On May 4, a historic event in cryptocurrency happened: Josh Wise drove a dogecoin-community crowdfunded car in a NASCAR race. Dubbed the Dogecar, it placed 20th of 43 in Aaron’s 499, a NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway. Spelunk.in hosted viewing parties in both LA and NYC for the event. The LA event was at The Park Bar and Grill in Burbank, at the exceedingly early time of 10a. Despite that, a fantastic turnout of 24 shibes (dogecoin fans) showed up to support the local driver.
We asked a few questions to some of the people who come by.
Spelunkin: What drew you out to watch a NASCAR race at 10a?
jessica: Really thought it was cool that dogecoin had its own NASCAR car. I wanted to be a part of seeing that happen for the first time.
Flash Pie: My dad lives in Burbank and figured I could kill two birds with one doge.
Spelunkin: Why was a NASCAR sponsorship appealing to dogecoin fans?
@jmgranola: We wanna go fast. No but really, having a NASCAR sponsorship helps bring all walks of life together to use dogecoin.
photoshop by dogeisdead
Spelunkin: How did you feel, seeing the dogecar on the track?
@jmgranola: I was ecstatic everytime I saw #98. Watching Josh maneuver around crashing cars was adrenaline pumping. May we sponsor a Formula One Car? (:
Natalie: Seeing the dogecar on the track was amazing! To have a community come together like that to make that happen was incredible. Everytime the dogecar was shown the crowd would go crazy. It was exhilarating to watch doge in the race.
Flash Pie: I felt a combination of emotions. I felt like a proud father watching his son win the spelling bee. You know, that swift realization that they are growing up and they are talented at spelling (only in this case it’s NASCAR racing). Yeah…it felt like that…
Spelunkin: What does Dogecoin mean to you?
Natalie: Dogecoin to me is a sense of community that was much needed. The love and support for strangers and causes that the community takes on is inspiring and empowering. It’s not just about digital currency and changing the way we see money and buying products and services online. It’s a coming together while changing the world one doge at a time that is exciting!
Al: There’s a large and growing dogecoin community we’re in to help and share with each other and that’s what I love about Dogecoin. That crypto-fiat-funny name with a smiling dog bringing everyone together from fundraising to buying & selling. We share our knowledge of random things for fun on r/dogecoinbet or similar forums like that, or to improve ourselves (like the dietbet) and get tips in the process from friends and other shibes. That’s what I love about dogecoin. It has that community feel where a smiling dog as a fiat can be used as a McGuffin in a unified market. Sort of like the old DefCons we remembered or going to Fenway Park to see a Red Sox game. Even if you root for the opposing team, and I did go to fenway 10 years ago as a Padres fan in my San Diego Padres gear with my friends from Boston, If you go to Fenway with some sort of knowledge about Baseball to share with other die-hard baseball fans, they’ll buy you a beer unless you’re a yankees fan. I think of Dogecoin as a fun medium that brings everyone together like my experience at Fenway park a decade ago, except we give tips and hopefully we can buy beer with Dogecoin at Fenway or Petco Park.
Spelunkin: At the end of the day, we did our drawing for 98k dogecoin. Al was the winner!
Al: I felt enthusiastically great about winning the drawing yesterday. It was a surprise! It’s the first time I’ve won anything in a raffle drawing, let alone a lottery. I was in the back of The Park bar and grill playing the Metallica Pinball machine as the Talladega race and the gathering of the dogecar came to a close. The television screen displays the FedEx team popping their champagne bottles with their shake-n-bake mustached pit crews of high fives and happiness. I see that on the screen and I’m playing the Metallica pinball machine thinking, “the least I could do is make a small part for dogecar and maybe watch more NASCAR races.” One small donation from a poor shibe, one giant leap for a dogecoin world.
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Full set: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pinguino/sets/72157644134331867/