NASCAR

So on the morning of the biggest event of the season for NASCAR I feel I need to defend my decision to actually watch and enjoy this event.

Flash back to 1999. I used to watch the NASCAR highlights just for the wrecks. 'Bunch of dumbass hillbillies ridin around in circles' I would say. Then a friend of mine drug me to a race, kicking and screaming the whole way. That morning we woke up at 3 am to start our trek to Dover which was only about an hour away. It took about 3 hours to get there. Once we pulled in the lot we started drinking. Yeah, do the math, it was about 6 in the morning. I was bs'ing with some people next to me and I'm all like 'Yeah this is my first race'. They swore I would be hooked. I didn't believe them.

I had watched parts of the Daytona 500 that year and I saw a rookie driver kicking ass so I figured I should get a shirt or something so I would fit in. I walked to the merchandise trailers and got a Tony Stewart shirt (who I pull for to this day) then we made our way into the stands.

The fly by during the national anthem was cool but it couldn't prepare me for what was about to happen. 43 cars w/ 800+ horsepower each pulled up slowly to the starting line and then the green flag dropped. It was unbelievable. They roared by like freakin thunder or something.

Needless to say I was now hooked on NASCAR.

Since then I've been to about 20 races. Here's what the best part of the 'sport' is: In all of these races there are about 100,000 fans (sometimes more). Everybody's drunk. Everybody's rooting for different drivers. Guess how many fights I've seen considering these numbers. None. Not even one brawl. Try going to an NFL game and let me know how many fights are in your section alone. These are the greatest fans I've ever been around. Run out of charcoal? That's ok. Just ask your tailgating neighbor. Even if they are Gordon fans...

So mock it if you will. Laugh at me for my redneckishness. But I dare you to give the experience a shot one time. You might, begrudgingly, have fun.