Results tagged “richardpetty”

Ding dong NASCAR's dead. The ISC came a'knocking with promises of garbage bags full of tourist's cash if only the state legislators would agree to a tax-payer-funded track on the Peninsula. It seemed like kind of a longshot from the beginning, and NASCAR's local guys failed spectacularly at judging the state of things in the Puget Sound region. "Hey, guys, they just voted down a tax-funded basketball venue and it looks like they're gathering in front of Key Arena right now with torches and pitchforks. Get Petty over here today!" Yeah, Richard Petty came and instead of having politicians falling over themselves to kiss his belt buckle they insulted him and NASCAR fans in general and sent him on his way. We're kind of neutral on the prospect of a NASCAR track in the region. We'd go, sure. But tax-payer funded? C'mon.

In an article headlined "Local track doomed by local ignorance" on the front page of Sunday's sports section Jerry Brewer argues that the rubes in Seattle wouldn't know a good opportunity if it drove over them at 150mph. Actually, he points to a handful of distinct examples of our local ignorance. He points to comments by Frank Chopp in which the House Speaker from Seattle cites a non-existent DUI charge against Richard Petty and he points to comments by Larry Seaquist, D of Gig Harbor, in which Seaquist disparages all of NASCAR fandom and likely 80% of the country by stating, "These are not the kind of people you would want living next door to you. They'd be the ones with the junky cars in the front yard and would try to slip around the law." Brewer's right on this count--these statements are terrible.

With NASCAR putting a full throttle charge, or whatever NASCAR fans say, over a proposed track in Kitsap County, our own elected officials are being as classless as the fans they claim will flock to the track.

NASCAR has dispatched a few celebrity drivers to Olympia to wine, dine and convice law makers of the wisdom behind a Kitsap racing oval. The task is daunting--few Washington officials have expressed a lot of interest in the facility, particularly when a part of the deal is bankrolled by the taxpayer, and a recent Elway poll shows that only 16% of the taxpayer is prepared to put up that money. We have to believe that more than 16% of Washington would appreciate a little car racing in the state, but, well, it's probably the same deal as the Sonics: Seattle doesn't hate basketball, it just doesn't want to be taken advantage of by it. NASCAR is NASCAR, though, and those ads you see plastered all over their cars buy a whole lot of access. They hear "no" once and they ask again. Hear it a second time and they send in Richard Petty to trade a little paint with state senators. This is the bill they're trying to get us to agree to.