"I wanna go fast!" "If you ain't first you're last."
Thanks to Ricky Bobby, the stereotype of NASCAR is a bunch of uneducated and unskilled people from the South who love to turn left. 20 years ago that might have been true, but in today's NASCAR, it couldn't be more far off.
The sport was born and raised on the southern beaches of Daytona Beach, Florida. In fact, Daytona is still home to the biggest race of the year, the Daytona 500. Almost every team in NASCAR holds its headquarters and shops near Charlotte, North Carolina, and the NASCAR Hall of Fame is located their. Rednecks live and bread the sport of NASCAR yes, but the sport has taken a global turn in the past 20 years.
In the early days, drivers like Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, and the Allisons ruled the racetrack, all of them winning tons of races and championships throughout their careers. They all called southern states like North and South Carolina, Kentucky, and Florida home. Even one of the sports most popular names, Dale Earnhardt, hailed from North Carolina. But since they all retired and Earnhardt's tragic death in 2001, the sport has grown throughout the U.S.
For the past 15 years, the NASCAR champion has come from somewhere other then the south. Two icons of the sport for the past 20 years, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, both called Indiana home. Both driver have won multiple championships. (Gordon 4 and Stewart 3.) And now, both drivers are retiring, Gordon after this season and Stewart after next season. Since NASCAR introduced a "playoff" type format to determine the season's champion, Jimmie Johnson, from California, has dominated winning six championships including a record five in a row. Two of the sports most controversial drivers, Kurt and Kyle Busch, call Las Vegas home, and their main rival, Brad Keselowski, is from Michigan. Oh yeah, and the defending champion, Kevin Harvick, comes from the real "country" town of Bakersfield, California. I'm being facetious of course, but you get my point, NASCAR has grown from the four or five states that border the Carolina's, to all across the U.S and is continuing to grow. Drivers like Juan Pablo Montoya, and Daniel Suraez have come from Columbia and Mexico, just to try and race with some of the best drivers in the world.
If you haven't watched NASCAR races before, then you probably believe the stereotype that all NASCAR drivers are rednecks. That also means you probably thinking all rednecks have decent sized beer bellies. Wrong! Drivers like Landon Cassill, Carl Edwards, and Jimmie Johnson, are all famous for their physical health just as much as their driving ability. Kyle Busch once told Fox Sports that Denny Hamlin could be in the NBA if he wanted to.
So next time, you want to shoot down NASCAR because it's a "redneck sport." Actually watch a race and see how many "rednecks" you find out there.
