NASCAR, a sport I have negative interest in following, has decreed that Confederate flags are no longer allowed at their events, which have always been characterized by good ol’ boys waving traitor’s flags and decorating their cars with them. Bold move! I imagine a fair number of their fans are choking on their chaw right now. One of them, Ray Cicarelli, has announced that he will no longer be participating.
Ciccarelli said he does not like the direction NASCAR is headed, adding that he does not believe in kneeling during the National Anthem, nor does he believe in taking away the right for people to fly whatever flag they choose.
What an interesting position to take! So you can fly whatever flag you want…although I’ve noticed a remarkable dearth of these flags at NASCAR, but then, I haven’t paid much attention. I think you’d get beat up pretty bad if you tried.
So you could commend his commitment to free speech, except that he also declares that you shouldn’t be allowed to kneel during the Glorious Patriotic Drinking Song, which means his reasoning isn’t at all based on personal liberty. What could his rationale be?
I mean, the reason the Confederate flag is on a shit list is because it represents white supremacy, bigotry, and oppression — and also, incidentally, slavery — so it’s easy to understand why The Libs think it is inappropriate. Is Mr Ciccarelli in favor of those things?
The real reason Ciccarelli is leaving the game:
Impressive. A perfect record.
I used to watch NASCAR which had called its premiere series the Winston Cup until that became too problematic. The racing came partially out of bootleg culture and is mostly associated with the South. Good on them for getting rid of the traitors’ flag.
NASCAR is mostly oval tracks and rain averse. Boring. Gateway drug to Formula 1 which is international in scope, has chicane rich road courses, wet races, and a pluralistic plethora of flags. Aside from the track in Austin the US has limited representation. So much for exceptionalism. There are North American drivers…from Mexico. Ok currently one.
And I almost forgot about Haas as a US based team.
I guess allure of NASCAR and the Indy type racing keeps US driving talent from F1.
It’s not just the flags of other nations you won’t see flown at a NASCAR event. Try flying a rainbow flag and see how that works out for you. I’m betting Mr. “right for people to fly whatever flag they choose” Ciccarelli would be the first in line to tear that flag down if anyone dared to run it up a flagpole at a NASCAR event. Like most of his kind, Ciccarelli is only interested in the freedom to do what he wants to do.
The red and black anarcho syndicalist banner is quite snappy.
That flag he is not allowed to fly is not really the Confederate flag; it’s the Confederate battle flag. I’m sure he is still allowed to fly the other, ultimate, more appropriate Confederate battle flag: the white flag of surrender.
Given that the Chinese currently make electronic everything I’m surprised you don’t see someone’s car with a PRC flag on it. “Joe Blow in car 38 is sponsored by Huawei.”
@ timgueguen, # 5: Trump absolutely HATES the Huawei Corporation, for some reason. BTW, I have a Huawei phone.
So some white supremacist knob head has chucked a tantrum over the lowest bar and flounced off to live alone in his basement, clearly hoping someone, anyone will chase after him and prove he’s not really excrement on the sole of life’s boot.
He’s done us all a service and I hope he likes his basement?
Shortly there will be an announcement of a counter racing series that will let folks proudly display their racism, sexism, etc. Unless my brother was right when he told me people only fly the traitor’s flag to be left alone.
Nazi flags are still ok, right? What’s the problem?
Nascar’s ban is in response to a challenge from Bubba Wallace, the only black driver in the series.
Nascar bans Confederate flag from all tracks due to associations with slavery:
Mr Wallace’s racing car (By forcing Nascar’s Confederate flag ban, Bubba Wallace is saving a sport from itself) is painted matte black with a very prominent “#blacklivesmatter” (images at that link):
Two days later Nascar announced the ban.
@10- blf
Thanks for reminding me of Bubba Wallace. My interest in NASCAR is almost nil anymore. I don’t even watch Daytona anymore. I did enjoy watching Danica switch from Indy. NASCAR has had some Latin American drivers. Juan Pablo Montoya comes to mind. He raced F1 too.
FWIW the F1 driver who has been “widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport, and considered by some to be the greatest of all time” Lewis Hamilton is black:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hamilton
Let’s not forget that flag represents treason, and making war against US citizens.
Re: achuah @ #4…
It’s not just a battle flag. It is specifically the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. If someone flew an actual “national” flag of the Confederacy, none of those yahoos would recognize it.
