Since when is there something newsworthy about a sports blog that generates as much traffic in a month as this humble offering does in a day? (sound effects of self-righteous wailing, crashing of furniture, etc.) Well, perhaps when you consider the former site is Queers4Gears.com, Mike Myers’ effort “to get the word out to gay Nascar fans that they are not alone”, it’s easier to understand a story on the cover of this Sunday’s New York Times sports section, as authored by Dave Caldwell.
“Nascar has more fans who are accepting of me being gay than gays have been accepting of me being a Nascar fan,” Myers said in a recent telephone interview.
Queers4Gears is not the only car Web site for gay men and lesbians, but it seems to be carrying the most momentum. Myers’s tongue-in-cheek “gaynalyses” of each race, he refers to drivers as divas and leans hard on the soap-opera-style drama of the sport, but he also writes standard recaps of every Sprint Cup race.
He also wants to keep the site lighthearted and fun. Some readers expected Myers to comment when Dr. James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, whom many regard as antigay, delivered the invocation before an August race in Atlanta. Myers chose not to.
“I’ve been so encouraged by the acceptance that I’ve gotten, I don’t want to upset the pot, so to speak,” Myers said.
Race fans, no matter their sexual preference, just like to watch races.
“I’m not there to ask drivers about what they think about gay marriage,” Myers said. “I’m there to ask them about racing.”
Finally, a motorsports scribe Tom Glavine can approve of. In all seriousness, Myers is no more obliged to be a social crusader than any other blogger. And I can fully relate to his comment about Nascar fans being more accepting of him than his gay friends are of his stock car fandom. Except I’ve yet to find anyone particularly accepting of my interests in girls’ field hockey.