NASCAR the high speed, high stakes racing environment that lends itself to living vicariously though your favorite driver(s), labelled the "ultimate motorsport". What drives the ultimate motorsport? ...Cars...Engines...Drivers... No it's "The Fans". NASCAR fans are truly a diehard breed. Are you a Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, or Toyota fan?. The chances are that if you are brand loyal that you have used NASCAR as your platform for arguing the reason why your brand is the ONLY brand.
What are some factors involved in creating the ultimate motorsports followers. "Brand loyalty", a sect created by the automotive industry in their quest for dominance in the competitive automotive market. "Driver loyalty", the emulation of the near superhero like fastidious role taken by the highly marketed NASCAR drivers and their efforts to attain, and retain their ever important sponsors. The "Sponsors", the group of business gurus spending a mere few million dollars of their abundant advertising budgets, in an effort to dominate one of the most highly marketed, and most publicized sports in history.
How does this relate to the fans?...well lets connect the dots. Have you ever heard of Home Depot, Lowes, Dewalt, Office Depot, M&M's, Valvoline, Alltel, Budweiser, of course you have, and these are all NASCAR sponsors who advertise in near every media available. If Tony Stewart is your hero do you shop at Home Depot, or Dale Earnhardt JR your hero do you drink Budweiser, probably.
What does this have to do with being a true fan of the sport?, Everything!. Why, because if you are a true diehard fan, you want to project your loyalty "Loud and Proud" tell a few, tell all. What better way to project this loyalty than to have more brand loyalty shouting paraphernalia than your biggest rival , the opposing fan next door, or accross the street, at work, on the bus, the local race track, or wherever you may encounter them.
What does it take to become a true NASCAR fan?. For starters, if you are a gearhead it helps, you know the cliche', 10w30 running through your veins, you love the smell of burning rubber, you probably have a 100+ hotwheels at home unopened in the original packaging, and more than a few items with racing logos promoting NASCAR sponsors. If this describes you then true geardom say's that you are a gearhead, and you probably qualify to be the next true diehard NASCAR fan.
If you are not a gearhead don't fret as there are many other fan catagories such as: the "weekend warrior", the "television analyst", the "my favorite color", the "my favorite number", the "closet fan", the "socialite", and many more, although the non-gearhead catagories usually don't create the truly diehard fan, they do tend to share the same traits on a less grandeur scale.
If you are not a NASCAR fan the chances are you are not reading this article. If you are, try giving this 200MPH mechanical mayhem a try. Check your local listings, set aside 3 hours, get comfortable, and watch a NASCAR race from start to finish, and yes they usually only turn left. For those who are diehard fans, please use caution, don't endanger yoursef, or others for a mere second of limelight. For the rest of the fans, remember this sport is addictive, and don't be suprised if you end up becomming a diehard fan too.