In defense of the NASCAR drivers who declined the invitation.

[bvar22]

I'm willing to cut them some slack.
For some of them, the next 8 days are absolutely the WORST time for any distraction.
Especially Greg Biffle.
He is in a Must WIN situation for the next two races.

I've been fascinated by Stock Car Racing since the '50s,
when the only exposure was through Wide World of Sports.
I met my wife 10 years ago in Montana, and she in now a converted fan
who looks forward to the races every weekend.
At first, she couldn't understand WHAT could possibly be interesting about a bunch of guys driving
in a circle for 500 miles. :shrug:

But after watching a few races, and having some of the complexities explained,
she very quickly caught on, and now enthusiastically enjoys watching the races.
She jumps up & down and shouts advice to the drivers.
Most of her "advice" is technically and strategically sound.
I'm very impressed.
She is also an excellent driver who prefers to Drive a Stick,
and can competently drift a turn on a dirt road.
"I learned THAT in Montana," she tells me as she smoothly downshifts, bumps the revs, and brakes going into the turn.
:loveya:


The next week is absolutely the WORST time for some of these drivers to be distracted.
NASCAR is 8 days away from their Superbowl eliminations.
Drivers MUST be seated in the top 12 to qualify, and some of the 42 drivers who declined the invitation
are On the Bubble for Elimination like Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer, and Carl Edwards is backsliding badly.
At this level of competition, I can understand not being able to respond to ANY outside distraction for the next week.
1/100th of a second over 500 miles can Make or Break them.
24/7 OBSESSION is required for those on the bubble.
They OWE that to their teams.

For others like Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, who are safely In the Chase,
or those who are already mathematically eliminated,
they can spare a day for a trip to Washington.

For the privilege of driving, these guys are OWNED by their Corporate Sponsors.
They can't just Not Show Up or tell their Corporate Bosses to Reschedule at the last minute
because they have something more important to do,
not if they want to stay in the driver's seat.
It is sad, and I don't believe that any of these Men or Women LIKE it this way,
but it is what it is, and I CAN understand making that choice for a seat in one of these race cars.

It wasn't always that way.
I preferred Stock car Racing in the Old Days,
before the BIG MONEY and Corporate Sponsorship,
when "Privateers" built their own cars and had a chance of winning,
but I still love it today. It is what it is.


The most beautiful Stock Car Ever Built.
Smokey Yunick's hybrid 66/67 Chevelle custom built for the 1968 Daytona 500,
but NOT allowed in the race.
The prevailing gossip was that Smokey had carefully scaled down every body piece to create a 15/16 scale "reproduction" that would have had an unfair aerodynamic advantage.

""For 1968 Smokey took all that he had learned from the ’67 Daytona car added even more. In the end, NASCAR didn’t agree with Smokey’s rule interpretations and never let the car run, not even in tire testing! He ended up selling the car to a racer in Georgia who tried to run it in a Sportsman race at Daytona in 1969 and NASCAR again refused to let it race. In 1988 Smokey realized he had never been paid for the car and tracked it down. He recovered it from a city dump where the car had been taken after the shop it was stored in had burned down. Once back in the “Best Damn Garage in Town” it was carefully restored back to the condition it was in when presented to tech inspection at Daytona in 1968."

Ah, Man.
Those were the days.
I realize this may not be a popular opinion here.
Take it or Leave it.

"and don't criticize what you can't understand."--- Bobby Dylan


Solidarity!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. What invite?

[secondwind]

2. my question also.

[DJ13]

4. Five NASCAR Drivers Decline President Obama's White House Invitation

http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2011/9/1/2399376/nascar-drivers-decline-president-barack-obama-white-house-invitation-jimmie-johnson-2011

Update: Kurt Bush will be attending, so its four drivers.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

10. Thanks.

[monmouth]

3. They were invited to the White House by the President of the United States.

They declined the invitation as they had scheduling conflicts....sigh.

[Dreamer Tatum]

13. If someone rejected a Bush invitation, there'd have been high fives.

God I hate inconsistency.

