Fueled by testosterone, horsepower, and Fortune 500 mega-funding, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is America’s biggest spectator sport, measured by per-event attendance. Last year the average Sprint Cup gate exceeded 120,000. Today, 75 million Americans are fans of this Southern quirk gone global.
Two decades ago, evangelicals took a tentative step forward in NASCAR-focused outreach. The year was 1988, and racing fan Max Helton was on staff at a church in Glendora, California, where he met Darrell Waltrip. Helton told the NASCAR legend, who has earned nearly $16 million in his career, of his own dream of full-time ministry on the racing circuit.