Sen. Frist hitches hopes to NASCAR

CONCORD, N.C. — "Bill Frist!" the Coca-Cola executive kept alerting the NASCAR drivers as they hoofed past the Senate majority leader after they were introduced before Sunday's Coca-Cola 600.

He added an insistent jerk of his thumb to show them who he was talking about. For good measure, the Tennessee Republican had "Senator Bill Frist" embroidered above the right pocket of the starched white short-sleeve shirt that had been issued by his hosts, the Coke folks.

But most of the drivers paid little attention. So Frist decided to make himself useful and steered the drivers toward autograph-seekers.

"He's your biggest fan!" Frist told Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, gesturing toward 21-year-old Wes Sandifer of Seneca, S.C., who quickly scored a signature on his cap.

Getting results in Washington has proved more elusive. Frist was coming off a frustrating week in which Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. — like Frist, a likely 2008 presidential hopeful — upstaged him with a deal to prevent a meltdown over judicial nominations, and the Senate went home for the Memorial Day recess without confirming John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. So there was an unmistakable urgency as the 53-year-old surgeon flew into Lowe's Motor Speedway to serve as honorary starter at stock car racing's version of a marathon: the 400-lap, 600-mile evening race that drew 175,000 fans and was shown on Fox.

During a two-day stay, he attended the drivers' meeting, worshipped at the chapel service that followed, quizzed crew chiefs about the science of tire pressure as he sauntered down pit road and watched a Charlie Daniels concert. With his wife, Karyn, he rode in a Corvette convertible in a pre-race parade.

On race day, Frist stumbled during an appearance in the massive media center, referring to fellow Tennessean Sterling Marlin as "Sterling Martin."

Among the acres of tailgaters, the senator was a cipher.

"Bill France?" asked an excited Sean Boyland, 37, nursing a Bud Light. But Boyland, a paver, was disappointed to find out that, no, the starter would not be William France, head of NASCAR's founding family.

Before the drivers were introduced, Frist's voice boomed out over hundreds of loudspeakers posted throughout the 2,000-acre speedway grounds: "NASCAR has the best fans of any sport in the world. May your favorite driver win! This sport embodies the best in America and American values. So God bless the troops abroad for defending the values of freedom and democracy. And God bless America. Thank you!"

Frist needs to boost his stock with conservatives if he is to have a prayer in the 2008 primaries, and there is no more potent route to the core of the red states than NASCAR, where Christ is invoked just before the green flag drops.

The political math is outlined by Matthew Dowd, chief strategist of the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign and one of the architects of its relentless focus on the party's conservative base. Dowd figures NASCAR fans are 22 percent of all voters in the general election — roughly the same share as the religious right, "though there is some overlap," he noted in an e-mail interview.

"NASCAR men are solid Republicans and, interestingly, NASCAR women are swing voters," Dowd added. "And 20 percent of women are NASCAR fans. Approximately a third of all folks who will participate in 2008 Republican primaries will be NASCAR fans. And that includes Iowa and New Hampshire, as well as places like South Carolina."

Frist has said he will not seek re-election to the Senate in 2006. His advisers are laying the foundation of a national campaign, and he doesn't bother to quarrel with how a sojourn like Sunday's is sure to be perceived.

"I think most people project to me as running for the presidency and will look at everything I do," he said patiently. "So I think you have to go back and say why four years ago was I at Bristol, with the same people — the exact same thing. But whatever I do, the people who are here today ... represent the same values I do. It's patriotism, it is strong on military. It is support of the current leadership of this country, President Bush. It is the American flag. It is honest integrity and family values. And that's exactly the same sort of group that, hopefully, I represent in Washington, D.C."

Frist, who is among the wealthiest of the Senate millionaires because of his family's stake in the hospital chain HCA, recounted his NASCAR roots. "I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee," he said. "Nashville Speedway was about, probably, four miles from my house. My first recollections of stock-car racing were being in my house on Bolling Avenue, and on warm summer nights, when I was 7, 8 years old, listening to the sounds of cars."

Frist also pointed out he "has spent a lot of time around engines, and grew up flying small planes."

Frist's appearance in the media center drew roughly one-twentieth the cameras that had captured "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest battling NASCAR driver Greg Biffle on a racing simulator 20 minutes earlier. Frist also ran into the "American Idol" cast when he stopped by the Charlie Daniels show.

"I got to say a few words and then when they came out, they tore the house down," Frist said. "So I was the warm-up for the American Idol. And I was pleased. I was happy to do just that."

Driver Kurt Busch, waiting for the chapel service, said that he didn't know Frist, but that he is a Republican. Asked about Frist's presence, Busch said NASCAR fans and drivers are "a good crowd to be involved with, to say the least."

"When they see a power figure — whether it's a sponsorship, or whether it's President Bush, who made two trips to NASCAR events — they remember that," Busch said. "This is a very loyal group. So it's a very good place to nose around and be recognized."

Recounting his NASCAR roots