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connects them to each other, to NASCAR, and to America. They seem to know that they are working together for the greatness of this country. They see America’s finest cars and sharpest drivers out on the race track, supported and sponsored by our formidable companies and corporate empires, and it makes them proud. NASCAR fanshave more one-on-one access to the stars of their sport than any other sport in the world – no one would disagree with that.
    NASCAR fans come from all walks of life: from a poor rural rebel from the South to a rich urban professional from the North. Since the race is on about once a week, usually on the weekends, it appeals to people who have families and other responsibilities to take care of during the week. By the weekend, they can finally sit down for a few hours and enjoy NASCAR’s adrenaline rush.
    The NASCAR calendar is actually designed to meet that very need, with races scheduled around the lives of working families. The campgrounds that surround the race track are there for the same reason. NASCAR is a family sport. I’m often amazed at the number of young fans. They enjoy watching the cars, especially if they see a logo of something they like, such as M&M’s candy. So they root for that car and learn the driver’s names. Sometimes they get into it because their parents are into it. Or they’ll root for Ford because their father and grandfather only bought Ford cars, like many families who’ve been attached to particular brands of American-made vehicles for generations. But after that initial spark, there’s something about the sound of the engines, the speed, the action, and the technology that keeps them interested and tuned into the race.
    In addition to being a sport for American working-class families, NASCAR attracts the scientifically minded engineers – the gearheads and hands-on brainiacs who are interested in figuring out how a team repairs a cylinder problem or what their technical strategies are. The team owners, some of NASCAR’s biggest fans, are particularly involved and interested in engineering, cars, and the mechanical side of things. Take Rick Hendrick, for example. He’s driven out on the track and worked in the pits, and he is now the proud owner of not only one of the largest automotive chains in the United States, but of one of the most successful NASCAR teams: Hendrick Motorsports. They’ve won close to two hundred races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and countless other victories in other series. Their automobiles are some of the greatest cars ever to hit the race track and are carefully constructed from beginning to end in North Carolina, deep in NASCAR country. Their drivers, from Jeff Gordon to Jimmie Johnson, are greatly revered. Dale Earnhardt Jr. left his late father’s company, Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI), to sign with Hendrick Motorsports. In 2012, Kasey Kahne started racing for Hendrick Motorsports. The team is considered to be the New York Yankees of NASCAR, and it all started with Hendrick’s fine leadership and commitment to the sport.
    Jack Roush, another owner, exemplifies what NASCAR is all about. He walks around the track wearing a hat that he never takes off and is affectionately known on the circuit as “the cat in the hat.” There’s something endearing about him; he’s not just a businessman or a sportsman but someone who has dedicated his life to what he is passionate about: cars. He knows them inside and out. Roush has been engineering and designing parts for motorized vehicles for years, and has worked with Ford and Chrysler. He’s now the co-owner and founder of Roush Fenway Racing, as well as the owner of his own engineering firm.
    Richard Childress, a former NASCAR driver, owns RCR (Richard Childress Racing), which fields teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and other NASCAR-sanctioned series. Childress’s first race was as a replacement driver in the 1969