Mayfield Appeal Filing
This is from Bob Pockrass regarding the appeal that Jeremy Mayfield filed:
NASCAR has denied all of Mayfield's claims in past filings, and NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston on Wednesday disputed a theme of the appeal that NASCAR didn't want Mayfield to compete with the SmallSponsor.com sponsorship.
“On the contrary, NASCAR wants more qualified competitors and sponsors involved in the sport, not less," Poston said. "The more involvement by drivers and sponsors, the better it is for the entire sport.”
The “new & improved” politically correct NA$CAR has denied it had anything to do with moonshine and yet its’ very roots come from moonshine. Bill France Sr. borrowed money from Raymond Parks Jr. on several occasions to keep NASCAR afloat and where did Parks get the majority of his money from? Selling moonshine. One of the tracks that Bill France Sr. was involved in had a still in the infield. So NA$CAR denying Mayfield’s claims is to be expected.
As to the deal with SmallSponsor.com, I’ve mentioned in the past how teams have had their sponsors “re-assigned” to teams other than the ones who originally signed them up or were “re-assigned” to NA$CAR itself. Remember when Jack Roush snagged Crown Royal and wasn‘t allowed to have them on his car for an entire year but they were the official liquor sponsor of some ISC tracks? Or how some sponsors have left because of the strong-armed tactics used by both NA$CAR and the networks to force them into a sponsorship and commercial deal?
And just what did the Propaganda Minister mean by “more qualified competitors and sponsors”? I’ve seen teams trying to get off the ground with very competent drivers and sponsors only to have their sponsorship snagged or "re-assigned" and were never able to get to the track to run their first race. I’ve also know of one incident where a sponsor’s color scheme was redesigned by NA$CAR itself to the point where it wasn’t recognizable by the sponsor causing the sponsor to cancel their sponsorship deal with the team. And who can forget about the Redneckjunk.com incident? A perfectly qualified sponsor but because Faux King Brian doesn’t like the word “redneck”, he wouldn’t allow the sponsorship to appear on the car. So don’t go trying to blow smoke up our tailpipes.
You Have to Wonder Twitter Statements
@Elliott_Sadler: FOX does a great job but it’s hard to show how fast and how banked Bristol is... that place is crazy in person
Does anyone else think this qualifies Sadler to be drug tested?
@AllWaltrip (Darrell Waltrip): Bristol now produces "good" racing, old Bristol produced "bad" racing, more side by side racing, you can pass someone without wrecking them!
If the racing is so good why are there so many empty seats and the TV ratings down 25% versus last season?
@AllWaltrip: Let's keep everything in perspective, the place holds 166,000 people, today there was probably 100,000 people there, still a huge crowd!
100,000? I think maybe it’s time to get your eyes checked. The official capacity is nowhere near 166,000. There may have been 90,000, maybe, and that’s being generous.
@AllWaltrip: Appreciate this sport and the people that support it so we can have racing, at least we don't have millionaires fighting with billionaires!
As it’s sports entertainment, why should it be appreciated? And do we really having racing? On TV it’s hard to tell if it’s racing, practice sessions, or highlight reels. And there are millionaires fighting billionaires. Roger Penske is a billionaire. Richard Childress, Jack Roush, and Rick Hendrick are millionaires. And they’re al fighting for the same thing. A championship.
@mw55 (Michael Waltrip): Why must we focus on the empty seats? There were a whole lot of full ones. I watched basketball game after game that had empty seats.
When you have a race that sold out for decades and there are massive amounts of empty seats, that’s a sure sign that’s something is really wrong. We’ve seen more and more empty seats the last few years. And don’t try to change the subject to basketball. We’re talking NA$CAR here.
@AllWaltrip: Gas is $3.75 a gal. We don't have the extra cash laying around to spend on attending a race, it's not the racing, it's not Nascar, it's the economy.
Even with gas at $3.75 a gallon, folks would actually go to Bristol if it hadn’t been reconfigured and the COT wasn’t being run. The combination of the two really killed off what use to be the two most exciting races of the year and placed it into the same status as Otto Klubb Speedway in Fontucky.
@AllWaltrip: Bristol was short track drama, Cali. will be high speed suspense,2-0-10 off into the corner this week, that'll get your attention !
Drama? What drama? It can’t be drama because it’s not on TNT. After all, TNT knows drama. They say so in their commercials. I’ve read so many fans complaints about how boring the Bristol race was it’s not even funny. Fontucky is a high speed cure for insomnia laughingly passed off as a race. Going shopping under the grandstands before the race Jabber Jaws?
This came out on Thursday, March 24th, on Twitter:
Crash Gladys
I live in Los Angeles, but I'm not hearing any promos 4 NASCAR @ Cali Spdwy this wknd. Hearing a ton more about IndyCar
And they wonder why they can’t fill the grandstands or even get the grandstands half full.
Excuses for the Weekend
The grandstands were empty because of the economy.
The grandstands were empty because of high gasoline prices.
The grandstands were empty because of radiation from Japan.
The TV ratings were down because of the economy.
The TV ratings were down because of F-1, IndyCar, and the Sweet 16 being broadcast.
