For reasons I've never entirely understood and in contrast to most other professional sports, it's acceptable and accepted practice to wear your political heart on your sleeve in NASCAR. Hell, it's encouraged -- as long as your sleeve is a Republican sleeve, that is. Why is that?

And while most drivers are at least circumspect whenever the conversation turns to the third rail (though the sentiment in the garage is decidely conservative), there's little such restraint in the blogosphere. And Car & Driver's April Fool's day hoax has unleashed a fair amount of acidic commentary on the prospect of the Federal government calling the shots for GM and Chrysler. 

While all of this leaves me cold and causes me to recall Michael Jordan's comment when asked why he wouldn't support Democrat Harvey Gannt's 1990s run against Republican Senator Jesse Helms -- "Republicans buy sneakers, too" -- I find the assault on the idea of the government stepping in and then demanding some oversight comical. But for all the ill-informed idiocy flying around the ether these days, I think the following, which comes from a reasonably prominent NASCAR blog, takes the cake:
 

A lot has changed since the thought of bankruptcy for the big three was just a specter on the horizon. Today, with the help of the astute business minds in Washington, the failure of GM and Chrysler is almost certain. 

The writer goes on to explain just how it is those liberal do-gooders in Washington would set about destroying NASCAR, most of which is pure drivel; be that as it may, there's one thing I'm just not quite getting in all this: With the help of the astute business minds in Washington, the failure of GM and Chrysler is almost certain. Is the writer serious?

Either the irony is intended -- Rick Wagoner and Bob Nardelli have done such a bang up job -- or the writer is delusional. Either way, I think Jordan might have been on to something.