| Katherine Harris A Hit With Florida Race Fans | By Jack Smith
-KARNAC.com
 Often, when a political candidate or even one already in office shows up at a race track, they do their thing, make their short speech, shake a few hands and leave quickly. This usually leaves racing folks wondering about the sincerity of the whole affair and perhaps feeling a bit used.
Something quite different happened at DeSoto Super Speedway in Bradenton, Florida this past Saturday night. Katherine Harris came to the speedway looking, as politicians always are, for votes. She ended up having a ball, taking time to chat with to many race fans throughout the grandstands, and visiting the drivers in the pits before the races began.
She spent quite a while talking with race car driver Mary Green , another female standout in a game dominated by men.
Harris showed an interest in Mary's career, "She had a lot of questions about racing in general and she asked how I got started in racing, and we also talked a little bit about her race for the Senate", according to Green.
Harris arrived at 6 PM on a beautiful spring Florida evening and it was well past 10:00 when she and staff, finally called it a night. Only when Bill Davis, the driver her campaign sponsored for the feature event, suffered so much damage he could not continue the race, which was well past 10:00, did Harris and staff finally call it a night.
Harris, currently is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving the citizens of the 13th District which is comprised of Hardee, DeSoto and Sarasota Counties in their entirety, as well as the vast majority of Manatee County and a small part of Charlotte County. She is currently campaigning for the Senate seat held by Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Miami who won the seat in 2000.
"This is just incredible, it's not only a wonderful time, it is so great to see so many families and so many people participating with these cars, it's just a great part of Americana in Florida, I love it", Harris said during a brief appearance on the front straightaway. She spoke to the fans just prior to her second stint up to the top of the flag stand, heels and all, to wave the green flag to start the race for the Florida Mini Stock Challenge Series . The FMSC is one of Florida's most popular touring series, sporting drivers from all over the state.
Accompanying Harris was staff from her campaign and her husband. "I will be back again, and my husband loves racing, so I actually got him out here with me tonight", Harris said.
The timing was a little rushed for the Congresswoman's remarks to the fans en masse, but she did have time to hit some of the 'hot buttons' with Floridians. "I just wanted to let you guys know we're fighting to get your gas prices low, get the immigration legal, make sure we protect our borders, and lastly make sure our economy is strong with lots of good jobs", she concluded, amid strong approval for the 1200 or so race fans in attendance.
She also told the fans, "We're not ever going to let those boys in Washington D.C. tell us what we're going to do, we're going to listen to the Floridians and take care of you guys back home."
 Scott McAllister, owner of McAllister Sports Management based in Ocala, was instrumental in bringing Katherine Harris to DeSoto as part of a sponsorship package for the Open Wheel Modified driven by Bill Davis of Wauchula, Fl. Davis did not have as productive a night as his new sponsor.
A former Open Wheel Champion at DeSoto, Davis had a minor incident on the start of the race, leaving him at the rear of the field on lap one, and was subsequently involved in a mid-race crash that put him out of the race.
 DeSoto Super Speedway owner John Sarppraicone expressed regret that his responsibilities during the racing program prevented him from spending more time with the Congresswoman. "She liked the people and she liked the place and had a good time, I think she got her point across", he said on Monday.
During a "meet and greet" before the night's events started, Sarppraicone met with Harris and gave her an over view of the local racing scene and emphasized the family flavor of local short track racing . Harris got very excited when track owner John Sarppraicone explained to her the involvement of youth in racing at the local level.
At one point he was explaining about the emphasis on youth racing activities at the speedway and around the state and a very animated Harris left momentarily, returning with a reporter from the Bradenton Herald, so she too could hear about the children and teens racing programs. As anyone familiar with short track racing knows, just like Little Leaguers with dreams, young racers dreaming of being in Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart or Dale Jr.'s seat is what keeps the sport alive and growing.
Youth racing is becoming the fastest growing segment of Florida stock car racing. At a recent major stock car event at Ocala Speedway , featuring racers of all ages from every corner of Florida, the three winners in each division were all too young for a drivers license.
 Katherine Harris seemed to spend every break in the racing action interacting with fans of all ages. "A lot of politicians don't care about the everyday folks, and you know what, the everyday folks is what makes this country", Sarppraicone stated. "She has a positive attitude toward people, all in all I thought it was a very positive experience, I hope she can do some good for the Country", he said.
Local media pretty much snubbed the event, other than the Bradenton Herald. Although the Herald had a reporter there who interviewed Harris for nearly 20 minutes at the speedway, the newspaper chose to give the speedway event relatively little coverage, choosing instead to use as a major part of their story, material from the rival St. Petersburg Times, which focused on an event earlier in the day at a gun range in Pasco County. McAllister told KARNAC.com he is hoping to see Harris appear at other motorsports events during 2006.
There are 16 stock car racing facilities currently operating in Florida, in addition to numerous drag racing raceways, go-kart facilities and of course Daytona International Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. On any given Saturday night there are 10-15 thousand race fans visiting local stock car facilities in Florida, and this goes on from February to November with many speedways continuing to hold events during the traditional holiday season.
No state in the union has as many motorsports events throughout the year as Florida. With over 17 million residents and the staggering growth of the motorsports in general and NASCAR in particular, the number of people who call themselves race fans certainly numbers well over a million.
Brian Craven, a Bright House executive told KARNAC last month, "The ratings for racing programming, whether it is the NASCAR races, ARCA, or Formula One, in Central Florida, in our service area is the highest in the nation. There are more people who watch racing on television in terms of rating points than any other media market in the country." He is talking about a nine county service area, covering Flagler Beach south to Melbourne, and east including Orlando to Kissimmee and Marion County, which includes the Ocala market. The moral would seem to be: you can't ignore the demographics the fans of racing represent. For these reasons and others McAllister feels office seekers cannot ignore this vital segment of the population who have a long and enduring history of "supporting the sponsors who support racing". Some called it during the 2004 elections the "NASCAR vote".
Katherine Harris joins a growing list of political figures appearing at the local Florida stock car speedways in recent years. Governor Jeb Bush made a dramatic visit to the annual Florida Governors Cup event in 2001 , just over a month after the attacks on New York City and Washington.
 An estimated 7,000 race fans heard the Governor deliver a message of hope from the President. Florida State Senator Bill Posey has been highly instrumental in connecting candidates with voters from the motorsports community. Two of those political figures were State Senator Daniel Webster , seen wearing a bright yellow Pennzoil racing suit in 2004 in an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate. Most recently the 2005 the Governors Cup , Florida's most prestigious short track stock car race (running since 1963), saw Chief Financial Officer of the State of Florida Tom Gallagher dropping the green flag. Gallagher is a leading candidate to replace Jeb Bush in the Governor's Mansion.
Of course the reality is Harris may or may not be able to unseat her opponent, with or without the help of the huge audience of motorsports fans, but it is certain any politician trying to reach the core middle class of Florida cannot go wrong getting their message out to race fans in Florida.
And as Katherine Harris can certainly attest, it sure is an exciting and family oriented fun place to be on Friday or Saturday night in the Sunshine State.
-Photo Credits: RicksDarkRoom.com and McAllisterSportsManagement
Have an opinion on
this story? Post a message on
our Message Board! or Email KARNACto send a letter to the editor!
|
