READY TO GO GREEN?
by Serendipitous | Published on February 9th, 2008, 10:35 pm | Sports
No, not environmentally green. I mean GO GREEN! Yeah, baby! Budweiser Shootout at Daytona (congrats to winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr), it can only mean one thing: my inner-redneck is OUT! After almost 3 months in hibernation, it is time! I haven’t set my fantasy league team for Daytona 500 yet, but I did pick up my bible today. 
I joke about the Press and Preview Guide being my bible, but catch this! L.D. Russell, a religious studies professor at Elon University, explores the link between racing and religion)
His finished work, “Godspeed: Racing is My Religion,” explores how NASCAR can be a religious experience for its fans – just like it is for him.
What, exactly, does he mean? That a trip to Lowe’s Motor Speedway is a substitute for worship? Not quite. Russell combines personal narrative with his research to make the point that for many people a religious experience involves a sense of mental disengagement, where the thrill or fear of a moment focuses the mind on a single instant without any awareness of other problems or issues in life.
“It’s those moments that are so exciting and so frightening that you really do become one with yourself,” Russell said on a recent afternoon as he leaned back in his office chair. “You feel who you are … If you find yourself yelling at the top of your lungs, that’s usually a good sign. It’s a therapeutic release in some ways.”
First off, any predictions for the 2008 Sprint Cup champion? Is it gonna be a three-peat for Jimmie Johnson? Who's gonna shine? Who's gonna find a slump?
So what are some of the things we're looking at this season?
Let’s start with the rookies who’ve ditched their Indy cars: Dario Franchitti, the defending IRL champion and 2007 milk drinker (Indianapolis 500); Jacques Villeneuve; and Sam Hornish.
Aside from becoming the Sprint Cup Series and the Nationwide (Insurance) Series, we’ll see a number of returning drivers with new sponsors and on new teams. The most anticipated (IMHO of course): Hendrick stable. Current cup champion Johnson, Gordon, Mears, and now Junior in the #88 Amp Energy. Junior took over the slot vacated by Kyle Busch who is now in Joe Gibbs Racing’s #18 car. Hendrick’s #5 goes to Casey Mears. And because Budweiser couldn’t follow Dale Jr, #9 Kahne (Evernham/Gillett) is now the face of Budweiser.
A short but decent summary of the NASCAR changes in 2008 is at Yahoo! Answers.
This year’s season-long squabble may go to Stewart and Busch.
http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/headlines/cup/02/09/kbusch.tstewart.warned.ap/index.html
Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch were ordered to steer clear of each other Saturday in hopes of preventing a repeat of their high-octane confrontation during the first day of Speedweeks.
And for the record, this ain’t your daddy’s NASCAR. The names changes, the sponsor changes, the implementation of The Chase… all that and more since the first Daytona 500 was run 50 years ago... NASCAR now includes a more diverse fan base. NASCAR: it’s not just for rednecks anymore!
But I will have to leave you with this: it’s too funny to not revisit (previously blogged by Sanjuro, viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6424&hilit=+onion as his number 1 from ONN.
[onion]<embed src="http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/common/assets/videoplayer/flvplayer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always" wmode="transparent" width="400" height="355" flashvars="file=http://www.theonion.com/content/xml/64433/video&autostart=false&image=http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/NASCAR_0.jpg&bufferlength=3&embedded=true&title=NASCAR%20Coach%20Reveals%20Winning%20Strategy%3A%20%27Drive%20Fast%27"></embed><br/><a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/video/nascar_coach_reveals_winning?utm_source=embedded_video">NASCAR Coach Reveals Winning Strategy: 'Drive Fast'</a>[/onion]
