Fans are what really drives the sport. I know I've said that money is the real driving force behind NASCAR, but without the fans there would be no money in the sport. There would not be potential to make more money by investing money if there were no fans to spend money to make the profit.Fans are almost as unique as finger prints, where no two are alike. Some may be similar, but deep down they are different. I've broken NASCAR fans down into several categories.
1) Auto Manufacture Fan: the person who cheers for anybody driving a particular car brand. You have the age old Ford vs Chevy battle and then Dodge came back and now Toyota is entering the foray.
2) The True Racing Fan: this person just loves quto racing and watches the race to watch the race, and doesn't really cheer for anyone driver, team, or car manufacturer.
3) The Driver Fan: this fan is perhaps the most divergent in the bunch. A driver fan comes in degrees ranging from moderate to extreme. A moderate fan cheers for his/her driver and maybe another, may own a few pieces of his/her driver paraphernalia, enjoys the race even if their driver ends up doing lousy and doesn't bad mouth any other driver (unless they deserve it). The extreme fan cheers for his/her driver and no one else, has lots of his/her driver's paraphernalia, turns the T.V. off if their driver is out of the race, and consistently booes and bad mouths other drivers and cheers if they get into wrecks. This type of fan will also throw stuff out onto the track in a selfish act of driver loyalty (ie. if their driver's arch rival wins the race), especially if their driver has been wronged in any way.
Most fans fit somewhere between moderate and extreme on the Driver Fan Scale, with a little bit of the first two fan types thrown in for colour. Unfortunately, it is those few of the Driver Fans who are on the very edge of extreme that put a bad name on NASCAR and those are the fans that we have to watch out for when we are at the races, because those fans make hard to sit down and enjoy it. I think it safe to say that whoever created the 'Earnhardt for President' picture added to this blog is closer to the extreme Driver Fan scale rather than closer to the moderate end of the scale.
Which type of fan are you?