Liberal Conspiracy Theory Proves True.....Well,sort of.......

 By D.C.
Aug,13th,2011

 Being born and raised in the south I come from a family of NASCAR fans.My mother,besides being a race fan is a liberal (I still love her,we are close,she just thinks I'm nuts) and when I was a kid she really hated Ronald Reagan.
She had all sorts of various conspiracy theories about Reagan,such as some secret deal Reagan cut with the Iranians to beat Carter.One of these theories she would rant about,and she did so for many years after Reagan was out of office,was about the 1984 Firecracker 400 NASCAR race at Daytona on July 4th.
Reagan was on his re-election campaign and he attended the race.Racing great Richard Petty(and active republican) won the race,it was his 200th career win.After the race,Reagan,Petty and some other drivers had a picnic and they ate Kentucky Fried Chicken.You can read Petty's version of the story here.
Well,my mother was (and still is) convinced that this whole race was rigged for Petty to win.She also happened to not like Petty so it all fit into her theory.The conspiracy being that Petty won the race,then hung out with Reagan eating fried chicken and this was to make Reagan look appealing to southern voters.
Now,sure it was a photo op and Reagan was running for re-election so you can't blame him there but there is no way NASCAR rigged that race.Saying that NASCAR rigged that race would be the same as saying the Chicago Bears threw the NFC championship game so the Packers could go to the Superbowl and make Scott Walker look better.It doesn't add up.
So a few nights ago I was telling this story to my husband,we were laughing about it and I just thought to google Reagan Petty Daytona.There it was!!! The photo,the proof of the conspiracy !!! Reagan was guilty !!! At least guilty of eating KFC...
I emailed the pic to my mom and told her after all these years she was right,well sort of....

Here is the photographic evidence of the conspiracy.(Note,even at an event like this that Reagan had on a sport coat.For those who don't know,thats Richard Petty on Reagan's right side,photo left,the dude with the sunglasses.)