I Can't Believe I'm Posting on This Subject

A historic first at semper reformanda! For years I have been critical of the "sport" known as NASCAR, or more properly, stock car racing. Yet, I have noticed lately that I have begun to pay more attention to the headlines, which I hesitate to admit, but is evidence that there is a level of interest in me. Now, I'm almost officially sucked in to being a casual, and boy do I mean casual, fan. The reason? Juan Montoya. He has officialy announced that he is making the jump from Formula 1 to NASCAR, effective next season. He will even begin racing in the Busch series later this year after the Formula 1 season has ended.

I have always felt like NASCAR was limiting itself by being a closed community of "good ole boys." If you would never be found dead with a confederate flag on you, then chances are pretty good you wouldn't be to welcome at a NASCAR event, let alone behind the wheel of one the cars. Of course that has been changing gradually as the popularity of the sport spreads geographically. But Juan Montoya has a huge international following and should he be able to make the transition as well as Tony Stewart has, expect NASCAR to be completely changed. If, however, he goes the way of Paul Tracy, Al Unser Jr., or Christian Fittipaldi, well, Montoya will be a bust and NASCAR will roll on. The suspense is enough to keep me interested.