[Occulus]

27. Look, I strongly dislike Obama, but that comparison is way out of bounds

an invitation from Obama, for example, isn't soaked in the blood of a whole generation of Iraqis.

[Dreamer Tatum]

30. oh please nt

[Rex]

5. Meh...who gives a shit, it is just NASCAR after all.

Not like he invited 5 leaders of foreign nations or something to that effect. It was just some dumb jocks making a 'statement' that will come back to bite them in their capitalist asses imo.

[geologic]

14. Lotta folks "give a shit"...

I got yer "statement"(s) right here genius:

http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2011/9/2/2400956/nascar-drivers-white-house-visit-tony-stewart-greg-biffle-kevin-harvick-2011/in/2164767

http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2011/9/3/2402403/carl-edwards-nascar-driver-white-house-visit-president-obama-2011/in/2164767

[Bluenorthwest]

6. I can tell you this, the display put on by those who like other

sports (I don't like any of them) toward the entire racing world over the actions of a few people make me chuckle and them vomit just a bit. I kept thinking of the semi-weekly 'pro ball' player who spits 'faggot' at a fan or a fellow player, the ones who go down for all manner of crimes, the ones who kidnap neighbor's pets kill them and then are cheered and paid millions. Yeah, damn those racing fans, how could they endure watching something with a guy in it who'd not show up at the White House! So much worse than the slurs and puppy killing.

[Fumesucker]

7. Well said..

I find myself agreeing with you very often.

I wish you'd repeat the reply you gave someone earlier today on one of those "party unity uber alles" threads as an OP, it was a brilliant deconstruction of that particularly virulent meme.

[Chorophyll]

45. +1

Don't forget the assaults, sexual and otherwise.

Whether these NASCAR guys are making a "statement" or whether they just can't make it that day... who cares?

[leveymg]

8. Look, I'm enough of a fan to know that's Smokey's 7/8 scale cheater car. But, the drivers are jerks

unless they just come out and admit that they're: a) racist red necks who have never eaten with a Black man; b) GOP rednecks to the bone, who wouldn't shake the hand of Democrat unless he was George Wallace; or c) both of the above.

And, yes, that is one fine looking stock car.

[DJ13]

12. The drivers are corporate owned

If their corporate sponsors wanted them to attend, they would be there.

[bvar22]

17. That is a fairly harsh judgment.

..and your list of possible alternatives does lack imagination.

Tell me,
do you know any of these drivers personally?
Tony Stewart
Kevin Harvick
Carl Edwards
Greg Biffle

...or did you judge them solely based on a pre-conceived StereoType?

I don't know any of them personally,
but I DO know that both Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards have attended other Obama White House events honoring NASCAR Drivers.


This is a photo on Carl Edwards posing with Michael Hall (Grand Am Team Owner) at the White House NASCAR invitational in 2009.
You can see President Obama in the background.


President Obama has chosen Carl Edwards as a member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition.

Here is a photo of Carl Edwards being honored for his appointment to the President's Council.
You can read about it on the White House's Website here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/first-lady-launches-president-s-council-fitness-sports-and-nutrition



And here is a photo of Greg Biffle (Far Left) attending the White House Dinner Honoring the NASCAR drivers in 2009.
Greg Biffle is from Vancouver, Washington, not a place known for their "rednecks".

Admittedly, attendance at an Obama White House event is NOT enough to determine that someone is not a "racist".
So to, the declining of an invitation is not enough to label someone a "racist redneck".



What these two photos DO,
is force you to add another alternative to your list.
"D) Maybe they just can't go this year."

...and THAT is the point of my OP.


Peace.

[leveymg]

39. I don't know about the individuals named, but NASCAR is where baseball was before Jackie Robinson

Still segregated, or even worse, a self-selecting exclusively white sport. One can make the same point about yacht-racing and professional hockey, I guess, but for a mass audience "blue collar" spectacle, NASCAR doesn't even appear to try to diversify its participant base and audience.

I hate stereotypes, too, but this one seems to have substance. Is it wrong to criticize that?

