At Raceway, Frist's Engine Is at a Fast Idle

CONCORD, N.C., May 29 -- "Senator Frist!" the Coca-Cola executive kept alerting the NASCAR drivers as they hoofed past the majority leader after they were introduced before Sunday's crash-strewn Coca-Cola 600.

The Coke exec added an insistent jerk of his thumb to show them who he was talking about. For good measure, the Tennessee Republican had "Senator Bill Frist" embroidered above the right pocket of the starched white short-sleeve shirt that had been issued by his hosts, the Coke folks.

But most of the drivers still paid little attention. So Frist decided to make himself useful and started steering the drivers toward young autograph-seekers directly across from him on the other side of the chute that took the drivers offstage.

"He's your biggest fan!" Frist told Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, gesturing insistently toward 21-year-old Wes Sandifer of Seneca, S.C., who quickly scored a signature on his cap.

Getting results in Washington has proved more elusive. Frist was coming off a frustrating week in which Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) -- like Frist, a likely '08 presidential hopeful -- upstaged him with a deal to prevent a meltdown over judicial nominations, and the Senate went home for Memorial Day recess without confirming John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. So there was an unmistakable urgency as the 53-year-old transplant surgeon flew into Lowe's Motor Speedway to serve as honorary starter at stock car racing's version of a marathon -- the 400-lap, 600-mile evening race that was shown on Fox and drew 175,000 fans to the Charlotte area.

During a two-day stay, he was introduced at the drivers' meeting, worshiped at the chapel service that followed, quizzed crew chiefs about the science of tire pressure as he sauntered down pit road, and watched a Charlie Daniels concert in the extracurricular area known as "Speed Street." With his wife, Karyn, he rode in a Corvette convertible in a pre-race parade.

On race day, Frist stumbled during an appearance in the massive media center, referring to Tennessean Sterling Marlin as "Sterling Martin," and failed to correct himself. D'oh!

Among the acres of tailgaters, the senator was a cipher.

"Bill France ? " asked an excited Sean Boyland, 37, nursing a Bud Light in the pre-race heat and wearing a T-shirt that showed a police officer with the slogan "Buzzkiller." But Boyland, a paver, was disappointed to find out that, no, the starter would not be William C. France, head of NASCAR's founding family.

Before the drivers were introduced, Frist's voice boomed out over hundreds of loudspeakers posted throughout the 2,000-acre speedway grounds, headed by H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler. "NASCAR has the best fans of any sport in the world," Frist said. "May your favorite driver win! This sport embodies the best in America, and American values. So God bless the troops abroad for defending the values of freedom and democracy . And God bless America. Thank you!"

Frist needs to boost his stock with conservatives if he is to have a prayer in the 2008 primaries, and there is no more potent route to the core of the red states than NASCAR, where Christ is invoked just before the green flag drops.

Bush courted NASCAR voters intensively during last year's run for reelection. In one of the grandest gestures of a highly theatrical campaign, Air Force One banked and dipped a wing over the Daytona 500 as the president arrived to say, "Gentlemen, start your engines."