Word: nascars
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Earnhardt's legend grew, so did NASCAR's popularity, and in recent years both took on a nuanced appearance. Earnhardt settled down with Teresa, and by all accounts settled down a bit on the oval too. He came to be seen as a grand, grizzled gentleman of the game, the kind of athlete you take your kid to see, so that a decade from now the kid can say he once saw Dale Earnhardt drive. Another change: Dale Jr. joined him on the circuit. "These past two years, having Junior on the track, we've all seen a marked change...
...immensity and newfound wealth, NASCAR is in some regards still a traveling Southern tent show, a caravan of families who just happen to go very fast. It is nothing if not dynastic: Bill France handing the reins of his empire to Bill France Jr. Lee Petty handing the wheel to his son Richard, who hands it to his boy Kyle, who hands it to his kid Adam--who, tragically, is killed in 2000 at Loudon. Dale Jarrett teaching his son Dale how to drive, as Darrell Waltrip encourages his brother Michael. Bobby Allison teaching Clifford and Davey, then losing both...
...coziness of that community couldn't hide the fact that NASCAR has become a corporate force in spectator sports and television programming, with 13 racing circuits involving stock cars, open-wheel cars and trucks. It is now a well-tuned operation, staging 2,300 races in 42 states each year, the cream being its 36-event Winston Cup series, which, heading into 2001, landed a six-year network-television contract worth about $400 million annually. The NASCAR organization is still owned by the France family; its public corporation, International Speedway Corp., owns or operates 11 tracks coast to coast, with...
...past five years, NASCAR has been electric, and its reach has been growing. Its sponsors, which include wholesome chocolates and colas as well as cars and cigarettes, have been delirious. This year, for instance, UPS dropped its Olympic sponsorship and added NASCAR. Keep in mind that UPS sells its delivery services mostly to other businesses, an upmarket audience. If outsiders wanted to continue in ignorance of NASCAR because of class snobbery, who cared...
Success is not without its risks, though, and drivers perceived that the level of danger on the track was rising as NASCAR and its sponsors pursued maximum entertainment value. This year marked the return of DaimlerChrysler's Dodge division to stock-car racing. Chrysler, despite deep corporate troubles, had committed north of $60 million to the effort, and it was out for glory. "Dodge's appearance certainly did increase the level of competition," says Kevin Kennedy, a spokesman for Ford's racing division. "There was [Dodge] red everywhere you went in Daytona...