Shaffer’s column uninformed, makes him a hypocrite
I am appalled at Andrew Shaffer’s sports column on April 3, titled “Go to hell, NASCAR (and stay there).” I am an avid NASCAR fan and was really angered that the IDS would allow this to be published.\nIt is solely the opinion of someone who does not know anything about NASCAR. I have numerous discussions with people about NASCAR and they all sound like Mr. Shaffer. The lack of knowledge is evident. I wonder if Mr. Shaffer has ever been to a race or been in a stock car while driving 185 mph. NASCAR drivers are some of the most conditioned athletes around because their bodies have to withstand G’s and the force of breaking and accelerating at 185 to 200 mph.\nNASCAR will always have a future in the U.S. Stock-car racing was popular well before the NFL was, and it certainly had been around decades before there was the NIT and NCAA tournaments.\nThe reference to Billy Bob and Mary Ann really angered me because I am from the Southern U.S. and NASCAR is real big back home. It is unethical in published media to take cracks at a stereotype that is very wrong and demoralizing to a whole section of the United States. And it’s not just the South that loves NASCAR. There are NASCAR tracks in Las Vegas, Chicago, Vermont and California. To associate NASCAR with a negative stereotype about a certain section of the country shows strongly the ignorance of Mr. Shaffer.\nHe is also contradictory to himself. The Little 500 is based off a car race. I bet come April 21, Mr. Shaffer will be partaking in the events that we all take in and may not remember what bike finished first because of alcohol consumption.\nI guess Mr. Shaffer was never told as a kid, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
Steven Jeffers\nJunior
