Church Bulletin
By Kellyanne Lynch
19 November 2002


Summary: An analogy between NASCAR and Christianity

Author’s Note: This article was published in my church’s bulletin 8 December 2002.

Dedication: To the crew – glad to see y’all are doing well! = D

Rating: G

* Please e-mail matchbox20orbusted@yahoo.com with questions, comments, theories, complaints, or words of wisdom.

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Sunday afternoons, I like to relax. I feel the need to physically recuperate from one taxing week, and to prepare my body for the next. Thus, I nap. Recently, however, I have tuned into NASCAR races, which relieves stress just as smoothly. If it’s a boring race, I get that nap in anyway.

Since the time NASCAR’s appeal first took hold of me, I have found numerous correlations between the sport and our spiritual walk. The following is one connection that I have made.

The four races at Daytona and Talladega each season are different from all other races. Usually, it’s every man for him self. A driver may have teammates; however, he does not need to cooperate with them on the track to be successful. Sometimes to go for the win, a driver will even bump his teammate out of the way and shoot past. Four races of the season, however, are different.

Because Daytona and Talladega are super speedways, (each about 2.5 miles long), NASCAR requires the use of the restrictor plate, a piece of metal that fits on the engine and restricts fuel and airflow to the carburetor. These plates reduce horsepower, which slows down the cars. Without them, cars can well exceed 190 MPH, and have done so in the past. Bill Elliott set the track record in 1987, at 212 MPH. When cars wreck at this speed, the damage is horrific. In the race after Elliott’s astonishing qualifying run, Bobby Allison lost control of his car while chasing Elliott. Allison’s car launched 300 feet into the air and slammed into the spectator fence, showering debris into the grandstands. Several fans were injured. NASCAR officials feared that, had the chain link fence not held up to the stock car’s weight, hundreds of other fans would have been injured, perhaps even killed. NASCAR mandated restrictor plates at the 1988 Daytona 500, and every Daytona and Talladega race since then.

Because cars cannot go over a certain speed, drivers experience difficulty passing one another on the track. The only way to gain spots is to do what is known as drafting. Drafting is when one car pushes its nose into the tail end of the one in front of it, which enables that car to move faster. The front car reduces wind resistance for the one in back, and pulls it along. As a team, they can move through traffic. A single-file line driving nose-to-tail all share the airflow and can break away from the rest of the pack. A driver without friends on the track, therefore, cannot progress like those who work together.

The world may run races like Rockingham and Bristol; however, the race we run for God is a restrictor plate race. Our plate is the word of God, which is not only mandated but also saves us from serious harm. To make progress in this spiritual race, we need to make sure we’re drafting with Jesus. He has run this race before – he made the track – so he knows the best line to run. Without his guidance, we will get sucked back in the pack. We need to work to get as many people on our team as we can. When we all draft together, the world’s resistance to righteousness does not sting so fiercely. Any time we see someone struggling, we should go give him that push he needs. It will not only help him get going, but it will pull us along too. Let’s get everyone into the lead draft, and headed straight for heaven, life’s ultimate victory lane!

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Acts 20:24

But I hold not my life of any account as dear unto myself, so that I may accomplish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

1 Corinthians 9:23-27

And I do all things for the gospel's sake, that I may be a joint partaker thereof. Know ye not that they that run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? Even so run; that ye may attain. And every man that striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in all things. Now they [do it] to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air: but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of [our] faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Galatians 5:7-8

Ye were running well; who hindered you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion [came] not of him that calleth you.

2 Timothy 4:7-8

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved his appearing.