As for the individuals involved, it was unfair of me to paint them as racists, and I withdraw that comment and apologize.

Peace.

[catabryna]

9. As a woman who no longer owns a set of nice wheels...

I'm twitter-pated. :9

[Lugnut]

11. Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart are also team owners.

NASCAR teams are multi-million dollar businesses and, as you pointed out, this is an extremely crucial point in the season. Winners retain and attract sponsors. Losers eventually fade away and people lose their jobs.

Smokey Yunick knew all the tricks. My favorite Smokey quote is, "Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go?".

[bvar22]

19. Tony Stewart is also "on the bubble" too (IIRC)

His performance over the next 8 days will determine IF he makes the chase this year.

My all time favorite quote is from Carl Edwards, one of the drivers who turned down the invitation.
Carl was in 2nd place behind Jimmie Johnson on the last turn at Kansas in Sept 2009, and made a successful Kamikaze Dive pass around Johnson for the lead, but slid up the track and hit the wall.
After the race Edwards said,
"I knew I was going to hit the wall,
but I didn't think it would slow me down so much.
It works in the Video Game."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9vIvQYp-Bg&NR=1

[Lugnut]

25. Tony is holding on to spot #10 in the Chase for now.

One bad race at this point could knock him out of the top ten. His other team - #39 Newman - is in 7th but he's not locked in.

That's a great and very funny Edwards quote! I was watching the race when that happened. He won the Nationwide race earlier tonight at Atlanta. Tomorrow night's race should be exciting.

I've been a NASCAR fan for more than 20 years. When Dale Earnhardt died at Daytona in '01 NASCAR lost some of its excitement for me. I cheer for Harvick, Newman and Stewart but I have no #1 driver anymore. I watch most of the races but not with the same level of enthusiasm I once had. Brian France's alterations did nothing to make the sport better in my opinion but I am still a NASCAR fan.

[bluedigger]

40. That's funny.

I've used that move, too. In the video game.:rofl:

[ileus]

15. They've got a lot of working going on in these last races for the chase. Invite them after Nov.

[Armstead]

16. I usually agree with you on things. But in this case, stock car racing is just driving in a circle.

But to each his own, I guess.

[geologic]

18. Thanx--

how kind of you...

[bvar22]

21. There is much, much more to it ..

...than anyone could fathom at first glance.
Like most things in life,
the more one knows about something the more interesting it becomes.

Like I mentioned in the OP, when I met my wife 10 years ago Up North, she was stunned that I liked NASCAR.
She thought it was a "Rednecks Driving in a Circle for 500 miles and trying to wreck each other."
She could NOT understand how an "attractive, educated, intelligent, Liberal Democrat" could find anything remotely interesting about it at all.

But...she agreed to watch a few races with me, and let me explain some of the complexities.
NOW, she is an enthusiastic fan.
Thanks to DVR, we don't have to schedule our Sundays around it anymore.

The Cup Cars race in Atlanta tomorrow night, one of the fastest tracks on the circuit.
We are already excited.

[jayfish]

32. Why do successful drivers from other series who make the move to NASCAR...

end up sucking? Why don't any of the ringers who show up for NASCAR road-course events come away with a single victory? There's more "racing" in a single NASCAR event then in a whole season of other disciplines. Compare the number of lead changes in a NASCAR race to the number in other series. How many cars finish on the lead lap in NASCAR compared to your average open wheel event? This is a bunch of broad-brush bullshit from a group of people who have no idea what the hell they're talking about. It makes me sick.

[dembotoz]

20. can't anyone at the whitehouse read a calendar??????

the nascar sched is not a secret.

how the points work is not a secret.

would they try to get nfl teams to show up during the playoffs????

[Zanzoobar]

26. My thought, exactly.

[Tx4obama]

37. See comment #36 n/t

[Curmudgeoness]

22. So are we pointing out another boner by Obama?

Can't we just leave that to the people who hate him and want him out of office?

[Hugabear]

23. Isn't NASCAR predominantly a conservative bunch?

I bet if it had been Dubya inviting them, they'd have found some way to rearrange their schedules.

