September 25, 2017
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the biggest NASCAR figure to vocally support anthem protests
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As the ongoing controversy involving President Donald Trump and national anthem protests at sports events continues to roil, NASCAR’s biggest name has publicly opposed the organization’s anti-protest stance.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., defending 14-time winner of the stock car racing organization’s “Most Popular Driver” award, tweeted Monday morning to say that Americans are guaranteed a right to a peaceful protest and quoted JFK.
All Americans R granted rights 2 peaceful protests
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable-JFK— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) September 25, 2017
Earnhardt’s statement came after several NASCAR team owners, including car racing legend Richard Petty, came down strongly on any potential anthem protesters following the growing debate over NFL protests and Trump’s comments.
“Anybody that don’t stand up for that ought to be out of the country. Period. If they don’t appreciate where they’re at … what got them where they’re at? The United States,” Petty said.
Richard Childress, one of NASCAR’s most successful owners, said of any anthem protesters in his employ, “It’ll get you a ride on a Greyhound bus… anybody that works for me should respect the country we live in. So many people gave their lives for it. This is America.”
That reaction certainly got the attention of Trump, who tweeted his approval.
So proud of NASCAR and its supporters and fans. They won’t put up with disrespecting our Country or our Flag – they said it loud and clear!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 25, 2017
But there’s a lot more going on here than a popular driver diverging from his organization’s stance.
First of all, Earnhardt (known more commonly among fans as simply “Dale Jr”) is royalty, the son of Dale Earnhardt Sr., one of NASCAR’s most successful drivers ever and, arguably, it’s most popular. That Earnhardt Sr. died as a result of a crash in the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, NASCAR’s “Super Bowl,” only contributed to his legacy.
That it was Earnhardt Jr. that broke ranks with NASCAR is certainly noteworthy: Not only does his popularity and family legacy mean his words carry extra weight, it also means that NASCAR owners are less likely to clap-back at him. (For what it’s worth, Earnhardt Jr. announced earlier in 2017 that this season would be his last as a driver.)
The use of Twitter for such a statement also shows how NASCAR has established its prominence on the social media platform as other sports; Earnhardt Jr. has almost 2.3 million followers, and driver fights, usually a post-race fisticuffs situation, have also made the transition online.
And the irony of Childress restricting free speech as he declares “This is America” aside, another wrinkle is that Earnhardt Sr. spent a majority of his career driving for Childress.
If anything, all of this just proves that nothing — nothing — is ever that simple when it comes to the issue of free speech, no matter what the president or his cronies may think.
Read more: http://mashable.com/2017/09/25/dale-earnhardt-jr-nascar-anthem-protest/
December 24, 2017
Hauling a Christmas Tree in a Ferrari Is Totally Normal
by MeDaryl • Cars • Tags: Automotive, business, Christmas, infrastructure, Luxury, New York City, pursuits, sports, transportation
Don’t ever let anyone tell you the GTC4Lusso isn’t a “real” Ferrari.
The Ferrari GTC4Lusso is a special car.
The four-seat hatchback combines sophisticated all-wheel-drive systems with spacious seating for four, plus a large trunk and 680-horsepower performance on a par with anything from Lamborghini and McLaren. This odd-ball hatchback can do zero to 62 mph in 3.4 seconds; top speed is 208 mph. It’s the type of car where you look down and realize you’ve been doing 115 mph the past five miles without knowing it. (Yes, that happened.)
I wrote about it when it first came out last year (as the follow-up to the famous FF), and when Ferrari introduced the 2018 turbocharged version.
I also took it two hours out of New York City to get a Christmas tree. Really.
Because why not? Compared with many other cars that cost the nearly $300,000 (or more), it’ll take to buy a GTC4Lusso, this is a shockingly drivable contraption.
That elaborate traction and stability apparatus is called “thrust-vectoring” and smooths out the car’s response to unstable conditions such as snow and ice. Better yet, it also has the advantage of something very simple, something immensely helpful when you’re lugging around Christmas trees on upstate farms: ride height. It’s higher off the ground than a standard sports car which makes it far less finicky over city pot holes and torn-up streets.
Inside feels like a very luxurious cockpit. Which makes sense—after all, the word “Lusso” means luxury in Italian.
The front passenger seat even has a computerized and interactive LED screen that creates a second cockpit all its own. Ferrari calls the new invention a “dual cockpit” configuration—it’s divided by a central console where all the car's comfort and entertainment controls are shared between both the driver and passenger.
It makes sense. Nice things are meant to be shared, right?
Click here to watch the video.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-21/hauling-a-christmas-tree-in-a-ferrari-gtc4lusso-is-totally-normal