Seriously? Seriously!

Is there another sport as patriotic as NASCAR? OK, soccer outbreaks of national pride aside, seriously now, is there?

Military flyovers thrill 100,000 screaming fans in the stands at races.

Lowe's, er Charlotte Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway unfurl the biggest American flags I've ever seen.

And have you noticed racefans during the National Anthem? Hats come off heads and are placed over hearts. Veterans of the Armed Forces stand at attention and salute.


The U.S. Army, Air Force and National Guard have their logos on racecars and sponsor two fairly well-known drivers, Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Did I mention the military recruits heavily at NASCAR events?


So, can U.S. Rep Betsy McCollum of Minnesota be serious when she wants to stop the sponsorship in NASCAR. Now, understand, it's JUST in NASCAR. Not any other sport, just NASCAR.

She introduced an amendment to the 2011 government appropriations bill. Granted, this is only 1 amendment out of 433 to vote on this week.

When I read this today in Scene Daily, I was incredulous. Her chief of staff is quoted as saying, "This is not only putting a sticker on the car, this is paying for a race team. That doesn't contribute to military readiness."

Seriously? It's no different than advertising anywhere else.

Do the TV ads and roadside billboards contribute to military readiness? They do if people are attracted to the military by them.

Is U.S. Army-Army Strong logo any different on the hood of the Stewart-Haas #39 in the camera eye for 3 hours every weekend? That's a few million viewers.

Now, Junior may not always be the best spokesman off script, but Ryan Newman? He's a pretty good ambassador for any sponsor. Degree in engineering from Purdue, fairly smart about math, science and technology. Speaks well off the cuff. The Army seems fairly pleased with him. And with Junior, but they probably attract different crowds.

Our service men and women watch NASCAR via the internet while being deployed overseas. If they are proud to see their branch on Ryan's #39, that's a morale booster. When National Guard members look at Junior and see their logo staring back, they feel connected to him. Again, good for morale.

I don't see the problem. So, Rep. McCollum of Minnesota, do your job and focus on something serious!



Photo notes: I took the saluting veteran, the flag at Bristol and the Ryan Newman photos myself. The awesome shot of the Bristol card stunt (which is in the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest card stunt ever) was taken by my good friend Paul Mullins of St. Albans, W.Va.

The new "it" driver for 2011

The youngest driver with the oldest team. A 20-year-old with a 60-year-old team. Who saw this coming? Trevor Bayne? Wait, doesn’t he drive Nationwide? We’re Facebook friends and I like his sponsor, OUT! Products for your doggies.

And this wasn't a bad way to celebrate his birthday, which was this week.

Jeff Gordon trusted him enough to hook up during the race and let him push the car. That says a lot for trust of a young kid on the track.

The young man has a pretty level head on his shoulders. He said he’s not going to splurge with the winnings and this isn’t the biggest thing that’s ever happened to him.

He said the biggest thing that’s ever happened to him was finding Christ. “He put me here for a reason, gives us purpose. These things (races and trophies) can go away, but He will never go away,” he told a room full of reporters after the race.

“I want to model myself after Jesus. I want to pattern my life after Him.”

“I’m not putting it (the money) up for retirement yet,” he said of the money. He mentioned Motor Racing Outreach and Back to Back Ministries in Mexico. “We’re going to them as much as we can.”

That’s commitment of his mind and his heart, and it’s nice to hear.

He’s not all seriousness, though. Hoping Mike Helton was listening somewhere, Trevor would like to discuss the possibility of changing that box he checked to get points in NNS, not the Cup.

“Jack (Roush) joked ‘You know if you win this, one of us is going to be mad.” Trevor races NNS for Roush Fenway and Cup for the Wood Brothers.

His popularity is already soaring. He gained 8,000 new followers in Twitter after the race. And he only packed a couple of things for the race, and drove himself to Daytona. Obviously, someone will take his ride home, because he’ll be on the talk show circuit for a day or two.

It was Feb. 18, 2001...

Ten years. Five hundred twenty weeks. Three thousand, six hundred fifty days.

That’s how long since a wife has felt her husband’s kiss. Since a girl has hugged her daddy. Since a son shared a laugh and a day hunting or fishing with his father.

Since a sport has watched its champion. The People’s Champion.

I’ve thought long and hard about what could be said about this anniversary today. Feb. 18, 2001. Ten years since Dale Earnhardt died in a crash at Daytona International Speedway. A lot has been said, written and broadcast. So there is certainly nothing I could add there.

This may sound sacrilegious, but it’s hard to be sad and somber about this. This is a man who died doing something he really, really enjoyed. How many lives are that said about?

All the things I’ve seen and read about “Dale” show me he lived life on his own terms, did what he pleased and what he liked. As the saying goes, “He took life by the horns.” I believe he understood the concept that life is too short to not enjoy it.

Did racing stop that day? No. So, obviously that wasn’t the end of the world. The sun rose the next day and lives have gone forward. Each week, 43 men take to the Sprint Cup races and this weekend will be no different.

But did it have an effect on the sport? Certainly it did. NASCAR got an even sharper focus on safety. Head restraints, helmet changes, hatches in the tops of cars, the Safer Barriers have come about since then.

Economically it has been both good and bad. There are some folks who say they haven’t been back to a race since “the day Dale died.” OK, their loss. They may say they don’t but I don’t believe for one minute they don’t still watch. Sales of souvenirs exploded. You still see cars and trucks with “3” stickers. There are personalized license plates. In West Virginia, you can get sanctioned NASCAR tags of the #3. Intimidator t-shirts are plentiful at the track in at least two haulers, and at WalMart, both on bodies and up for sale on the racks. There are books and DVDs hailing Dale Earnhardt.

The death of Dale Earnhardt 10 years ago was certainly tragic. All loss of life is tragic. He was the face of racing. He was, despite probably being rather wealthy, an everyday man in the eyes of the fans. He hunted, fished, loved the outdoors and loved his family. I’m sure there was a dog or two in the picture at some point.

SPEED has shown “The Day,” which follows what transpired 10 years ago, who knows how many times in the past week. The scenes are sometimes uncomfortable. Richard Childress, Ken Schrader, Mikey and Darrell Waltrip and Danny “Chocolate” Myers, are all in tears. You see the footage of Victory Lane that day and the greeting between Schrader and Mikey in a whole new light. And did we really need to see the slow ride from the track to the hospital and the EMS taking Earnhardt from the ambulance into the emergency room, a medic obviously doing CPR? Probably not.

In the weeks that ensued, I forced myself to watch a race for the first time. After interviewing people about Earnhardt for stories, I wanted to see for myself why everyone watched. After a few months, looking at the mechanics of everything about it, watching the fans and consuming everything I could find written or filmed about the sport, I was hooked.

I’ll be at Charlotte for the All-Star Race again this year, and probably for the Coke 600. And I’ll be at Bristol in August. I've been to the Hall of Fame. I took the photo at the top of this blog a week before the First Class was enshrined there.

My friends and I are planning a pilgrimage to Daytona in 2012 for the 500. Yes, Dale Earnhardt did change the sport. And I guess in a way, my life. I've made friends across the country, and the biggest thing we have in common, the reason we ever met, is stockcar racing. These are friends from California and Arizona. Good friends. Friends you keep.