The American Civil War Brought To You By Nascar

This is truly hilarious.

The American Civil War is unique in human history for being the only civil conflict that ended with reunion, respect and brotherhood.  The most bloody national conflict in world history is defined, ultimately, not by the conflict itself and that conflict’s destruction, but by the preservation of the values of all Americans.

The twin gifts of patriotic understanding and American freedom not only survived, but have thrived to make this nation a beacon of hope and peace the rest of the world admires to this day and will forever.  This production is honored to have developed a connection between this ultimate American sport with the ultimate American story and is proud to announce an association between select NASCAR™  affiliated drivers and roles that best exemplify this tradition of patriotism and competition in our production.

The connection between the Civil War and drivers who race NASCAR™ is simple: those values of the Civil War—the patriotism, the spirit of American competition, the regional and national pride that poured forth from and for its heroes—is best exemplified in the American Values and American Spirit embraced today by the NASCAR™ affiliated drivers and their fans.

One of the few times I am speechless.

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30 comments… add one
  • Ray Ortensie Jul 16, 2012 @ 16:28

    Is Bo and Luke doing a camo?

  • Jimmy Price Jun 27, 2012 @ 4:42

    I cringed when I first read that as well.

    However, I’ve had a chance to see the script (and to re-write a tiny portion about the Battle of the Crater) and it is thankfully devoid of any Lost Cause hoopla. The USCT experience will be portrayed in greater detail than any other Civil War film aside from Glory, with the bulk of the attention going to the Louisiana Native Guard and the Crater.

    And even though I’m a historical consultant for the film, I promise I wasn’t paid to say that.

    I’m hoping that will change soon, but as of now I’ve received no cash for my involvement 😉

  • Dudley Bokoski Jun 21, 2012 @ 16:05

    I suppose if southerners have to atone for NASCAR in 1976, northerners should at the very least retroactively apologize for disco.

  • Michael Douglas Jun 18, 2012 @ 8:52

    Creepy, faux patriotic drivel aside, doesn’t NASCAR (or stock car racing in any case) have its origins in the bootlegging “industry?”

    • Andy Hall Jun 18, 2012 @ 9:16

      Sure, and it’s reasonable to say that the sport is generally “Southern” in its origins. But as with everything else, some fools equate “Southern” with “Confederate,” effectively marginalizing themselves from mainstream society.

    • H Donald Capps Jul 31, 2012 @ 8:05

      Long before the first ‘shine runner in the Appalachians hit the road and well before NASCAR appeared, there was stock car racing in the United States. Contrary to the folklore and mythology, stock car racing is not a Southern invention.

  • Ken Noe Jun 18, 2012 @ 8:19

    A long-time NASCAR fan recently told me that attendance is down because of the sport’s recent opposition to fans flying the Confederate flag at races. I don’t know that I agree; the economy, market oversaturation, ill-conceived expansion, and lack of popular drivers who win probably have more to do with it. But there’s no doubt that the heritage community (including the SCV and Edgerton) have been calling for a boycott and flaggings since at least 2005, when Bill France spoke out against the practice. If Carl Edwards ends up playing John B. Gordon, it’ll be the producers’ decision, not NASCAR’s.

  • Allen Jun 18, 2012 @ 4:20

    The quote above is merely a promotional blurb about one aspect of casting this production. If you’ll bother to look at the rest of the site the link provided directs you to, you’ll find this an 8-hour television mini-series which just happens to have cast a couple of NASCAR drivers. The balance of the cast is fairly impressive, as you can see here: http://www.toappomattox.com/To_Appomattox.html

    Whether the final product will be any good is hard to say. It can hardly be any worse than Spielberg’s love letter to the Lincoln myth appears to be, based on an interview I saw with the screenwriter. You people need to lighten up. Seriously. And by the way, the “whitest sport in America” is not NASCAR, it’s ice hockey.

    • Kevin Levin Jun 18, 2012 @ 4:40

      Thanks for the comment, Allen.

    • Brooks Simpson Jun 18, 2012 @ 5:53

      There are far more black NHL players than there are black NASCAR drivers, so that’s an ignorant comment. Indeed, the demography of the NHL is far, far more diverse than NASCAR.

      • Allen Jun 20, 2012 @ 5:36

        I didn’t say “the NHL”, Brooks. I said “ice hockey”. But since I follow neither sport, I’ll let you have the last word.

  • Aaron Kidd Jun 17, 2012 @ 20:33

    I don’t have much interest in the sport, and it is sickening how this piece beautifies the War.

  • A sports fan Jun 17, 2012 @ 14:54

    This is a bit off topic, but there is a fair amount of NASCAR bashing, “driving around in a circle”, going on here. First, I’m not a NASCAR fan but know several people who are. I am a sports fan and have been asked whether I thought it was a sport. My response: imagine driving at nearly 200 mph in rush hour traffic in which you’re not just trying to survive. You’re trying to get there first, and this goes on for hours while your competitors are using their cars to try to bump you out of the way and passing you just inches from your fenders. Now that requires quick reactions and lots of endurance. So yes, it’s a sport.

