I can't say I'm much of a NASCAR fan. I have nothing against it--and I followed auto racing as a kid--but since then, I'm strictly an NFL man.

But PoliPundit has an interesting post that the reaction of the red states to Dale Earnhardt's death in a racing accident back on February 18th, 2001 completely caught the legacy media by surprise. Had they paid attention to the amount of affection that pour out of red staters, they might have understood the culture war much better--and not have been surprised by the patriotism that emerged after 9/11, and the 2002 and 2004 election results.

Update: Almost forgot--yesterday I was surprised to see that here in Northern California, my local OSH (Orchard Supply Hardware), a hardware chain owned by Sears, is selling Dale Earnhardt Christmas balls, complete with his signature and trademark #3 painted on them.