THE GRATEFUL DEAD AND NASCAR?
With family ties to the Grateful Dead, Leilani Münter gets an overwhelming response to the playing
of “Shakedown Street” by FOX during the Winston Cup race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California....
You hear it everywhere you go these days. The garage is buzzing with talk of how the demographic of the sport is changing, a scary thought for many. The Southern 500 is going to be in California next year? Say what?
But no matter how nostalgic you want to be about the past, you must admit that this sport has come of age,
and the rest of the world is beginning to take notice- even the hippies...
Dead heads. Gear heads. Tie dyes. Checkered flags.
Grateful Dead fans and NASCAR fans may have more in common than you think. Both will travel hundreds of miles to hear their favorite sound- be it the roar of 43 race cars or the tunes of a guitar.
And apparently some of the race fans who tuned in to watch the
race at Sear's Point this summer enjoy the tunes of the Grateful Dead as well.
NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series driver Leilani Münter, whose brother-in-law Bob Weir has been in the band since he was sixteen years old, was surprised by the number of Grateful Dead fans that emailed her after FOX played “Shakedown Street” during the introduction to
the Winston Cup race in Sonoma, California.
“I didn’t know FOX had played Shakedown, I didn’t have a chance to watch the race, but as soon as I checked my email, I had emails from all these dead heads that had heard it."
Bob Weir married Leilani’s sister Natascha in 1999 and together the couple have two girls.
The band, now playing as “The Dead” recently embarked on a U.S. Tour.
