This past weekend the Indy series went up against NASCAR:

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/05/100_years_of_speed_at_indianap.html

Who do you think won? The numbers aren’t in for this year yet. But we can look at last year’s numbers to see if Indy 500 is America’s favorite race:

“American viewers don’t seem to think so. Only 5,793,000 watched the 2010 Indy 500, compared to 6,547,000 for NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 later that day, according to SportsBusiness Daily.”

This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Thanks to the vision of Bill France years ago, NASCAR has been the most fan-friendly racing sport around. And by racing stock cars rather than grand prix cars, NASCAR ensured that it would be able to connect with the average American. And as far as I can tell, it’s just the beginning of greater things to come!

This week I’m in Charlotte to catch the NASCAR races this weekend. Guess what else is in Charlotte? The NASCAR Hall of Fame:

http://www.nascarhall.com/contact

Here is the great thing about this Hall of Fame:

“The NASCAR Hall of Fame wasn’t only built to honor the sport’s history, its moments and its best drivers… it was built as a tribute to its passionate fans and offer a full-throttle experience for newcomers.”

This is the ultimate museum for fans:

“The Hall is fueled with more than 50 interactive experiences like tire-changing stations, realistic race simulators, a broadcast booth and even a Kids Zone where children can be wide open. We guarantee to get your adrenaline racing. And after you work up an appetite, grab a bite to eat at the Pit Stop Café or a souvenir to help remember it all at the NASCAR Hall of Fame Gear Shop. You’ll find it all at the Hall.”

So the next time you’re in Charlotte, check out the NASCAR Hall of Fame!

Here is yet another reason why NASCAR history is so fascinating:

http://www.cio.com/article/17142/A_Brief_History_of_Nascar_From_Moonshine_Runners_to_Dale_Earnhardt_Jr.

Simply put, no other sport has produced so many spectacular moments in so short a period of time:

“On the way to becoming America’s biggest spectator sport, Nascar has seen more than its share of dramatic races and unforgettable finishes and faces. Lee Petty was declared the winner of the first-ever Daytona 500 in 1959, 61 hours after the race finished. (Big Bill France spent the time examining news footage of the race; it was that close.) Seventeen years later, Lee’s son Richard duked it out on the track against David Pearson. The two drivers crashed just before the finish line, and Pearson won the race by sputtering to the checkered flag. Richard Petty came back to win Daytona three years later. ”

What other sport offers this? Where else can you see close finishes every week? Only at NASCAR!

Today our series continues on the amazing history of NASCAR:

http://www.nascar.com/news/features/history/

Within a few short decades of its creation, NASCAR had revolutionized motor sports:

“In 1976, NASCAR’s premier division took the lead in worldwide motorsports attendance for the first time with more than 1.4 million spectators making their way to events, according to figures from the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. That lead never has been relinquished. Television exposure grew as well. The 1979 Daytona 500 became the first 500-mile race in history to be telecast live in its entirety. In 1981, NASCAR moved it’s annual awards ceremony to New York City from Daytona Beach for the first time. By the mid 1980s, Fortune 500 companies not only were involved in sponsoring NASCAR, but individual races and teams as well.”

NASCAR is one of the most succesfully marketed sports in history. Early on, it learned the power of television and sponsorships. This helped make it the greatest sport in the world. All of us can learn important marketing lessons by studying NASCAR’s example.

This history of NASCAR is the history of rapid growth:

http://www.nascar.com/news/features/history/

As this article notes:

“By the end of NASCAR’s first decade, the city [Daytona] not only had held on to its racing roots, but had outgrown the beach and, in 1959, moved events to Daytona International Speedway. With its long back straightaway and sweeping high-banked turns of more than 30 degrees, the 2.5-mile tri-oval was one of the largest speedways in the world. In the first race, fans were treated to something that each year still brings millions of fans to NASCAR races — close competition. The first Daytona 500 didn’t end for three days. It took that long for NASCAR officials to study a photograph of the finish between Petty and Johnny Beauchamp before declaring Petty the winner. The hook had been set. The following year (1960), superspeedways were opened just outside Atlanta and Charlotte. ABC televised the 1961 Firecracker 250 from Daytona Beach as part of its Wide World of Sports.”

