On October 6, 2010, Comedy Central and South Park Studios premiered the eighth episode of the 14th season of the popular adult animated series South Park titled “Poor and Stupid.” The episode follows Eric Cartman deciding to become a NASCAR driver after being given an essay in class by his teacher asking what he wants to be when he grows up. However, in typical Cartman fashion, he believes in the stereotype that NASCAR fans are poor and stupid and feels that he needs to make himself poor and stupid to become a driver. While almost everything related to NASCAR is portrayed inaccurately in the episode, there are some things that could relate to the episode today.
In order to make himself feel the stereotypical mindset, Cartman convinces his friend Butters to help join him in his efforts. First, Cartman gives all of his money up to Butters and then chugs bottles of Vagisil, which is not meant to be swallowed in the first place. Cartman already feels he’s poor and stupid and proceeds to do something that would certainly never happen in modern NASCAR: steal a cup car. Having no knowledge of what to actually do, he ends up driving the wrong way, causes a big wreck, and also launches his car into a lake in the infield. Cartman is badly injured from this.
However, the CEO of Vagisil felt that the moment gave the company new coverage, as TV mentioned that Cartman was high on Vagisil during the theft. He decides to offer Cartman a ride for the next race on the schedule which also happens to be at Colorado National Speedway. This ends up being one of the few accuracies within NASCAR that appeared in this episode, as those who end up acquiring sponsorship can easily end up in a top ride over time. A big trend in recent years within NASCAR is how we’ve seen many teams opting to replace or not hire the most talented drivers on the grid and instead chase the drivers who either have a rich family or bring a massive sponsorship check. The obvious inaccuracy there though is that Cartman is only ten years old and would’ve had to wait five more years under that deal to even compete in ARCA at maximum.
Once Cartman gets the ride, though, he ends up embracing his stereotypical attitude of how NASCAR fans and drivers behave and appears at a press conference going into the weekend. All the other drivers at the press conference, like in real life, are taking everything seriously except for Cartman, who starts talking with an awful southern accent, embraces the NASCAR only turns left stereotype, and interrupts drivers talking like Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart. He also starts a podcast criticizing then U.S. President Barack Obama and hangs a confederate flag in the background, which has since been banned by NASCAR in real life. Media outlets, however, quickly put this podcast episode as showing how bad and embarrassing NASCAR fans are, which instantly angers Cartman’s friend Kenny even more than he already had.
When the race starts, Cartman once again has no clue what he’s doing and has to ask how to start the engine and starts being a menace on the pace laps. He then gets into a notable confrontation in the episode with Danica Patrick, who had been running in select NASCAR Xfinity Series events for JR Motorsports, when this episode aired during her transition to stock cars from open wheel. Cartman ends up also driving through the infield as he is in the back of the field and runs over many people before getting back on the track. No caution flags were displayed which showed how incompetent NASCAR officials must’ve been during the race. Kenny, still angry at Cartman, leaps from the grandstands onto the Vagisil-sponsored car and tries to sabotage him, leading to him also flipping over Tony Stewart’s car while pitting. Cartman eventually gets Kenny off the track but by this point, everyone but him has crashed out. Until the CEO of Vagisil’s wife, Patty, somehow gets into Jimmie Johnson’s wrecked car and tries to beat Cartman and does so in a wild last lap pass, wrecking Cartman, who flips over. NASCAR officiating was the most incompetent it had ever been that day. While Patty did finish the race and win, under NASCAR’s rules whoever starts the race in a car is to be crowned the winner, so Jimmie Johnson ends up being the real winner of the Denver 300. After this, Cartman decides to give up on NASCAR because he feels he’s not stupid enough anymore.
With South Park taking place in Colorado, it made sense for the episode to use the name of an existing track in the state being Colorado National Speedway. However, despite using the name of the existing short track located in Dacono, Colo, the track in South Park bears little to no resemblance to the real-life CNS and instead is a larger short track bearing similarities to tracks like Bristol, New Hampshire, Martinsville, and Dover for example. The real-life CNS is a 3/8-mile oval in comparison and opened back in 1965. The track hosted three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races from 1995-97 and has also held 19 races on the ARCA Menards Series West calendar. For the first time since 2021, the West Series will be competing at the track on May 24th. The Spears CARS Tour West will also be racing at the track for the first time this year, with two races on July 19th and on August 9th. It should also be noted that Colorado is also home to Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, nearby Colorado Springs, which is a 1-mile oval. The track has held races from series’ such as the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the NTT INDYCAR Series, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the ARCA Menards Series, and the ARCA Menards Series West, amongst others. The track, however, was closed down in 2005 but re-opened in 2008 with no major events allowed under a clause put in place. The track currently hosts mostly track day and club meets.
In terms of how NASCAR drivers reacted to the episode, Danica Patrick was instantly asked about the episode at a press conference during the last fall race weekend at the Auto Club Speedway in 2010. She mentioned that she had just found out about the episode while at a photoshoot the day prior and saw some clips of it. She also thought that it was a compliment to be made fun of and so did the rest of her crew at JR Motorsports. Other drivers portrayed in the episode were excited to find out they were featured and didn’t take much offense from being parodied, unlike other celebrities who’ve been parodied in South Park, like Tom Cruise and Jennifer Lopez. Regardless, this episode of South Park has been one of the more comedic portrayals of NASCAR from within TV and media.