After Air Force Two buzzed the crowd, sweeping as low as 300 metres over the racetrack, Cheney’s black SUV took a lap around the Daytona speedway at a sedate 105 kmp.
DAYTONA BEACH: Four months before crucial congressional elections, Vice President Dick Cheney saw his first stock-car race on Saturday and hoped to fire up traditionally conservative “NASCAR dads” to turn out and vote. After Air Force Two buzzed the crowd, sweeping as low as 300 metres over the racetrack, Cheney’s black SUV took a lap around the Daytona speedway at a sedate 105 kmp.
Infield spectators perched atop behemoth recreational vehicles waved American flags and banners proclaiming devotion to their favourite drivers and the beer companies that sponsor them. “On Independence Day, we’re reminded how fortunate we are to live in freedom and call this nation home,” Cheney told more than 100,000 assembled to watch the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International speedway, the mecca of stock-car racing.
“NASCAR dads,” a US political term coined in recent years, refers to blue-collar, overwhelmingly white, mostly Southern men. Staunch supporters of the military and sometimes avid hunters, they like to see cars hurtle around an asphalt track at speeds of up to 320 kmp.
They also are an important part of the Republican political base and the party will need to get them to the polls in November if it wants to retain control of the US Senate and House of Representatives. Cheney, a powerful but not very popular vice president, most often makes public appearances in front of sympathetic audiences to rally the Republican faithful. With the 43 race drivers standing behind him against the backdrop of a huge American flag, he spoke briefly and was politely received. Appearing at Daytona has been something of a tradition for Republican administrations.
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