Bush Makes a Pit Stop for the NASCAR Vote

George W. Bush on Sunday became the latest president to make a high-profile pitch for the fast-growing NASCAR vote, traveling to Florida to join 180,000 fans in the stands -- and millions watching on television -- for the Daytona 500.

Before intoning, “Gentlemen, start your engines,” to open the first event of stock-car racing’s Nextel Cup series, Bush described himself as a speed lover, recalling his days as a Texas Air National Guard pilot. A sports reporter had asked if he had any desire to drive one of the cars, which can reach speeds of more than 180 mph.

“Well, I’d like to, but I’m afraid the [Secret Service] agents wouldn’t let me,” said the president, who had donned a black NASCAR racing jacket. “I flew fighters when I was in the Guard, and I like speed.”

Bush has faced more than a week of questions about his obligations as a guardsman during the Vietnam War.

Halfway through the 500-mile race, won by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bush and his wife, Laura, left without fanfare and headed across the state to Tampa, where he is to conduct a “conversation” on the economy today.

This is Bush’s 19th visit to the state where his brother, Jeb, is governor and which he won in 2000 by 537 votes.

Bush’s low-key departure from the Daytona International Speedway contrasted with his dramatic arrival, as his 20-vehicle motorcade crept its way onto the track to the tune of “Help Me, Rhonda.”

Beyond the racetrack fence, several men stood on their trucks waving Confederate flags. In the grandstands, cheers and applause rippled through the crowd. Other fans waved American flags; some took snapshots. The cheering reached a crescendo as the motorcade came to a stop and the president emerged to greet the 43 drivers.

Because of Bush’s visit, fans had to endure long lines to pass through metal detectors. The presence of law enforcement -- including sharpshooters atop the grandstands -- was prominent throughout the complex.

Like the much-courted “soccer moms” of the 1996 presidential election, “NASCAR dads” are the rage this time. At first blush, they seem a natural Bush constituency: Often blue-collar, super-patriotic, culturally conservative and concentrated in the South and in rural regions -- areas where stock-car racing took root.

“Obviously the president resonates much better with this crowd than Democrats, whose emphasis -- so far, anyway -- seems to be antiwar, almost exclusively,” said Susan McManus, a University of South Florida political scientist.

Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who coined the phrase “NASCAR dads,” said the term has become something of a misnomer, since women make up 40% of NASCAR fans. Democrats would be foolhardy to write off such voters, many of whom also “think the economy is not going well, we shouldn’t spend $87 billion in Iraq and we should stop shipping jobs overseas,” she said in an interview.

Bush has courted fans of the National Assn. for Stock Car Auto Racing with perhaps greater fervor than his predecessors, but they also sought the favor of these voters.

In 1984, Ronald Reagan became the first president to attend a NASCAR event. George H.W. Bush came to Daytona for the Pepsi 400 in 1992, while seeking reelection. His opponent, then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, went to the Darlington, S.C., speedway and was booed.

The Republican National Committee on Sunday concluded a four-day “Race to Victory” voter registration drive at the raceway, part of an effort to register at least 3 million new GOP voters by Election Day.

Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, said Bush was pleased to participate in the festivities. “He views it as a way to really honor some true champions.”

But McManus offered a different interpretation. “We’re seeing the politicization of sports,” she said.