We could get into a heated debate about what it meant, lets not, it's come to mean more than it did. Southern pride for starters...
Think NASCAR is gonna take hold hardcore in NH, VT, or Maine?
Another outstanding "Alienate the Base" moment.
It already has. They run two weekends a year in Loudon, NH and they pack the place, 100,000+ people both races.
This is no surprise. NASCAR's been leaving the Southern base behind for years. Ask the folks in North Wilkesboro, NC, or Rockingham, NC, or Darlington, SC. North Wilkesboro and Rockingham have been dumped off the schedule entirely for other tracks; Darlington lost the Labor Day race it had for fifty years to California and will probably lose its other race inside of two years. It's all about the money. Chicagoland, Texas, California, Kansas City, Homestead...they've been expanding to "non-traditional" locations aggressively, and it's worked beyond their wildest dreams.
}:-)4
That's what people said about Indianapolis. NASCAR running at the IMS? Nonsense, they said. But the success at Indy is what pushed NASCAR to move out of the South.
Now, I'm a fan of good ol' boy, tobacco chewing, Confederate flag totin' Southern 500 NASCAR and it's been a long time since I've watched a race, but France has pretty good credentials with what he's done. He's grown a niche sport into one of the biggest sports in this country. That ain't bad. Of course, he lost people like me along the way, but he's not looking back, I'm sure.