ABSTRACT
The impending demise of the American small town has been confidently predicted since the late 1950s. Small towns occupy an honored place in the literature of modern sociology. The much-revered "Columbia School" made its initial mark on the field with the Berelson, Lazarsfeld and study, Voting: A Study of Opinion Formation in a Presidential Campaign. To sociologists, race fans are instantly recognizable as a subculture. Also important is the strong linkage between NASCAR and the larger small town and rural culture, where traditional outdoor pursuits, hunting, fishing, camping, and guns remain socially acceptable. Another important basis for the continuing influence of small towns in American life is the large number of them that are home to colleges and universities. A weekend at the NASCAR tracks is a useful corrective to these lines of fanciful reasoning and plain wishful thinking.
