It’s been nearly three months since the passing of president Jimmy Carter. The 39th president, was a lot of things in his time outside of the White House — farmer, southern gentleman, Georgia governor, staunch humanitarian, and as it turns out, a racing fan.
Shortly after his passing, IMSA had posted a clip of an interview it had done with the former president about ten years prior, where he talks about his rather unexpected family tradition making a big trip to see the 12 Hours of Sebring in Sebring, Florida.
It was a fairly hardcore family affair for the Carters. Sweetly, the former president reminisces about attending the 12 Hours of Sebring with his late wife of nearly eight decades, Rosalynn — would listen to one of the 33 RPM records they purchased at the race packed with tracks (sounds, not asphalt) featuring the engine noise of cars in the race. When it came to race day, the two would turn their heads away and quiz one another on which car was about to fly past them on Sebring’s bumpy, unforgiving surface.
He describes the engine sounds of the Italian manufacturers Ferrari and Maserati V10s to be smooth “like sewing machines,” — compared to a Chevrolet Corvette’s V8, which sounded to him like a John Deere tractor.
It’s no surprise Carter came up a racing fan: as a Georgian, he was born in NASCAR country. He worked as a ticket vendor at his “home track,” Atlanta Motor Speedway when he wasn’t attending races. Later on, he hosted NASCAR greats at the Governor’s Mansion in Georgia while in office, and in the White House in 1978. (Technically, Rosalynn Carter did the hosting; President Carter was in the midst of peace talks at Camp David.) It was the fulfillment of a promise he made to himself while campaigning for Governor in 1970. According to NASCAR, after attending a NASCAR driver meeting that year, Carter told his wife: “If I’m elected, I’m going to have those guys out to the mansion the first time I get a chance.” He certainly followed through.
While presidents over the years have made their love of sports known, racing is not one that typically tops the list. Every once in a great while, a few presidents or vice presidents will make brief appearances at some of the biggest US race events of the season. But many times, those are brief, and sometimes only appearances.
As I, myself, traveled over 20 hours from Michigan to Florida for the 12-hour race at Sebring this weekend, I often thought of Carter and his own long family road trips from Georgia to the mid-Florida town to appreciate the same thing we, too, appreciate when we’re standing trackside. The hours he spent listening to the records in preparation — the hours he spent on the road with his family — and the hours he spent trackside, enjoying every car that passed, just like we all do today (and will this weekend). He was one of us.
I also ponder if I will ever be as good as he and Rosalynn were at spotting cars by their sound. I honestly think he would still school me on that one.
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Lalita Chemello
NASCAR
IMSA
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