Smith is involved with a developmental series team as an owner, and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather has talked of forming a team.

NASCAR remembers where it came from, and who the majority of the people in the seats are. In the past, Confederate Flags were seen flying above Recreational Vehicles in the infield, etc, the "Let's Go Brandon" chant began at the end of a developmental series race, and Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump both made appearances at races at Daytona International Speedway, regarded as the flagship circuit of NASCAR. Most recently, Greg Abbot, the Governor of Texas, who has passed an near-total ban on abortion, voting restrictions that many say disenfranchise the people of color who are driving much of the states growth, and other reactionary legislation, is going to give the command to start the annual all-star race being held at Texas Motor Speedway. Twitter was not amused, and many females who cover the sport voiced displeasure.

What does NASCAR want to do? Does it want to continue to expand beyond the rural Southerner, but at the risk of losing it's base? Or might it want to fully embrace the base, and become a sort of "safe space" from the "woke"?