In 2000, it was soccer moms. Today, the demographic that’s most in demand by political strategists converges at racetracks Sunday afternoons to whoop, holler and shake a fist at the souped-up Fords and Chevys whizzing past. They’re called “NASCAR dads.”

“They are middle- to lower middle-class males who are family men, live in rural areas, used to vote heavily Democratic but now usually vote Republican,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “That’s the definition of a NASCAR dad, and there are a lot of them.”

And the National Rifle Assn., as well as Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., are staking considerable sums on the belief that if NASCAR can sell its fans on Pennzoil motor oil and Budweiser beer, why not the Second Amendment and the next president of the United States?

The NRA, whose billboards now adorn a half-dozen NASCAR speedways, sees stock-car racing as a means of bypassing the mainstream media and appealing directly to the Americans who support its agenda.

Graham, whose presidential campaign fields the “Bob Graham for President” NASCAR truck, sees auto racing as a way of forging a connection with rural voters by tapping into the passion they feel for American-made cars and the hardscrabble racers behind the wheel.

It makes eminent sense to Virginia-based political strategist David “Mudcat” Saunders, who is credited with identifying the potential significance of NASCAR dads and developing the first successful statewide strategy to woo them. The beneficiary was Virginia gubernatorial candidate Mark Warner, who slapped “Warner for Governor” on the side of a Ford F-150 for a 2001 NASCAR race at Martinsville Speedway as part of his Saunders-inspired campaign strategy. Warner went on to claim 51.4 percent of the rural vote, becoming the first Democrat to carry Virginia’s rural electorate in a generation.

“If you’re going to send a message of hope to rural America, there is no better vehicle than NASCAR,” says Saunders, now an adviser to Graham’s presidential campaign.