NASCAR has been slowly becoming more of a mainstream sport over the past several years but the new Talladega Nights movie has given it the final push. Talladega Nights stars Will Ferrell as NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby. The film was a box office hit on its opening week. Newhouse News has an article bout the film and the growing success of NASCAR.
And for Dick Glover, NASCAR's Los Angeles-based vice president for media and broadcasting, the whole scenario felt like Jimmie Johnson grabbing the checkered flag at Daytona International Speedway.
"NFL is the gold standard for sports in this country and baseball is the national pastime," Glover explained in an interview. "We know we need to do what we can to become more a part of the day-to-day consciousness."
No one is ready to declare "mission accomplished" just yet, but when one of Hollywood's most bankable stars attaches himself to the country's fastest-growing major sport, someone is doing something right -- in addition to doing something no other major sport is doing right now.
It is hardly a coincidence that for the third consecutive summer, stock-car racing is featured on big screens across the country, or that NASCAR drivers keeping popping up everywhere from "American Idol" to the soap opera "Days of Our Lives."
You can read more about Talladega Nights here in a post on WatchersWatch.com. For those looking to interact with the film there's also a Talladega Nights online racing game and Ricky Bobby's Wonder Bread car is even being auctioned off for those with cash to burn. You can learn a little more about NASCAR in this interview with G. Wayne Miller, the author of the book Men and Speed.
NASCAR has been slowly becoming more of a mainstream sport over the past several years but the new 