Part of what has driven NASCAR’s growth over the years is having a central location for its Super Bowl event: Daytona. That’s where it began and where the growth happened. If you’ve never been to Daytona, do yourself a favor and go. It’s something that everyone should do at least once.

Today we continue our series on the history of NASCAR:

http://www.decadesofracing.net/TheBeginning.htm

Today we focus on a momentous decision that changed racing forever. After World War II, Bill France started NASCAR and began racing. But he soon had a profound insight about his young sport:

“After the war was over the big automakers had to switch production from Tanks and Jeeps back to their makes of cars. This got France to thinking that the fans would want to purchase cars when they see them winning at the races and he knew that productions were going to be slow for a while. He decided that NASCAR would run pre ’40s Fords and Chevrolets plus a handful of new Buick’s were allowed. The 1948 NASCAR schedule covered 52 dirt-track races for modified’s and Red Byron was the national champion that year.”

And so NASCAR was destined from the beginning to surpass Grand Prix racing because it knew people wanted to watch the kinds of cars that they drive. That was a great insight from a great leader.

For the next few days, we’re going to talk about one of the greatest stories in sports history–the story of NASCAR:

http://www.decadesofracing.net/TheBeginning.htm

How did it all get started? Before NASCAR, automobile speed trials had been conducted at Daytona since 1902:

“In the spring of 1935 Sir Malcolm Campbell was taking his Bluebird rocket car to Daytona Beach in hopes of running at 300 miles per hour for yet another land-speed-record. Along with this and the weather and the smaller hospitable and more affordable area maybe this is the reason behind the Frances staying in Daytona Beach. Campbell never did get his record of 300 mph at Daytona, instead his best he could do was 276.82mph and on March 7, 1935 Campbell announced that he was moving the speed trials to Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. It was the shifting winds and changing tides that made Campbell realize that he would not reach his goal of 300mph if he kept working out of Daytona Beach. Campbell did beat the 300mph speed at Bonneville in late 1935.”

But after Campbell left, Bill France soon arrived and the NASCAR era was born.

So President Obama has decided not to release the photos of Bin Laden’s dead body:

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20059739-503544.html#ixzz1LUKq9CkG

His argument is this:

“‘We don’t trot out this stuff as trophies,’ Mr. Obama added. ‘The fact of the matter is, this is somebody who was deserving of the justice that he received.’”

This completely misses the point. The goal of releasing the photos would not be to gloat but to prove Bin Laden is dead. Already a mythical figure in parts of the Islamic world, Bin Laden’s death simply won’t be believed by many terrorists. And they need to know he’s dead in order to know that a price will be paid for terrorism.

I hope the president will reconsider. Let the world see the photos!

Today we continue to celebrate the bravery of the US military and the Navy Seals who finally brought Osama Bin Laden to justice:

http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/05/get-bin-laden-obama-relied-policies-he-decried

And it’s worth remembering again that one of the reasons we were able to find Bin Laden is because of the interrogation procedures of the Bush administration:

“The enhanced interrogation techniques reportedly led to identification of the courier who eventually led our forces to bin Laden’s hiding place. Critics of waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques assured us that “torture” could not produce reliable information. They were probably right that sometimes such techniques yield false information. But the bin Laden operation shows that they can also produce actionable intelligence. You may remember that many Democrats called for criminal prosecution of CIA interrogators who were acting under orders vetted by legal counsel. Attorney General Eric Holder actually considered bringing such prosecutions.”

Context is so important in these debates. Are enhanced interrogations are a good thing? As a general rule, no. But in this case, they appear to have helped capture Bin Laden. And that means the Bush administration was probably doing the right thing in using these procedures.

Today I celebrate with all Americans the demise of Osama Bin Laden. I salute President Obama for acting on the intelligence he had and moving decisively.

It’s also important to note that early reports indicate that the intelligence that led to this event came from interrogations that many criticized President Bush for conducting.  So I salute President Bush, as well, for his role in relentlessly fighting terrorism.

This is just a battle. The War on Terror goes on!