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People's Republic of NASCAR
NASCAR gets tougher to protect its brand
By JENNA FRYER, AP Auto Racing Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)—Concerns about a half-empty race track dogged NASCAR long before Sunday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the sanctioning body’s top officials didn’t want to discuss attendance or any other ailments plaguing the nation’s No. 1 racing series.
The conversation was instead steered to all the things NASCAR is doing right, a theme that became evident before the season started, when competitors spread a message of hope and unity.
Turns out that the racing series was serious about keeping everybody on point.
The Associated Press has learned that NASCAR warned teams during the offseason that public criticism of the sport would no longer be tolerated, and at least two star drivers have been fined—one as much as $50,000—for comments that were deemed destructive to the industry.
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston on Monday night confirmed some action had been taken, but would not discuss details.
“It is the sanctioning body’s obligation on behalf of the industry and our fans to protect the sport’s brand,” Poston said. “Any action taken by NASCAR has nothing to do with the drivers expressing an opinion—it’s focused on actions or comments that materially damage the sport.
Read the article
“It doesn’t make sense to criticize the food in a restaurant if you expect people to come back.” - Brian France
Sir, that is not a fly in your soup - it's garnish.
By JENNA FRYER, AP Auto Racing Writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)—Concerns about a half-empty race track dogged NASCAR long before Sunday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the sanctioning body’s top officials didn’t want to discuss attendance or any other ailments plaguing the nation’s No. 1 racing series.
The conversation was instead steered to all the things NASCAR is doing right, a theme that became evident before the season started, when competitors spread a message of hope and unity.
Turns out that the racing series was serious about keeping everybody on point.
The Associated Press has learned that NASCAR warned teams during the offseason that public criticism of the sport would no longer be tolerated, and at least two star drivers have been fined—one as much as $50,000—for comments that were deemed destructive to the industry.
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston on Monday night confirmed some action had been taken, but would not discuss details.
“It is the sanctioning body’s obligation on behalf of the industry and our fans to protect the sport’s brand,” Poston said. “Any action taken by NASCAR has nothing to do with the drivers expressing an opinion—it’s focused on actions or comments that materially damage the sport.
Read the article
“It doesn’t make sense to criticize the food in a restaurant if you expect people to come back.” - Brian France
Sir, that is not a fly in your soup - it's garnish.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mike Kenyon on
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Welcome to Na$crap and son of the devil, Brian France.
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Permalink Reply by Bob on
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I heard someone mention the idea of limiting the teams to two cars, and that actually sounds like a good idea to me. That could bring a lot of interest back to the sport, I would think. At least it would give the appearance of spreading some of the money around.
But from what I have been hearing, NASCAR's 2011 plan will be some kind of bullshit messing around with the championship system again. "To increase the excitement" in yet some new kind of bogus way.
As the years have passed, and NASCAR has turned into a mega-million dollar sport, much of the fun and authenticity seems to have gone out if it as well. I suspect I'm not the only one who turned to NASCAR as an alternative to the ever-increasing slickness and boredom that vast sums of money had brought to Formula 1. And now NASCAR seems to be suffering from the exact same disease. No wonder the stands seem increasingly empty as the sport moves further way from the things that caused it's demographic to embrace it in the first place.
As s101350 said, the revelation of this kind of blatant manipulation of any kind of spontaneity of expression from drivers is yet another nail in NASCAR's coffin.
And it pains me to hear some fans say that NASCAR should eliminate the start-and-park teams, when those teams are a clear reminder of the very things that NASCAR needs to fix....
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Permalink Reply by Christopher Lutz on
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It must not be "that bad".
If the team owners really wanted to do something - they could easily leave nascar and start their own series. In reality, no one follows racing because of nascar...it's the teams and drivers.
Frankly, I'm somewhat surprised this hasn't come up already - given how much money Nascar siphons off.....the team owners would be far better off financially.
