Columnist Susan Snyder: Site puts a new spin on NASCAR

Thursday, March 10, 2005 | 8:22 a.m.

Does "downforce" mean nothing to you?

Does "restrictor plate" sound like a new diet aid?

Does your interpretation of "draft" involve a sweater?

Me too. NASCAR's terminology and attraction is totally lost on me. Then I found Betty Jack DeVine and www.gaytona.com.

If 150,000 packing out to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway isn't enough to convince you that NASCAR has a wide appeal, then Betty Jack's Web site for gay NASCAR fans will have your attitude spinning a 180.

"Betty Jack DeVine is here to lead all you gay NASCAR fans from the gloom of the closet out to the glory of the speedway!" the site proclaims.

"I also happen to like opera, and NASCAR is a lot like opera," Betty Jack DeVine said in a telephone interview from his home in Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon. "It's really big. It takes a whole lot of people to put it on. It's pretty loud, It's very intense.

"And the people who don't understand it, they look at you like you're nuts."

Betty Jack (whose real name I cannot reveal because his employers don't have a sense of humor) said the redneck, ignorant, beer-swilling NASCAR fan stereotype is "to some degree exaggerated." At least, when it comes to being a redneck or ignorant.

"The common denominator is that people come out there to party. Like we say down here in the South, people just get tore up," he said.

NASCAR has a way of creating a community among people who may stand on opposite sides of issues outside the speedway, Betty Jack said. That's one reason he created gaytona.com in 2003.

"It creates an instant bond for people. If you see something exciting happening, and the person sitting next to you is looking down, you'll poke a stranger and say, 'Hey, look at that over there,' " he said.

His site features race commentary and follows the careers of "Devine's 9 1/2," a 12-driver fantasy team composed of drivers who have good ethics, attitudes, good racing careers and, um, other things.

"We make no claim that any driver on the DeVine 9 1/2 is gay, and we have no information about whether any driver on the team might be gay. Our only claim about these dudes is that they are some of the hottest guys on the track, and they're a lot of fun to watch and scream for each week," the site says.

"A big part of it is being good-looking," he said. "But they can't seem too mean or bullylike. They have to be somebody you'd like to hang with."

Driver Mark Martin was chosen for his strong racing record, humility and sponsor.

"How could the driver of the Viagra car NOT be on the gay fantasy team?" it says under Martin's name.

Betty Jack was disappointed that Dale Earnhardt Jr. was among "the hapless celebrities" invited to President Bush's inaugural, but he made the fantasy team because he also reportedly favors rap music and refuses to fly the rebel flag.

Through common interests, such as NASCAR, people can see that they are more complex than their political ballots.

"I hope to bridge the gap somewhat, getting people to realize we have a lot more in common than our current leadership believes," he said. "We all can get out and have a good time together."