    Having said all that, comparing NASCAR to the Civil War is beyond reason and thus beyond words.

    • Kevin Levin Jun 17, 2012 @ 14:55

      Seems to me the concern is with how the producers of this series have characterized the Civil War. Thanks for the comment.

  • Brad Jun 17, 2012 @ 13:54

    I can’t say I’m shocked. That is what I expect to see.

    However, I was semi shocked this weekend. I was waiting at the gym for my son and they happened to have some books lying around, the kind you can take if you want. Well they had Samuel Elliot Morrison’s history of the US, the part dealing with the revolution through reconstruction. I turned to the part talking about slavery and there were such nuggets as the southern master doing what they could for the slaves, the happy slave and justifying some of the conduct shown to slaves by pointing out that African countries were the biggest exporters of humans for the slave trade, on and on it went. At that point, I just tossed it aside and went back to looking at my BlackBerry 🙂

  • Kevin Levin Jun 17, 2012 @ 12:57

    The whole thing is obscene.

  • James Harrigan Jun 17, 2012 @ 11:16

    “the spirit of American competition”

    I guess they mean that spirit where people from the two sides try to viciously kill each other.

  • Woodrowfan Jun 17, 2012 @ 9:37

    Well, NASCAR is a bunch of cars driving around in circle, and it seems like arguments with Southrons seem to go around and around in circles too.

  • Lyle Smith Jun 17, 2012 @ 8:32

    NASCAR got how America or some Americans thought about the Civil War in 1976. Neat.

  • Jim Jun 17, 2012 @ 8:22

    More of the theme that commercialization of the CSA role in the
    Civil War will destroy it’s meaning.

    Dead Dogma is the idea that if you do not know and appreciate the foundations of your belief, one day you will just abandon it. IMHO that is what has been happening to ‘Confederate Southern Culture’ since the politicians used it in the 1960/60s to oppose integration. As real history and experience are replaced by slogans and advertising, it becomes weaker and weaker.

    Maybe one day we will see flaggers with beer ad sponsor labels on the flag staff or tee shirt proclaiming “Buy Rebel Beer and celebrate your Southern Heritage”.

  • Andy Hall Jun 17, 2012 @ 7:07

    The ugly side of this is that there’s currently an active meme going around that all but says, “NASCAR is for white people.” The recent flap over whether the teevee car “General Lee,” with its big Confederate Battle Flag painted on top, could be featured at a NASCAR event in Arizona is just the latest in a long list of things that certain fans have pointed to as the PC-ing of motor sports and cultural genocideblahblahblah you get the idea.

    I noticed it a few months back, after that big, fiery accident at Daytona when Clint Lacy went off on an angry screed about who that incident somehow proved that NASCAR’s attempts to diversify the ranks of its drivers (and through them, fans) was destroying the sport. Never mind that the driver involved in the accicent, Juan Pablo Montoya, has been racing in NASCAR long before the diversity program was inaugurated, and is one of the best-known and highly respected drivers active today.

    More recently, Mike Tuggle at the League of the South has been banging that same drum about how the combination of political correctness and ethnic diversity are destroying an inherently Southern sport — in this case, as usual, “Southern” referring exclusively to white people. They never quite get around to saying it’s all those brown people they’re upset about, but then in the modern political/cultural landscape, bitching vaguely about “diversity” has become the accepted currency of bigotry. It’s depressingly amusing to watch the contortions they go to without ever quite having the stones to say what they mean.

  • Jorge Jun 17, 2012 @ 6:52

    wow. just…wow.

  • Will Stoutamire Jun 17, 2012 @ 6:31

    Ahh the Civil War… what better example of America’s love of fun and good-spirited competition?

    Now if only Longstreet could’ve learned how to turn right…

  • Scott A. MacKenzie Jun 17, 2012 @ 6:06

    So does this mean they admit the Civil War was about race? 🙂

    I kill me.

    • Barbara A. Gannon Jun 17, 2012 @ 6:59

      You kill me too!!! Hehehehe

      But seriously folks, this is PERFECT; as a wise book I read/wrote once said–making the Confederate military experience as one part of the Patriotic American military experience is critical to understanding Civil War memory in the twentieth century. Yes, its about race and not vroom vroom. Are we really SURPRISED that the whitest sport in America would remember the CW in this way?

    • James Harrigan Jun 17, 2012 @ 11:17

      touché, Scott!

    • Ken Noe Jun 18, 2012 @ 8:20

      You get extra points for that one, use them wisely.

    • Keith Harris Jun 18, 2012 @ 11:56

      Scott – best comment ever.

    • nan beeton Feb 16, 2020 @ 11:13

      Yes, Republicans freed the slaves, Republicans gave women the vote. Suck it up, buttercups. #stillwinning #blackconservative #MAGA #walkaway #blackvotesmatter #whatthehelldoyouhavetolose

      • Kevin Levin Feb 17, 2020 @ 4:29

        And in 2020 Republicans are defending Confederate monuments. Go figure.

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