On a more general topic… I was amused by a photo Slate is running with their article. It shows the US flag flying over the aforementioned “Confederate” flag on the same flag pole. Why amused? In nautical usage, when you capture an enemy warship, you fly your own flag over the enemy flag as sign that you’ve defeated them. So flying the US flag above the popularly assumed Confederate one is actually an acknowledgement that the South lost.
NASCRASH said in 2019, “confederate losers’ flag good, Slayer livery bad!”
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/slayer-nascar-sponsorship-reactionary-concerns-873026/
hemidactylus (#1, #11) –
US drivers haven’t succeeded in Formula 1 because level of competition in US developmental series isn’t as high as in Europe or South America. Even in a front row car, Michael Andretti struggled. Scott Speed went to race in Europe as a sixteen year old and didn’t last long in F1. Eddie Cheever was the only competitive US driver since Mario Andretti (more Italian than American).
I’d say Hamilton is top ten, but the disparity between teams in the 2010s was ridiculous. Many of his titles came like Schumacher’s: the only competition was his teammate. If he wins another title once the new regulations come in, I’ll agree. The best drivers won against fields full of competitive drivers and cars (e.g. Stewart, Prost, Senna, Clark, Lauda).
Finishing with a quote that always annoys NASCAR fans: “NASCAR is a bunch of farmers driving around in circles.” – Eddie Irvine, 1999 World Constructor’s Champion driver (second in the Driver’s championship)
@14- Intransitive
Thanks for the background on paucity of US drivers in F1. I’ve only started watching F1 since maybe 2012.
I recall when I was supposed to be doing school work in a computer lab (mid 90s) trolling a NASCAR board during a race saying AMA Superbike was superior to oval track in cars. That didn’t go over well.
Didn’t know about Slayer sponsorship being pulled. Now that would have been something to scare the fundies in the stands. “Look there Bubba is that the Antichrist coming out of the pits?” Kinda like Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees in effect on the crowd.
Many of the confederate flag flyers are unaware of the reason for the civil war. The south fought to confirm their god-given right to keep black men as slaves. That was it! The sole purpose. This was expressed very definitely in an address by the vice president of the confederacy (Online somewhere.). Anyone who waves the Confederate battle flag today is declaring themselves a racist!
jack16
hemidactylus, et al., I’ve got zero interest in Nascar, and fecking close to zero interest in F1 or any other petrol / diesel-powered car racing, albeit with some interest in des 24 Heures du Mans (not the series so much as that particular race). I only mentioned Bubba Wallace because his activism seems to have been overlooked by both poopyhead and previous commentators… and then, I (inadvertently!) overlooked Lewis Hamilton’s activism… mea culpa.
Alexander H Stephens, the Cornerstone Speech (1861):
jack16 @16:
Or an ignoramus.
Let’s also not forget that Nascar is all about the glorification of burning fossil fuels and contributing to climate change. The entire sport should be mothballed.
brucegee1962@20, Precisely. That is perhaps the main reason “I’ve got […] fecking close to zero interest in F1† or any other petrol / diesel-powered car racing” (see @17). There is, however, Formula E, “a single seater motorsport championship that uses only electric cars.” I myself know nothing about it (other than, obviously, its existence).
† I am aware F1 nowadays uses hybrid engines and says some part of it intends to be “Carbon neutral” sometime in the future. Sounds rather like hair furor’s tax returns.
Good on NASCAR (it’s about time). Now, they need to get rid of the pre race prayer.
Ciccarelli is a nobody, but that racer profile is fake. NASCAR doesn’t do the Podium thing and he does have a fastest lap.
sez brugegee1962: “Let’s also not forget that Nascar is all about the glorification of burning fossil fuels and contributing to climate change.”
Electric vehicles are a thing. Suspect that once battery technology gets a stored-power-per-kilogram figure comparable to that of gasoline, electric car races will be a thing.
I’m sure NASCAR is devastated to have lost a part-time third-division drivers who has failed to qualify five more times than he’s finished in the top 10.
@1: There’s also a North American driver from Canada. Also I prefer IndyCar, there’s actual overtaking and it’s not a coin toss on whether or not a single driver will win any given race.
@14: Well, keep in mind Hamilton also won the drivers’ championship in 2008 on the team that finished second in the constructors’ championship.
My husband tells me the Mississippi state flag will likely become popular…
@25, Mississippi lawmakers pushing to remove Confederate emblem from state flag: