Hi Trevor!
And belated Happy Father's Day - hope your 'youngins' as they would say in Nascar are all doing well!
I married a bona fide redneck who has followed Nascar since its inception - his favoritie driver is Harry Gant, if that means anything to you.... Anyway, he has season tickets to the Coca Cola 600, and for the previous two years I was able to find other things more pressing than to go, but not this year! So we did the whole Nascar thing - camping in an RV and all of it! Whew! This is a different culture!
Anyway, I do follow it, for love of course, and I'm with you on the Gordon thing. I like to pull for him simply because he is so villified. I couldn't believe how many people boo'ed him as he was coming around in the introduction - and Rusty Wallace. I tend to pull for Mark Martin, just because my DH likes him otherwise. I also like Jimmy Johnson, because he has a nice humble quality for being so young and talented. I agree with you as well, that these guys really understand why they are successful - the fans.
As we watched the US Open golf tournament yesterday I was reminded of this - some of those guys are so sour with the crowd. Can't they remember that they are entertainers really? Without the crowd, they wouldn't be doing what they're doing?
Okay I'll stop now - probably way more than you wanted to know!
Cheers,
Colia