It's alwasy easier to reverse engineer something and "re-launch" - just ask the Chinese.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Martinez on
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I'll take it as this topic is targeted at NASCAR in a sense that not only are they in control you better not buck the system and keep your mouth shut...or submit your script for approval. Seems elementary does it not. NASCAR once stood behind the defense of saying that the drivers were "independent contractors" when facing the topic of some sort of retirement. That told me that NASCAR in a way has no right to control speech, it can control discipline for actions but not words. A guy doing drywall on a house i'm building says to some folks he don't like the sheeting i'm using on the roof and i'm a no good @#$%^&*( lookin for a buck. I can't do much about that. However if he starts hanging drywall using 50% of the required screws and wrong thickness his actions open him up back charging and loss of funds. Actions not words, NAZICAR will be a powerhouse till the day the last internal combustion engine on earth turns over. What worries me more so than a few fines is the fact that the owners will never bite the hand that feeds them. Never, it would cost too much and require years of legal fund sucking that would leave auto racing in shambles. The US has a crippled economy that if it were up to the Canadian health care system would pull the plug. Fans are long gone and so are the jobs that paid for a "vacation". Fans are gone perhaps to the couch and digital replay. NASCAR saw to that when they stopped teams from choosing and gave us this STUPID gear rule to "save money". That was the first step of the planned COT. If you want to see racing, open up the gear rule, shut your mouth and let's see who has the guts to drive the damn car. Then when the fans come back NASCAR will be happy, drivers will be racing and there will be less to shoot the mouth off about. Even though debris cautions do suck they do regroup a field that has stalled out at top speed, and can't catch each other no matter what they do. I agree with Denny Hamlin but NASCAR has no right..........sorry NAZICAR has no right but that is how a dictatorship works, by taking away rights.
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Permalink Reply by vak7 on
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Owners leaving the sport to form their own series..... gee, that worked great for Indy/CART didn't it? Debris cautions may bunch up the field, but when they're thrown just as a golden boy is getting passed for the lead, it destroys the integrity of the sport. Especially when the same scenario unfolds race after race.
NASCAR fell to the same excesses that caused the housing crisis, financial turmoil, dot.com fiasco, and every other bubble that rose on greed to eventually burst. So they don't want to hear their shortcomings from the drivers. Let the fans revolt! Empty seats weren't enough to send the right message apparently. Write letters. Call their offices. Be specific, we're dealing with over-inflated egos that can't see past the nose on their face. They can hush 43 drivers, but they can't quiet millions of fans.
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Permalink Reply by timothy price on
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i also vote for the new name NAZICAR anyone else??
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Permalink Reply by Billy on
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Agreed, If the drivers tried to form their own series they would have fun trying to run on the ISC tracks.
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Permalink Reply by laura_a_Robbyfan on
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I used to think debris cautions were bs until I listened to more than Robby every week. Debris cautions are always
preceded by a driver telling his spotter there is debris and were it is located. The spotter than tells the officials. The officials then ask there officials in that area of the track the report of the debris and where. They do not tell the official looking what car reported it. The official looking will then relay what it is and where on the track it is. There are times the debris will be below the line then officials need to determine if the debris will blow back on the track and could it cause a tire cut. If the officials do not feel (depending on the track) the debris is danger than no caution. If they feel there is potential for a mishap with a car due to the debris, then they throw the caution.
When there has been an accident on the track, debris caution could happen later due to parts falling off a repaired car. Someone in last weeks race (I think Sadler) was loosing parts after they came back out.
If Hamlin is being penalized money for his comments, he was warned. He was blatantly indicating that Nascar was throwing cautions to throw a race. These type of comments lead to the type of fan like my brother in law who thinks all the races are rigged and will not attend a race for the "show."
Do I think Nascar can pick and choose drivers to pick on, of course, I am a Robby fan and will always feel like that. There are drivers who speed on pit road all the time repeatedly sometimes in a race, yet I have never seen Nascar hold them a lap like they did to Robby a few weeks ago.
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ALWAYS is not a good word. 'Usually,' I will buy. 'Mostly,' I will buy. Very few things are 'always' true, and there isn't 'always' debris on the track when a yellow comes out. USUALLY? Yes. ALWAYS? No.
You are spot-on about Hamlin's comments being dangerous for NASCAR, so ask yourself this: If all of the debris cautions are on the up-and-up, where was NASCAR's public outrage? Where is the footage? Where is the press release quoting track workers?
Hamlin made these comment pubically, but NASCAR responded ever-so quietly. That they fined Hamlin quietly should tell you something; they know that they throw BS cautions; they just don't want YOU to know it.
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Permalink Reply by Turtle7 on
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If one wants to know why sponsorship is so hard to come by, one only has to look at Mr France. I don't think that his ideas of the sport would support an Ali or a Smoking Joe.
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