Bristol Attendance Update
According to the local law enforcement folks at Bristol, there were maybe 75,000-80,000 people in attendance. That’s a far cry from the 120,000 NA$CAR claims were there and closer to my generous estimate of 90,000. So, if NA$CAR over-estimates by 40,000 people, that makes the attendance figures for most other races very suspect, which most of us pretty much have guessed anyways.
I know I would rather trust TN cops than NASCAR PR
ReplyDeleteI still wonder why you were the only member of the racing media to actually attend the court hearings on Mayfield V NASCAR and actually report on it and how brainless contradicted himself so often. Can't help but wonder how much that judge decided a couple of points on pressure from the NASCAR community and their $$$$$$$$.
ReplyDeleteAnything coming out of the mouths of the minions at the golden tower seldom has the truth or facts included. You and I go back to the Wendell Scott, Tim Richmond, Sam Ard, days and have learned not to trust or believe. We saw it and heard it over years of loving the sport.
As for the Waltrips and a couple of others, they are only insuring their jobs and you know they can't actually believe what they are spouting. Like myself DW is getting to old to know some of what he say's, he just needs to talk. As for Mikey, he should include his pro NASCAR pontifications in his comedy act.
I wouldn't have been surprised to see NASCAR pull out that "Detrimental" rule against JJC for getting out of the car. I'm glad she got the support she did and that's probably the only reason she didn't.
Keep up the good work and the facts sharing.
Good question Mr Clause. I know not all of the media was in Daytona when that hearing was held. It was myself and a couple of local TV people and that was it. None of the big name journalists or TV folks from Fox or Speed were there. And in light of what happened with Mayfield's interview on Speed recently, I have to wonder just how many reporters are being told to stay away from the hearings.
ReplyDeleteHaving been exposed to a lot of propaganda during my years in the military and working from time to time on marketing and sponsorship with some underdogs teams I know what to look for when it comes to PR & BS.
If Helton or anyone tries doing an "Actions Detrimental" on JJC, they'll get run out of town on a rail. I think she's pretty safe right now. She's got a lot of race fans, journalists, team owners,and even some NASCAR officials standing behind her.
I'd trust a crooked cop before I'd trust the NASCAR PR folks Anon.
Hey, Mike -- good column. Amazing how often DW has to tell us all via twitter that the racing is GREAT at (insert name of track here). Funny, he won how many times at the "old" Bristol - 12 or something wasn't it and yet, the racing is SO much better now.
ReplyDeleteIf Fox would actually show the race instead of spending so much time playing with the gizmos in the TV truck, fans might be able to decide for themselves if the race is good or not and maybe they'd go or watch on TV.
I never believe NASCAR's numbers for anything - attendance, passes for the lead, etc. its all done with smoke and mirrors.
Mr. Mad Mikie;
ReplyDeleteIf you hate NASCAR so much, why don't you just leave the sport alone and let the folks that do enjoy the sport alone? Things and times change and you complain about everything NASCAR does every time you write. I am old enough to remember when NASCAR was never on TV so to me it's pretty good right now!!
A very happy NASCAR fan in Atlanta.
Thank You, Steve
Thanks Gina. It's amazing how DW contradicts himself. When he writes during the off-season he questions NASCAR left and right and when he's on TV during the season, he can't place his lips of NASCAR's backside fast enough.
ReplyDeleteIf the racing is so much better now at Bristol then why have so many fans left and why are so many of the remaining ones complaining about how bad the racing is? Why are the grandstands so empty as well as the camping areas?
The old configuration was perfect. It took a chess master to get around there and make his moves to advance by passing in the right spot, timing the pit stops just right, short pitting if need be, and the occasional use of the chrome horn to nudge somebody, not wreck them. Now it's as bad as Fontana with 3 wide racing. Just because they have 3-4 lanes to race on doesn't mean it's improved. I think the empty grandstands attest to that.
If Fox would just show the race, quit using every gimmick available to man during the broadcast, provide decent camera coverage, and decent commentary, the ratings would go up and folks might be willing to return to some of the tracks. I think we've probably discussed the problems with Fox and BSPN at The Daly Planet til we're blue in the face and it seems to fall on dead ears.
When it comes time for the TV contracts to be renewed, I'll be very curious to see if NASCAR can even get 25% of what they got the last time around.
I know what you mean on NASCAR's numbers. If there are 75 million fans, which NASCAR still insist there are, then why hasn't there ever been ratings higher than 38 million viewers?
Well Steve, first thing nobody forces you to read what I'm writing. There are plenty of other places which have all the happy happy joy joy stuff you apparently seem to want to read. Second, I voice what the fans are saying. They are not happy with what's going on so I'm their outlet in voicing their concerns and complaints. Third, you're making a mighty big assumption to say I hate NASCAR. You do know what happens when you assume? And lastly, you must be a older than me because as far as I know there has been some presence on TV of NASCAR since 1963 that I'm aware of because that's when I started following racing (F-1, Indy car, USAC stock cars, NASCAR,24 Hours at Le Mans, NHRA) on Wide World of Sports. Granted, it may have just been clips from the previous weeks race but it was NASCAR.
ReplyDelete