In just a few hours, 200,000 of our closest friends will gather at the Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup Race.  Those of you not attending can watch all of the action on FOX Sports.  The pre- and post-game coverage will be live from the CLT Speedway on SPEED.

To whet your appetite a bit, here is some footage I took from the Grand Opening of the NASCAR Hall of Fame on May 11 here in Charlotte, NC.

Dale Earnhardt’s #3 “Intimidator” car at the NASCAR Hall of Fame

Throughout the day, I’ll be posting photos and videos to my Twitter account and to my new Flickr photo page.

Check ‘em out.  I may update the blog if I can — but the place to be for my NASCAR updates is Twitter!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

The day has arrived! The NASCAR Hall of Fame grand opening ceremonies are taking place in Uptown Charlotte as I type. PatriotPartner and I are thrilled to be here as a part of history for NASCAR and our city.

I’ll update things on the ground all day via my Twitter feed on our right-hand sidebar.

I find the Oscars have gotten more and more boring as I get older.

So we are enjoying the NASCAR race on HDTV right now.

So far the biggest factor in the race — rain.

Go Junior!

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

The citizens of Athens chose Athena to be their patron when she offered them the olive tree.  Olives were sacred to the owl-eyed goddess.

That’s why I’ve always considered a dirty martini, made with olive juice, Athena’s beverage.

After a busy day, I invited the fetching, but straight Steve Green out for a cocktail.  After stopping to purchase a wireless so I could blog this convention more regularly, I had that dirty martini while he enjoyed a citrus one.

We had a great chat about politics, movies and life.  He is also a fan of Young Frankenstein and the Star Wars movies.  It’s cool finding another blogger with such great tastes in cinema.  His wife is one lucky gal.

ADDENDUM: If you like your politics with a little bit of smart snark that’ll make you smile, check out his blog, Vodkapundit.

The Queen City, or “Crown Town” as PatriotPartner would say, has an infux of visitors this weekend for the big one:  The Coca-Cola 600 tomorrow at Lowes Motor Speedway.   Concord will become the third largest city in North Carolina for a few hours tomorrow.   Cool, huh?

Anyway, to all of you visiting the crown jewel of the South — welcome!   We have great restaurants, awesome attractions, and the friendliest people this side of Sydney Australia.

As for tomorrow — GO JUNIOR.   We will be at the race, pit passes in hand, and I’ll have some photos and videos later this weekend.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

The Homestead 400 race in Miami last night was a great way to end the NASCAR season.  And it only reinforced my increasing interest in the sport – mainly due to watching it on HDTV widescreen.  You really can’t beat it.

The race also resulted in a 2007 double-win for the Hendrick team in the Nextel Cup:  Jimmie Johnson & Jeff Gordon, Numbers 1 and 2 respectively.

Congrats to the Back-to-Back Nextel Cup Champion — Jimmie Johnson.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

 
(Photo courtesy of Charlotte Observer)

We are in the midst of the big racing weekend of the NASCAR Nextel Cup in Charlotte at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.  House Democrats believe this is a setting more like Colombia, rather than Concord.  More like North Korea than North Carolina, according to House Democrats.  

What a pity and what ignorance.

So now NASCAR has cooties?

I don’t know about you, but I usually keep some syringes in my moonshine jar, out back by the ol’ still that grandpappy tends when we’re not all runnin’ from the police. Maybe we can help some of y’all visitors out with a different kind of medicine.

Said LMS president and general manager Humpy Wheeler: “The very idea of immunization is laughable. It’s like taping your ankles to go to the mailbox. This is not some third- or fourth-world country. As a matter of fact, never in the 50-plus years of NASCAR has there been an outbreak of any kind at an event, other than a few headaches because somebody’s driver ran out of gas, or maybe a morning hangover.”

In fact, this is one of the best places to live and visit in the USA… and I’ve been to many.  Our people are friendly, welcoming, open and honest.  We have a wide mix of diverse culture here in Charlotte and throughout North Carolina — but our heritage is firmly rooted in Southern and American values.

Racing Fans…. welcome to Charlotte and enjoy the Bank of America 500 tonight!  The only disease you might pick up is if you had to fly through Washington, DC.  Unfortunately, there’s no immunization for bigotry.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

There was an earthquake in the most popular American sport today.  The MSM mostly ignores NASCAR, but each weekend hundreds-of-thousands (yes, that’s right) of Americans gather in speedways around the USA to watch this exciting home-grown racing sport.

