Jimmy Carter, the president who brought NASCAR to the White House

Nowadays, it is customary to see the NASCAR Cup Series Champion being received by the President of the United States, but Jimmy Carter was the first to establish this tradition.

Published 30/12/2024 à 16:32

Michael Duforest

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Jimmy Carter, the president who brought NASCAR to the White House

Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Benny Parsons and Bud Moore with First Lady Rosalyn Carter. © Gerry Images

Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 100, was the first U.S. president to come from a Southern state since 1837. A native of Plains, Georgia, Jimmy Carter was a motorsports enthusiast, regularly attending the 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida. Like many of his compatriots from the Deep South, Carter was also a connoisseur of the NASCAR, which was beginning to establish itself as the No. 1 motorsport in the United States in the late 1970s.

A frequent presence at the Atlanta races, Carter befriended some of the big names in NASCAR, and made a promise to host them at a state dinner at the White House when he became president. The Democrat was not a favorite to win at the time, and the drivers quickly convinced themselves that it would be another broken promise if he ever managed to get into the White House and become its tenant for four years.

In 1976, Jimmy Carter did manage to win the presidential election. Less than two years later, in the summer of 1978, invitations were extended to several Winston Cup drivers for a state dinner on September 13. And as promised, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Benny Parsons and Bud Moore were welcomed, with their cars, into the White House for an outdoor dinner.

Only one person was missing, Jimmy Carter himself! It was his wife, First Lady Rosalyn Carter, who had the honor of welcoming his guests and waving a green flag to launch the festivities. The 39th President of the United States, however, had a good excuse to skip this historic meal, since he was at Camp David, trying to obtain an Agreement between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. He would succeed, with the signing four days later, on September 17. Carter's gesture towards NASCAR remains today as one of the important moments in the popularization of stock car racing in the United States.

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