Robby's Texas Nightmare

What seemed to be just another race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway has turned into a nightmare for Robby Gordon. As usual Robby, as the owner of Speed Energy Drink, sent the check in to SMI to pay for the lot space for his souvenir hauler and as usual it cleared the bank. That is considered to be a binding contract in several states. No misrepresentation on Robby’s part since it was clearly from Speed Energy Drink. He didn’t have a problem at Las Vegas or Bristol, two other SMI tracks, and didn’t have a problem with the ISC tracks at Daytona, Fontana, Phoenix, or Martinsville. Once Robby’s Speed Energy Drink souvenir hauler and show car showed up, that’s when the nightmare ensued.
　
First, Texas Motor Speedway towed Robby’s Fast 5 show car away. The show car was there as a part of a Universal Pictures promotion for the upcoming Fast 5 movie. What’s odd is that there were other energy drink show cars parked in the same area that looked like they’d been parked there for several months and none of them were towed. And there were the souvenir haulers for the other energy drinks all along the row of souvenir haulers and nobody was bothering the Junior haulers (Amp Energy Drink splashed all over it), the Red Bull Haulers (Red Bull a competitor of Coca Cola’s Full Throttle), or Shrubbery’s souvenir trailer (with NOS in plain view on the trailer).

SPEED ENERGY
Check it out TMS has threatened to take all of our product and tow our merchandise hauler out of the racetrack! WTF　

Then they were wanting to haul away the Speed Energy Drink souvenir hauler and confiscate all of the Speed Energy product that there. When Robby made his initial enquiry as to what was going on, he was told by Texas Motor Speedway that the track was sponsored by Red Bull and it was out of respect to Red Bull that they were doing this. Gee, that sure is funny. All of the SMI tracks are sponsored by Coca Cola, who manufactures the Full Throttle energy drink and distributes Monster Energy Drink. So that would mean that SMI violated their contract with Coca Cola by taking on the Red Bull sponsorship at Texas Motor Speedway. But wait, it gets even better.
　
Robby’s then sent a Twitter message that he didn’t get permission from the sales department to hand out free samples of the Speed Energy Drink.
　
Texas Motor Speedway
Every brand who hands out samples needs authorization from our sales team. Every sports venue has these rules, and we're not against anyone.
　
Since when did a salesman get to override a written contract? The worst that Texas Motor Speedway should’ve been able to do is make them keep the free sample behind the counter. At Charlotte and Atlanta, I’ve had samples handed to me from companies who weren’t on track property. And Robby hasn’t had a problem with this at the other SMI tracks prior to Texas. But wait, it gets even better.
　
Robby then receives a letter from SMI which prohibits his Speed Energy Drink souvenir hauler from all SMI tracks. Gee, could that be because Robby’s Speed Energy Drink isn’t listed as one of SMI’s “valued partners” that the Speed Energy souvenir hauler is being banned from all the SMI tracks? Since when did tracks have the authority to prohibit sponsors from showing off their wares at the tracks? Didn’t NA$CAR approve Speed Energy as a sponsor? Does this also mean that the tracks can ban certain makes of vehicles from racing because they’re not the “official vehicle” of that particular track?

SPEED ENERGY
Just so you guys know, TMS sent the letter that they gave us to revoke our access to promote to ALL the SMI properties. Which means next SMI track you prob wont get any SPEED Energy. Really?　

And how about some of the ads Texas Motor Speedway has used with Dale Jr in his AMP uniform which clearly show the Amp logo and Mountain Dew logo and show the Amp or Mountain Dew car? Isn’t that a bit hypocritical of them as they’re supposed to be a Coca Cola track? Or a Red Bull track if you believe Texas Motor Speedway?
　
And since the Fast Five movie logos are on the car this weekend, Universal Pictures was expecting some reasonable appearance obligations that Texas Motor Speedway is now interfering with. Will SMI, Gossage, and Bruton stand together when they realize a fight with a major movie studio who has more lawyers than SMI does is the consequence, or will finger pointing ensue?
　
And how about the actual race coverage? When they showed the Dodge Chargers of the Race graphic, they showed the 2 & 22 cars from a blimp/helicopter shot but the 7 was nowhere to be seen. During the race, there’s usually an accidental shot of Robby’s car usually when he’s near one of the Chosen Ones, he’s in or near a wreck, or he’s being lapped. But no, not a single shot of his car the entire night unlike all the previous race of the season where we at least caught a small glimpse of at least a quarterpanel.

Anyone remember what happened at Las Vegas when Robby Gordon was qualifying? No? Let me refresh your memory with this video clip.
　
http://youtu.be/UotI8eQynv4 　
　
One thing Speed Energy did make clear in a Twitter is that THEY aren’t calling for fans to boycott Texas Motor Speedway
　
SPEED ENERGY
We would never tell any1 to boycott anything. just showing what is out there. TMS is a great facility & we all want what's best for the sport
　
So while Speed Energy Drink might not be calling for a boycott, I’m thinking fans might want to rethink their plans involving Texas Motor Speedway, any events they host, any events they sponsor, and also purchasing any goods from any of the track’s sponsors. like Coca Cola, UPS, Dickies, Brookshires, Samsung Mobile, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Chevy, Bank of America, WinStar World Casino, Firestone, and others. Fans might also want to go to the speedway’s web site under the “contacts” section and drop Eddie Gossage, the man who forget to put Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s driver’s uniform in a safe, secure area which resulted in it being stolen, a line and let him know your opinion on this whole deal and your future plans and those of your friends and family members regarding Texas Motor Speedway and the track’s sponsors.