The Daytona 500 & Being Purple in a Red World.

So some friends of a friend of mine gathered at a pizza joint to watch the Daytona 500 on Sunday. An interesting experience for an interesting race.

Dale Jr. was in high dramatic form as usual (many things you can say about the driver, but he’s never boring) as his car went to hell and he dropped back in the field due to a burnt plug wire and a poor set-up. He dropped back to 24th. But he and Rondaeu both handled things very calmly and very well for Dale to make a hard charge for the lead in almost-explosive last laps of the race. Desipte all the troubles (including conclusive proof that the only way to avoid “The Big One” is to be in front of it) he finished 3rd. Props to both Dale and Pete for a great job! *applause*

I also was questioning Dale's decision to ditch Tony so fast, but after reading the radio transcript and his comments after the race I can see why he moved up.

Mark Martin had a solid run finishing 6th, but just not strong enough to win. I understand his teamamte had something to do with that, but I’m beginning to wonder if the rumors that he’s getting the second best equipment & personnel in that shop are true.

Still, it’s a good start for both teams.

Elliott ran a solid race with some damn fine driving (and luck ;) ) avoiding all the wrecks at the end. He started from the back after breaking his transmission Friday and finished 11th, not too shabby. :D Mikey was running at the front, leading next to the most laps of the race but went out near the end due blown engine, the first in well over a year for Dale Earnhardt Inc,‘s engine department (at least in their cup program). :( DJ also had troubles but scraped up a 15th place finish.

As a race the middle part was pretty boring, all the cars strung out all over the field. The new gear rule and spoiler cut hasn’t done squat to “level the playing field” and only cost teams more money in R&D. But once the field bunched up from the cautions at the end of the race, then things got interesting/hairy. It’s not safe for the drivers, I readily admit that, but it sure as hell was fun for the fans. Wimmer's Pirouette (given that he walked away from the wreck) was an especially elegant touch.

Watching the race in a pizza parlor surrounded by folks talking I missed most of the audio of the race. I have it on tape to watch more closely at a later date.

Can someone make sense of this for me? One of the guys brought his little girls to the event and they were quite well behaved really, so no problem. And given the youthfulness of the pitchers, I did curb my language. However, when “Damn!” did slip out, the little 7 year old immediately ran to her father, “Daddy she said a bad word!”.

This would be the same little 7 year old her father was teaching how to draw up a betting pool when I arrived.

;) O.k. I’m glad she will not swear at her bookie when she gets older but I’m still a bit mystified at where the priorities are here. *chuckle*

There was also a tense moment when one of the guys I was sharing a pitcher with was telling a story about how Clint Eastwood publicly threatened to kill Michael Moore at an award ceremony. He leaned across the table and repeated Clint’s words three times like he was savoring a great moment in history. “You’re a dead man….

Now Clint is a staunch Republican supporter, but he is also an artist and understands freedom of expression and free speech. Nor is it likely that Clint, who consistently brings his incredible films in on time and under budget to Hollywood and has quietly retied from politics since he was mayor of Carmel, CA, will ever be the topic of a Michael Moore documentary. Moore is interested in things more pertinent to society. Nor is Clint likely to put his personal freedom at risk by making a public death threat, which is against the law. (Besides, if Moore thought he was serious, we wouldn’t be hearing the end of it anytime soon.) The comment was made as a joke. However this person I was drinking with reveled in the fact that someone made a public death threat against Michael Moore.

Of course what they didn’t think about what that says about their opinion of Freedom of Speech, which seems to be shared by so many of the neo-conservative camp. Anyone who does not feel as they do should be shot or thrown in jail or have their career destroyed or any number of horrible things they would be utterly appalled if you suggested it happen to Bill O’Reily. My sister refers to it as the “Drink the Kool-Aid Mentality”: you’re either with them or against them in their decent straight to hell. Even if you are a moderate, if you think the Bush administration is corrupt and incompetent, you are labeled a “liberal” and marginalized. It also reflects their perception of the world. In their world, it’s o.k. to threaten someone with death for a disagreement of opinion just as it’s o.k. to occupy foreign countries in order to “spread democracy”.

Let me tell you all where I stand: I have some liberal beliefs (environment, affordable child care and pro-choice) and I have some conservative ones (2nd Amendment, death penalty for serial killers, put American citizens first on the priority list and if you come to this country you'd better damn well learn english), economically I'm dead in the middle: Capitalism is great, the most successful, stable and socially permeable of economic systems, but uncontrolled capitalism is what led to the greatest depressions this country has ever seen. I lean more to the left, but I'm hardly the socialist hippie that the neo-cons like to paint their opposing side. I believe that both liberal and conservative viewpoints are necessary to keep America great. The liberal/progressive side keeps America moving forward with the times, pushes America to keep up with the world, while the conservatives make sure that America is not moving too far, too fast, destabilizing and losing it’s identity. They are both necessary. I have no truck with Republicans like McCain. I don’t agree with some of his points of view but understand where they are coming from and recognize their validity.

But neo-conservatism, the mindset of the current administration, is an extremist point of view that has nothing to do with the well-being of the country, but rather with private agendas of a few insanely wealthy people using demagoguery to enlist the support of the insecurity, fear and chest thumping egotism of half the country.

Sunday I stopped the rant by pointing out that Moore was propaganda just as Coulter, O’Reiley & Hannity were. Not a pleasing sentiment to my table-mate, but an undeniable one. After a tense few moments grumbling about the liberal media we got back to the race, which we both enjoyed and the guy even refused my ten to help pay for the pitchers.

NASCAR, the great uniter. ;)