Today, the two biggest names in NASCAR today officially bonded.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. announced he’s joining Hendrick Motorsports for the 2008 NASCAR season.  Rick Hendrick and Junior’s late father were close friends, and Junior grew up with Hendrick’s son, Ricky, who was killed in a plane crash in 2004.  But there’s more to Junior’s decision than just old family bonds.

“I wanted to find…the team that was right for me as a person and where I could compete for championships,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “As I sit here today, I could say with complete honesty that I have found and accomplished that goal.

“We talked with many teams, but one stood out above the rest and it became apparent to me the man I wanted to drive for. I’ve known him since childhood. He competes with integrity, and most importantly, he wins races.”

With that, Earnhardt Jr. introduced Rick Hendrick, whose drivers have amassed six championships and 159 race victories since 1984. This year, Hendrick’s four drivers have won 10 of 14 points races, with Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson winning four each and Casey Mears and Kyle Busch each winning once.

Hendrick and Earnhardt are winning names for NASCAR.  Not only in race wins, but in marketing.  Alone, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. brings in 30% of all revenue from NASCAR-related marketing items.  That is astounding.

Of course the big question for Charlotte race fans, and fans of Junior is this:  “How can we root for Junior when we still want to boo at Jimmie Johnson & Jeff Gordon?”

We will find out next season.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Okay, this is hysterical.  I wish I had seen it “live” on Letterman last night.  The drivers themselves delivered the lines.

Top Ten Things Never Before Said By A NASCAR Driver

10. Kasey Kahne: “Anyone know how to drive a stick?”

9. Jeff Gordon: “Does this gas taste funny to you?”

8. Jeff Burton: “I don’t care much for country music or beer”

7. Mark Martin: “Switch the ‘r’ and ‘c’ in ‘racing’ and you get ‘caring’”

6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.: “Wow, Letterman looks so young in person”

5. Denny Hamlin: “You’re looking at a guy who can drive 500 miles without taking a leak”

4. Kyle Busch: “A truly great driver doesn’t mind asking for directions, am I right, ladies?”

3. Kevin Harvick: “It would be nice if the guys in the pits occasionally surprised me with a piece of carrot cake or something”

2. Jimmie Johnson: “The Nextel Cup is great, but what I’m really excited for is Late Show Ventriloquist Week”

1. Matt Kenseth: “If you think I’m fast in my car, you should see me in the bedroom”

Too funny.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Hat tip – Michelle Malkin

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

NBC News was exposed on Tuesday by Michelle Malkin for its blatant and racist attempts to stigmatize millions of Americans who love NASCAR.

GayPatriot reader Neil was pissed and emailed, “I’ve got news for NBC…try sending these same [Muslim-looking] guys to a social gathering on the Upper East Side, or better yet, to a Hollywood benefit and see how THEY react.” Or a cocktail party in Chelsea or Dupont Circle, perhaps?

On Wednesday, NASCAR struck back hard.

“This is outrageous for a news organization with the reputation of NBC to stoop to the level of attempting to create news instead of reporting it. Any legitimate journalist should be ashamed.” -Ramsey Poston, managing director of corporate communications at NASCAR

NBC is lazy. Neil really has the right idea. A really creative Dateline “sting” would be a non-Liberal/PC take on this idea… how about sending a Orthodox Jew into a mosque? Instead of dirty looks, there may well be the need to call an ambulance.

If NBC really wants to get an angry reaction out of NASCAR fans, they should have people walking around with Hillary masks.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

By all press accounts, later today NASCAR will announce that Charlotte has won the bid to have the NASCAR Hall of Fame built in our fine city. It is a great win for Charlotte and we are so excited to be here at a great time in the city’s development.

There will be much more on this story later today… so stay tuned.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Jimmie Johnson (#48) wins the Daytona 500 for the first time under the yellow caution flag.

Jimmie Johnson – first NASCAR hottie winner of the season

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Red State America’s favorite sport — NASCAR — has returned for the season as the Daytona 500 has been running all day today. We are in the closing laps of the race and there is nothing like watching NASCAR on HDTV!!!

It was five years ago that Dale Earnhardt, Sr. was killed during the Daytona 500 race. More on that here and here.

While the deaths of Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin and Tony Roper brought attention to the danger in stock-car racing, the death of Earnhardt, a seven-time champion in NASCAR’s top series and the sport’s most popular driver, galvanized an industry and accelerated a safety revolution.

“What went through a lot of drivers’ minds was that if Earnhardt could get killed like that, what about me?” retired NASCAR President Bill France Jr. said.

“You hate to say this, but you have to,” said H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, president of Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “Earnhardt’s death got us all moving fast, which needed to be done. There’s never been the death of a race driver that’s had more of an impact.”

-Bruce (GayPatriot)