in hand, threatening the drivers if they joined Curtis Turner’s drivers union.
No more complaining about the Uni-Car. No more complaints about how boring the races are. Nothing about how hot the cars are. No comments about the stands being empty because of the poor performance of the Uni-Car and the races being boring. All things that anyone without vision impairment who follows Brian’s Big Top can plainly see. Yeah, it’s back to basics alrighty. Right back to the days of Big Bill telling drivers to either do as he says or they’re gone. Despite that fact that they’re “independent contractors” and have millions of ticket buying race fans behind them.
Then to have Jim Hunter tell the press and media folks present outside the meeting to “go ask the drivers” what the meeting was about and most drivers being afraid to say what it was about or to face the repercussions of it really makes you wonder. The few drivers who actually answered the questions from the media gave such PC answers it wasn’t even funny.
NA$CAR keeps saying it’s a sport. Well let’s see here. When a football player says that a football field is hazardous to a player’s well being and could result in potential injury and does so to the press, there are no repercussions from the NFL Commissioner. If a player or a coach thinks that there’s something wrong with the officiating, they can call a press conference, tell the media and the rest of the world what they think and there’s no problems from the league. If a baseball player thinks somebody is corking their bat, no that’s not a term for anything nasty, he can tell every sportswriter around and nothing happens except maybe another press conference from the accused player and maybe an investigation from the league. The players in just about every major sport around, including drivers and team owners in other motorsports racing series can complain about things that they find wrong or that are obviously wrong to anyone who follows the sport. Even in the WWE, which has predetermined outcomes and is considered “sports entertainment“, the pro-wrestlers can complain about moves or equipment which they feel is dangerous and don’t have any actions taken against them. More later about being sports entertainment, thanks to I$C’s quarterly stock reports.
Then there’s NA$CAR. Both Big and Little Bill tried to give NA$CAR some credibility as a sport. And they did finally succeed it getting it recognized as a sport. There were some backroom deals along the way with various manufacturers and teams which had they come out would’ve seriously undermined the sport’s credibility. But that’s another topic for another day. They managed to publicly get the sport the credibility it needed. Then along comes the idiot savant who doesn’t show the flashes of brilliance of a savant at all. He’s no savant but plenty of the other. A good candidate for the short bus. But I digress. He erodes the credibility of the sport. He re-writes history to bury the roots. He stifles creativity and opinion on the garage area. He’s managed to undo in 5 years what took over 50 years to do. Turn the sport into a joke once again.
Folks right now are going on about the 1st Amendment rights of freedom of expression. Well, that’s all well and good. I’m a big supporter of the 1st Amendment. But if you read the 1st Amendment, it says that the government cannot suppress the individual's rights to express themselves. One former Supreme Court Justice also weighed in on the 1st Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
— The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
And as Justice William Brennan wrote in New York Times v. Sullivan in 1964, the First Amendment provides that "debate on public issues ... [should be] ... uninhibited, robust, and wide-open."
The running of NA$CAR doesn’t involve the government although they and their incestuous conjoined twin do contribute rather heavily to certain political candidates in return for favors to be named later just like a certain auto manufacturer. At least no government involvement I can find outside of health and safety requirements and certain things involving the entertainment industry that they have to comply with. So since they’re not a branch of the government, you can’t really apply the 1st Amendment as such. However, that’s not to say that the drivers, owners, and media don’t have a right to express themselves freely.
So just how do drivers, team owners, and the media address the issues that NA$CAR doesn’t want us to talk about. Just like they have in the past. Right out in the open. Certain drivers can do it and get away with it just because of who they are, their popularity, and the risk factor of what happens if NA$CAR takes action against them in the form of lost revenue should NA$CAR do something to them. A double edged sword, figuratively speaking.
The problem with that is the retribution factor that happens whenever a driver, owner, or member of the media speaks their peace. While it may not be the government, a healthy debate on the sport, how it’s run, who’s running it, and all the other issues a fan has should be discussed and done so openly and with great vigor. Not to the point of violence, but a good discussion which get fans thinking. Different points of view. Different opinions. God forbid we should all think the same or support the same driver. What fun would it be then? After all, they can’t jerk a fan’s hard card. They might try to ban them from the track, but good luck with that as we’ve seen with Talladega.
Bob Dilner got his hard card jerked several years ago for criticizing some of the decisions being made in Brian‘s Big Top. Monte Dutton still has a letter from His Majesty which contains a veiled threat of loss of employment. Another writer got his hard card jerked for asking the question of what happened to the 38 million fans who didn’t watch the Daytona 500. Kurt Busch got his hard card jerked several years ago also for making comments about the officiating. So jerking somebody’s hard card is one form of retribution.
Then there’s the Rusty Penalty. Rusty was fined $10,000 for something he thought was bogus and thinking he had the last laugh, paid the fine in pennies. He didn’t get the last laugh. What he got was a series of bogus speeding penalties to remind him of who was in charge. And this sort of thing continues on to this very day. If a driver or team owner does or says something that inflicts grievous wounds to the Royal Ego, their car or cars will face a series of problems going through tech inspection which will cost them valuable practice time. If they really want to hit them hard, they confiscate the car and make them drag out a back-up car. More time lost trying to get the car configured and be race ready and maybe even miss the race altogether because they didn‘t qualify or qualify fast enough. Mysterious speeding penalties will occur to them during a race. They will suffer a bad case of missing or loose lugs nuts that are neither missing nor loose. They become plagued with all sorts of penalties or questionable calls which will cost them track position or maybe even a race.
In the past, the leadership of NA$CAR has been
called a benevolent dictatorship. Based on what
we’re seeing nowadays, there is very little
benevolence left.
Now that the primaries are over, take some time
to read some of Thomas Jefferson’s works and
thoughts and see how they match up to the two
party candidates we have to chose from.
Jefferson was a very smart man and had some
very interesting and insightful things to say
regarding government, voting, education,
keeping the country united, immigration, and a
lot of other issues we face today. Check out
Jefferson’s thoughts on freedom of speech too.
And while these folks aren’t the military, a big thanks to the folks of the Border Patrol. They’re overworked, underpaid, and undermanned and seldom appreciated for doing what they do. They risk life and limb trying to protect our borders against drug smugglers and other assorted types of scum despite being hamstrung politically. So my thanks to them for trying to keep us and our kids safe.
Motherhood, Apple Pie, and John Wayne
Mad Mikie
Curmudgeon at Large
Want to chat with other race fans about this article and other NASCAR stuff?
Gotta comment, question or want to say hey there...email Mike here
Go visit our home page, called appropriately The Pits & check out our photos & pages. Our most popular page; Race Recon is where you get all the info you need to go to the races including local camping, hotels, bars, restaurants, tracks, golf & other important race weekend information. We also have attending a NASCAR Race tips, tailgating tips & recipes, stories, trivia, quotes & more! While you are surfing see if you are a REAL RACE FAN. Be sure to read the Fan Fables, LAIDBACK RACING’S adventures with the tailgating race fan at NASCAR tracks.
