Join the Discussion "All of the new tracks that have been built lately have been cooler-free so that they could sell more concessions.. So now Dover Downs (and I suspect many other tracks will follow suit) have a built-in excuse to ban coolers so they won't look like the bad guys." What Do You Think?

Related Resources • NASCAR Mourns

Dateline: September 24, 2001

There was no doubt that yesterday's Winston Cup race at Dover Downs was going to be special. The World Trade Center and Pentagon tragedies were still fresh on everyone's mind. Also, the heightened security measures and the steady stream of air traffic to and from the nearby Air Force base where victims of the attack were being taken served as constant reminders to all race fans that this was no "regular" weekend.

Virtually every car in the field had some form of patriotic symbol on it somewhere as sponsors willingly gave up some of their exposure in order to show their support for the country. Most notably the number thirty-six car driven by Kenny Schrader was almost completely devoid of sponsor decals, instead the car was painted bumper-to-bumper with a giant American flag. My hat is off to regular sponsor M&M's for this beautiful paint job.

On the other end of the spectrum I was not able to locate any patriotic touches on Jeff Gordon's Dupont car.

There were long lines waiting to get through the security checks at the gate as no coolers, backpacks, large bags or ice were allowed in. There were also long lines at the concession stands as fans needed a cool drink to get through the hot and stuffy afternoon. But through it all I never heard a single complaint from a fan.

The pre-race festivities included Lee Greenwood singing "God Bless The USA" and Tanya Tucker singing "God Bless America." The highlight of the pre-race was the emotional National Anthem turned in by Tucker and 140,000 backup singers all waving American flags that had been handed out at the gate.

The race went on. There were tire problems, a couple of hard hits, a few hot tempers, strategy, fuel mileage and all of the other things that make up a NASCAR event. In the end somebody won and a bunch of others didn't but everyone will go on to the next race and do it all over again because this is what they do.

Just as America has gone back to work, NASCAR has gone back to work.