Mechanistic Forces Research Articles

Individualism, Technology, and Sport: the Speedway Nexus

This study investigates automobile racing in American Society as a sport with meaning and impact beyond the content of any one event or contest. Noting the need for symbols of individual identity and accomplishment in an increasingly mechanical and bureaucratic culture, the paper asserts that domination of mechanistic forces through the medium of auto racing provided identity both in direct form to the driver, and vicariously to the spectator. I n addition, the sport offers a sense of "place" or"belonging" to participants in the form of communities of interest. Similar patterns are noted in other automotive sports such as motocross racing. The fact that racing is a sport is significant because sport is public activity, making the symbols and vicarious experiences available to large numbers of people.