[geologic]

24. Sound pretty conservative yerself--

is that the no-risk-betting I read about on that there internet thinggie...

[riderinthestorm]

28. My husband's a professional athlete and his sponsors would CREATE time for him to meet the Prez

You are right, they are OWNED by their sponsors and this type of appearance is pure PR gold - a national teevee freebie worth millions in PR dollars (at the right time and with the right people doncha know). This would take maybe a half day out of any athlete's schedule and virtually any sponsor would jump at the chance for the photo op - their guy, with their company logo on their guy's (or gal's) lapel shaking hands with Obama....

Sorry but I don't buy the "too busy" shit. No way. My husband's heading to his national championships next week and he's been doing promo stuff all day today (and at various times during the past week) for his sponsors. He's on his horses right now as we speak - 11:20 pm and glad of doing the biz during the day. It pays the bills and we'll put up with any shit they need to keep the money coming so he can do his job. Any athlete who whines that they can't "concentrate"??? right now? LMFAO. My husband will be required to show up and SCHMOOZE DURING THE COMPETITION. He will be expected to be polite and do business while attending parties for the next 5 days, even as he competes. Every athlete MUST do these things or they will never make it. That's what makes them pros and not amateurs.

No way. This is about racial politics and/or about a sponsor hating this president so much they are willing to draw this line in the sand. Corporate sponsors are about promotions and getting yourself and your sponsor's name out there in as many different venues as you can. A meeting with the President of the US would be top notch for any athlete - and FREE as far as the sponsor are concerned! This is a 110% snub imho. Money, exposure, a national stage.... $$$ gold for corporate sponsors.

I realize this may not be a popular FACT here but it's the truth as I know it (25 years married to a professional athlete, take it or leave it.)

[geologic]

34. Great to have an expert on NASCAR athletes with the "FACT here"--

how many times in the last 25 years you get invited to The White House???...

[madinmaryland]

29. K and FUCKING R

Well said!!

:thumbsup:

[SwampG8r]

31. maybe the white house could

actually call these people first and make sure they are available
thats how you plan a birthday party for 3 year olds
maybe this administration can handle that if they really try hard and focus

[Tx4obama]

38. See comment #36 n/t. It is always difficult to get 15 adults w/busy schedules

that are are booked up months in advance all in the same place at the same time.

Read the article on the link in comment #36 - a couple of them have meet President Obama previously.

p.s. I guess you don't know that even when throwing a birthday party for 3 year olds there are times when folks do not show up!

[jefferson_dem]

33. Welcome to what DU has become!

We'll prop up a few NASCAR ingrates at the expense of the Democratic POTUS.

Sorry, I must object. :thumbsdown:

[geologic]

35. Object in one hand and--

...

[Tx4obama]

36. Here's a good article to regarding the NASCAR guys that can't show up

Nascar Stars Say No Disrespect For Obama

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44379847/ns/sports-motor_sports/%27%20rel=%27nofollow

p.s. Sounds like they ALL have busy schedules and it would have been difficult to have found any date where they all could have been there at the White House all at once.
Looks like it's only just one more example of non-important fake outrage concocted by the MEDIA.

[bluedigger]

41. Thanks for posting this, bvar22!

Nascar prejudice is strong on the DU! Makes me wonder where those open minded progressives hang out, it does.

And to the crackerjack WH communications team (are they on a roll, or what?) - please do NOT invite the Red Sox for a bs photo op this October, and don't even think about having the Patriots swing by in January!)

[Stinky The Clown]

42. This is the second example of political ineptitude in the last week

The other was the speech schedule flap with Boner.

Obama's team needs to get its shit together.

[Shadowflash]

43. Or, maybe, it's a right turn into the white house driveway

and they can't figure it out.

<>

[Recovered Repug]

44. When James Harrison of the Steelers didn't go to meet Obama,

and had a lamer excuse, DU yawned. What's the difference?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5677321

[Dreamer Tatum]

46. You really need that spelled out for you? nt