Word: moneys
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...deal with racing? Essentially, 40 extremely mobile billboards circle a track for three hours, driven by men in jumpsuits that make bowling apparel look sharp. And yet car racing continues to be the hottest, fastest-growing sport in America, generating $2 billion in revenues and drawing gazillions in sponsorship money. In TV ratings, NASCAR racing blows away every major sport but pro football. With California-born Gordon as its poster boy, NASCAR is expanding beyond its Southeastern roots, going after the wine-and-cheese crowd, and even Donald Trump wants to get in on it. He plans to build...
...scene. Race fans converge from hundreds of miles away, arriving in motor homes as early as Thursday for parties, concerts, qualifying rounds and a junior-circuit Saturday race called the Busch Series. The local newspaper estimates that race fans will drop nearly $70 million into local pockets, and the money starts flowing at a Friday-night fund raiser for local children's charities. About 300 people have come to eyeball their racing heroes and bid on auction items like hats, uniforms and a Jeff Gordon jacket...
...that there isn't some grumbling among drivers. "These are the best of times and the worst of times," says Darrell Waltrip, a former champion who's hanging on at age 52 because the popularity and the money make it too hard to leave. "But it used to be just you and the race car. Now it's too big a business, and everybody wants a bigger piece of your time." In the old days, says Waltrip, "Richard Petty used to be able to win a race and sit up on the wall for an hour, sign all the autographs...
...simple genius of it. These are souped-up replicas of real Pontiacs, Fords and Chevys--not open-wheel, Indy-type cars--and nearly everyone in America has a car. Nearly everyone has driven too fast too. At a NASCAR race, you can meet someone who gets paid stupid money to drive too fast. And chances are, he won't cry about his multimillion-dollar contract or go on strike, both of which have turned off fans of other sports. If a NASCAR driver doesn't keep his public happy, no sponsor will back him. And if he doesn't have...
...hear some private mutterings from other drivers about Gordon's success and about how all the money translates into a better car, a bigger advantage and ever more exposure. "But when Jeff goes on the Letterman show, he takes all of us with him," Petty says. "His success has been great for NASCAR and every...