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Bush Opens Daytona 500, Courts Race Fans

Posted on: Sunday, 15 February 2004, 06:00 CST

President Bush gave the "Gentlemen, start your engines" cry Sunday to begin NASCAR's Daytona 500 in a high-profile speedway visit to court the highly sought votes of the millions of fans of one of the nation's fastest-growing sports.

Boarding Air Force One with his wife, Laura, to leave Washington's sunny cold for breezy Florida and what has been called the "Great American Race," Bush made gestures to reporters as if he were steering a car around an oval track.

"If you've never been to a Daytona 500 it's hard for me to describe what it's like to be down here with the drivers and to see the huge crowd and to feel the excitement for one of America's great sporting spectacles," Bush said in a prerace interview with NBC. "This is more than an event; it's a way of life for a lot of people, and you can feel the excitement when you're here."

Then, before the official race kickoff, he asked for "God's blessings" on the drivers who would be competing at speeds up to 200 miles per hour.

The track has a history of attracting presidents. President Reagan came to Daytona for the Firecracker 400 during his 1984 re-election campaign. Bush's father stopped by the Daytona 500 during his unsuccessful run for a second term in 1992. The president himself came in July 2000 to watch the Pepsi 400 when he was running for president.

Bush's appearance at Daytona International Speedway for stock car racing's most prestigious and lucrative race provides him with an unbeatable opportunity to reach out this election year's coveted "NASCAR dad" constituency - stereotyped as mostly white, male and Southern even though the sport's reach is much broader.

He made the most of it, submitting to a brief interview with NBC, the event's official broadcaster, and another with Motor Racing Network from the control tower during the race to ensure exposure well beyond the 200,000 or so fans expected at the track.

On the way in for landing, the president's jet made a low, fast loop above and around the track, attracting thousands of camera flashes. Then his motorcade of a couple dozen vehicles took a lap around the oval, stopping to let the president, wearing a black "Daytona 500" jacket, and Mrs. Bush out in the pit area.

Bush plunged into a crowd of drivers, mechanics and well-wishers and looked into a couple of cars. He lingered over a car sponsored by the National Guard.

The president was asked by his NBC interviewer whether he had any desire to ride in one of the race cars.

"Well, I'd like to, but I'm afraid the agents wouldn't let me. I flew fighters when I was in the Guard, and I like speed," Bush said. Controversy has been brewing recently over whether the president showed up for a portion of his Vietnam-era Air National Guard duty when he was supposed to have been serving in Alabama.

He also took care to repeatedly pay tribute to the voters he was courting, extolling the courage of NASCAR drivers and saluting what he said was special support of the military by people involved with NASCAR.

The president's visit coincided with a voter registration drive being put on at the track all weekend by the Republican National Committee. GOP volunteers, accompanied by a "Race to Victory" motor coach, were aiming to bring 6,000 to 8,000 voters onto its rolls and get them to sign a banner supporting Bush's re-election.

To preview the event, the White House even featured NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip on its online "Ask the White House" chat session.

Bush was to stay for much of the race but leave before it ends and thousands of rowdy revelers pour into Daytona Beach's streets. The president was spending Sunday night in Tampa, where he planned an event focused on his economic agenda and accomplishments on Monday.

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