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http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/02/17/cupp_nascar/

Is the long-suffering liberal media jealous of long-thriving NASCAR? It sure seems that way.

Over the last few months both The New York Times and Forbes have written dramatic, officious, and error-riddled obituaries for the wildly popular sport, claiming it is yet another victim of the bad economy.

Whether it’s a desire to sell papers or a more partisan plot to politicize the economy, we should remember that we can’t believe everything we read. NASCAR is the second-most-watched sport after football. But to hear some people tell it, we could be rubbing elbows with Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr on the bread line in no time at all.

They seem to rejoice in the news that this offending spectacle will go the way of other quaint American vestiges, like county fairs and turkey shoots, while simultaneously suggesting that the sport has become too flashy for its own good. Well, which is it? It seems as though the economic downturn is bringing out the claws, pitting the elite and effete against an all-American juggernaut.

Here’s how Times’ reporter Susanna Hamner described the scene outside a NASCAR race (that she didn’t attend, according to NASCAR) last summer in her story:

“…the parking lot was filled with excited NASCAR fans chugging beer, roasting pigs and exchanging drivers’ statistics.” But then she says chairman Brian France’s successful efforts to popularize and modernize the sport have alienated its “core fans.”

By that, we can assume she means Dilbert, Dusty and Billy Bob over at the Piggly Wiggly.

And that’s not all. Here’s Jack Gage in a Forbes cover story who writes:

“Several of the biggest drivers are look-alike, cleanshaven white guys in tracksuits, and their cars, which now hew to the same technical specifications, are equally cookie-cutter.”

Never mind that drivers wear fire suits, not tracksuits. He goes on to score France for his of-the-people delusions of grandeur:

It’s pretty long, see the full article at the link