Will Ferrell make Nascar chic?
Filed under: Style in the News, Clothing
Will Ferrell's new movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby came out last week to mixed fanfare. That fanfare goes something like this: Will Ferrell is great, Sacha Cohen (a.k.a. Ali G) is great, and the rest of the movie .... well, let's move on to the larger issue: is NASCAR cool?Born in Charlotte, NC -- just like Michael Jordan and Billy Graham -- NASCAR (the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) officially formed in 1948. Ever since, it's slowly shed its southern twang, gaining network TV time and mainstream sponsors along the way. These days, it's the second most popular sport (at least in terms of TV ratings) in the US, just behind football. Take that, Major League Baseball!
And yet, can a sport be cool when it calls drivers "athletes", prides itself on burst eardrums and fiery crashes and -- most importantly of all -- forces its stars into neon orange jumpsuits with "Tide" (or Dupont or whatever) logos all over them?




