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Supremacists planning pitch at race

A group with neo-Nazi roots will fly a banner over the Daytona International Speedway today. NASCAR officials are not pleased.

By VANESSA GEZARI
Published February 20, 2005

In an attempt to reach out to NASCAR fans, local white supremacists say they have hired a plane to fly over Daytona International Speedway today, trailing a banner that reads "Love Your Race."

Todd Weingart, head of the Tampa Bay unit of the National Alliance, a West Virginia group with neo-Nazi roots, said that dozens of volunteers will hand out pro-white fliers and CDs at the Daytona 500, which is expected to draw 200,000 spectators in the stands and millions of TV viewers.

"We feel that we definitely have an audience within the NASCAR racing circle," Weingart said. "They're mostly white people that go to these things, and we feel it is a good opportunity to get our message out."

Federal regulations forbid aircraft from flying near or over the speedway during the race, so Weingart said the plane with the banner will end its flights an hour before the race begins.

Born in the South, NASCAR has struggled with an image of racial insensitivity. Ramsey Poston, a spokesman for NASCAR, said the popular racing organization, whose fans sometimes wave Confederate flags, is remaking itself in the image of an increasingly diverse America.

"This runs counter to everything that NASCAR stands for," Poston said of the National Alliance plan. "Hate language will not be tolerated under any circumstances at our events, and we'll take whatever actions are necessary to stop it."

NASCAR's lack of diversity has not gone unnoticed. In 2003, a board member of Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition called it "the last bastion of white supremacy" in sports. Poston said NASCAR recruits minority and female drivers and pit workers, offers a minority internship and lately has been sending drivers and other NASCAR employees to historically black colleges to tell young people about the sport.

"We're clearly not yet where we want to be, but we're taking steps in the right direction," Poston said.

The National Alliance, too, seems to be trying to change its image, at least locally. On its Web site, the group advocates the creation of all-white "racially-clean" communities, accuses Jews of controling the media and refers to multiculturalism as a "sickness." Yet Weingart denied that it is a neo-Nazi or white-supremacist group, calling it instead "an educational organization."

On fliers the group plans to distribute today, a blonde, white-skinned woman is pictured beneath the words LOVE YOUR RACE. But as Weingart, a 27-year-old, who lives in St. Petersburg, spoke of how African-Americans are "more criminal" than whites," bashed interracial marriage and advocated ending U.S. support for Israel, it was clear that the group's core message had not changed.

Art Teitelbaum, southern area director for the Anti-Defamation League, calls the National Alliance "one of the most dangerous extremist groups in the U.S." He said the group, whose philosophy is thought to have inspired Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, is using NASCAR to garner publicity for "their own disgusting purposes."

"One cannot discount the potential for violence when dealing with groups like the National Alliance," Teitelbaum said. "I can assure you that law enforcement and track security is working very hard to ensure the safety of all those who are attending the Daytona 500."

[Last modified February 20, 2005, 00:52:14]