Nascar and the Confederate flag

[victorcharlie]

I just finished reading the following article regarding the presence of the confederate battle flag flying in the infield of the race at Talledaga Alabama.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=dw-confederateflag100906&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

I, as a kid, spent a lot of saturday nights at the Nashville speedway watching the likes of Coo Coo Marlin, Flukey Buford, Marty Robbins, Charlie Stofel, Bobby and Donnie Allison and the "big" stars (petty, baker, etc.).  Waltrip also raced a lot at Nashville.  I attended a couple of the big races every year during the 60's, 70's, and 80's.....The flag was always flown all over the infield and parking areas.

The sport has changed.  I don't think it's for the better. 

Seems this is another case of political correctness, and Nascar forgets who made them popular.  Ya need to dance with the one that brought you........

They better be careful or they'll loose the fans that have grown up with the sport.....maybe they don't care?

[nabob]

I think that the comment in the article that says that no one symbol means one thing to every person is correct. People see all sorts of things in symbols and what I see probably isn't what the guy next to me sees. Happens with our nation's flag, happens with the Confederate flag, probably happens with any symbol.

To me, it is an individual thing. However, the resolution of this issue for NASCAR is more likely to be driven by economics than anything else. I also doubt that many who like to watch NASCAR is going to get heated up enough by the removal of the flag to stay away from the track. I suspect the reason they go isn't to honor the Confederacy but to watch racing.

Never understood the attraction of watching race cars go around a track, though. Go fast, turn left. Repeat for several hours. Not too exciting. That's also an individual thing, though. No telling what people are seeing in the sport.