NASCAR Wishes Writers Bad Luck

By Matt Crossman
Crossman is on the ground in Daytona for a rather important race happening this Sunday.
If nothing else, covering a NASCAR race gives writers and photographers access to all kinds of free goodies. Very often, accepting this stuff violates Serious Journalism Ethics. For example, on numerous occasions sponsors have given out gift cards to their stores. Which is exactly the same as giving writers money.
One year, Goodyear offered to give free sets of tires to every writer and photographer who wanted them. If the tire wear continues to be an issue, I wonder if Goodyear will do that again.
So far, the schwag count this year is low: A bag of peanut M&Ms and a Kevin Harvick bobblehead. There are two things surprising about this.
[img=http://i.tsn.com/i/photos/20080214/86683.jpg]
Imagine his head bobbling, and that’s basically what the bobblehead looks like.
One: The bobblehead actually looks like Kevin Harvick.⇥
Two: The M&Ms combine two bizarre NASCAR superstitions. They are green, which is considered bad luck, and they contain nuts, which are considered bad luck. Want proof? Check this out (from a Sporting News story in the January 12, 2004 issue):
Do Nextel Cup drivers have superstitions?
Yes, lots of them. The strangest one is that no NASCAR driver will eat peanuts at the track.
Buz McKim, coordinator of NASCAR’s history database, traces the superstition to a race in 1937 race in Nashville. One of the drivers had a beef with the race promoter. He was so upset that he hatched a devious scheme to get the first five qualifiers to drop out of the race. His ingenious plan was to sprinkle peanut shells on their cars. Why peanut shells would cause a driver to withdraw from a race has been lost to history. Or maybe there was a pre-existing curse involving shells. Anyhoo, those five drivers all wrecked, and one of them, Howdy Cox, died. Thus was born sports’ strangest and most widely held superstition.
Walnuts, pecans, cashews? Fine, fine and fine--so far at least--as is everything else in the nut family. And please don’t write to say a peanut is a legume.↵