Bush Honors NASCAR Champ

President Bush is honoring NASCAR champion and auto racing's reigning bad boy Tony Stewart, adding a sport with a prized voter profile to the list of winners who get his White House treatment.

Last year's NASCAR champ, Jeff Gordon, got no presidential honors.

But "NASCAR dads" became the demographic du jour in the last election. They are white, working-class men who admire President Bush but who can often be persuaded to vote Democratic if the issues are right. NASCAR is particularly popular in the South and Midwest, two regions that generally favored the president in his 2000 election and that he must protect for his re-election.

Stewart secured the title Nov. 17 by crossing the line at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and is being honored just two weeks later with a visit to President Bush in the Oval Office. By contrast, the National Hockey League champion Detroit Red Wings had to wait five months for their White House visit.

President Bush invariably reminds sports champs who are invited to the White House about their responsibilities to the young people who idolize them. He told the Red Wings last month, "It's one thing to be the champion on the ice; it's another thing to be a champion living your lives."

In this case, President Bush is honoring a sports champion who has a history of violent confrontations.

Stewart was placed on probation after punching a photographer in August. He was fined $10,000 by NASCAR and $50,000 by his sponsor, Home Depot, and underwent anger-management counseling.

He apologized for bumping another photographer on the eve of his championship victory last month.

After NASCAR tried to black-flag him in the 2001 Pepsi 400, Stewart had to be restrained during an argument with a NASCAR official, then slapped away a reporter's tape recorder and kicked it when the reporter tried to pick it up.

In May 2000, Stewart, angry over losing a race in Richmond, Va., sped into the garage and, after getting out of his car, kicked at a photographer in his way. No penalty was announced.

The White House invited photographers, but not reporters, to the get-together. That usually means that the president does not plan to give a speech honoring his guest.

By Scott Lindlaw