Music / Salute NASCAR

Three Beach Boys on the cover (and only one on the whole album.

Salute NASCAR is a cover album by Mike Love, Bruce Johnston and David Marks of The Beach Boys. It was released in 1998 for the 50th anniversary of the NASCAR brand and was exclusively sold at Union 76 gas stations.

Produced by touring member Adrian Baker, this album features covers of hot-rod songs, including Beach Boys hit songs. Contrary to what the cover says, only Mike Love is present on the entire album (David Marks said he did a few guitar overdubs and Bruce Johnston is nowhere to be heard except on the album's intro).

Tracklist

1. "I Get Around" (preceded by an intro sequence)
2. "Little Deuce Coupe"
3. "Little Old Lady From Pasadena"
4. "409"
5. "Shut Down"
6. "Little GTO"
7. "Ballad of Ole Betsy"
8. "Little Honda"
9. "Fun, Fun, Fun"
10. "Don't Worry Baby"

---

Salute the tropes:

• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Mike and Bruce speak to you directly on the intro sequence of the album, wishing you "as many good vibrations as a checkered flag at Daytona Beach".
• Car Song: The theme of the album.
• Cover Album
• Cover Version: Outside of Beach Boys songs, Jan and Dean's "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena" and Ronnie & The Daytonas' "Little GTO" are covered.
• Dolled-Up Installment: This album is closer to a Mike Love solo album (produced by Adrian Baker, in a similar way to Catch a Wave). While Bruce Johnston and David Marks are featured on the album's cover, they did not contribute much on it. Bruce can be heard on the introduction of the album and David did a few guitar overdubs.
• Motor Sports: The premise of "Shut Down".
• Mythology Gag: The intro track features an instrumental of "Good Vibrations" on top of mentionning the song.
• One-Word Title: "409".
• Plot Twist: "Ballad of Ole Betsy" may be a song about an old lady of the same name but it's actually about an old car.
• Product Placement: The album as a whole is a promotion of the NASCAR brand and the Union 76 gas stations.
  • "Shut Down" puts a Dodge Dart against a Chevrolet Corvette "Sting Ray" in a race. The Chevrolet wins the race.
  • The car featured on "Fun, Fun, Fun" is a Ford Thunderbird
  • Other vehicles such as Chevrolet's "409", "Little GTO" or "Little Honda" are promoted through songs.
• Shout-Out: To NASCAR, of course.
• Special Guest: Dean Torrence of Jan & Dean provided backing vocals on "Little Old Lady From Pasadena" (he sang on the original song after all).
• Spoken Word in Music: The intro track has Mike and Bruce presenting the album and the people featured on it.
  • Depending on if you play the CD or the cassette version of the album, Mike's speech will be slightly altered.