NASCAR AND POLITICS

One of the mysteries I have encountered is why do NASCAR fans hate Barack Obama. ‘Hate’ is a strong word and should be only be used for personal acquaintances who pose a personal threat. It implies an association that does not seem to be there. Why do people who enjoy watching cars drive around in circles have such deep feelings? Why do they represent a unique subset of the conservative mind set?

Hate is an emotion. It is instinctual. Invariable, we can trace instincts to our survival. Those with instincts survive and those who lack instincts don’t. We don’t react to things by reason. However, when we try to give reasons to explain the way we react, we make them up. Every person will give a different reason for the same response but in the end, the instinct in question must some how relate to survival. So the question really is how does hating the government, Obama is their icon of government, related to their survival.  

I cannot trace their feelings back to anything I know about human personalities other than authority, which has two sides; being “in charge” verses not being in charge or giving order verses taking orders. Even that seems wrong. When we try to equate the status of the president of the entire United States with that of a racecar fan, it makes no sense—it is ridicules. If they “hate” anyone who tells them what to do or not do, why didn’t they hate George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan who ran much more authoritarian governments; telling subsets of people how to behave, those who lost their jobs, old people, disabled veterans, and people who were not successful, as undisciplined children. How can hating authority possible work at any job with a supervisor? Therefore, that explanation makes no sense.

If it is true that Republicans “hate” government, then it makes no sense that they fight like hell to be in charge of government. It is like saying they hate a transgender queen because they want to be the first transgender queen. Or, is it the tired old Vietnam Village Syndrome again; we have to destroy it to save it and the best way to destroy it is to be in charge of it. This also seems wrong; they are intelligent people and know that we need government.

Maybe authority that tells them what to do is fine but “hate” any authority that tell them what they cannot do is OK; authority they see as taking away individual freedom. How does that thought apply to people who are fans of drivers who only know how to drive counter clockwise?  At least one or two of them should decide to drive clockwise, just to defy authority; that would be exciting. The reason they don’t is obvious. The all drive the same way to protect themselves from one another, which could be a great racetrack metaphor for society in general.

They seem to be so self-centered that they do not understand the purpose of laws. Perhaps, on the open road, they see highway speed limits as being there as an affront to their freewill and not to protect people from them; tantamount to driving clock wise. Motorcyclists don’t want to wear helmets to protect taxpayers from paying high medical bills when they run their heads into curbs. They don’t want gun regulations when they can buy assault rifles to protect themselves. Apparently, they see all people owning guns in the same light as all driving one way on a race tract. Not owning a gun would be like driving the wrong way—to dangerous for them to even contemplate.

Almost as an aside, they willingly were helmets in race cars. Why? Is it because one of their own told them they must? If that were the case, would they call it a law? If it was a law, would they “hate” Brian France the owner of NASCAR? Is it voluntary? Did you know that one of the first things the North Carolina legislature did when the Republicans took over that body was to pass a law that said for adults, wearing helmets while riding a motor cycle, was voluntary. Should I “hate” Gov. McCrory for not passed a law to protect the North Carolina taxpayers from paying high medical costs for head injuries of those who were not wearing a helmet?  NASCAR politics, especially its intensity, is beyond my comprehension.

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