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NASCAR Charges Mayfield with Fraud

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by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Over ten years on the air and three on the net; see what can happen when I don't let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

June 6, 2009 9:16 am UTC 3 Comments

How much bad PR is NASCAR willing to foist upon itself?

The court of public opinion, for the most part, has not been kind to NASCAR in light of recent penalties waged on small teams.  Jeremy Mayfield’s drug test, Carl Long‘s fine and suspension along with Robby Gordon’s fines sure look like NASCAR is singling out the little guy.

NASCAR is not admitting to any type of favoritism to its larger teams, but it is hard for the casual fan to wonder about all the suspensions and fines that were levied against Hendrick Motor Sports and their crew chiefs, Chad Knaus and Steve Letarte.   HMS was on a two year run of fines and suspensions that were no where near the severity that has been levied against Long.

NASCAR has not fared well in the fan’s perception of how they have handled the entire Jeremy Mayfield situation.  From not having a list of banned substances to allowing Mayfield access to the race track after he was banned, NASCAR has looked foolish at times during this process.  Mayfield may be guilty of what NASCAR alleges, but even if he is, NASCAR has positioned itself to be the bad guy.

Mayfield filed a lawsuit to regain his rights to drive and own a race car.  This is a logical step and one that fans can see the merits in.  It is the American way to fight for what you believe in and Mayfield is using the court system to try and accomplish that.  But what has NASCAR done?

First they petition to have the hearing moved to Federal court thus delaying the proceedings that would have brought the matter to a timely conclusion.  Now to add even more bad press and to further sway the public’s opinion toward NASCAR’s persecution of the little guy they file a counter suit against Mayfield.

In that counter suit they claim Mayfield willfully violated the substance abuse policy, breached his NASCAR contract and of defrauding competitors of earnings.  David Newton at ESPN.com has a great article on the legal wranglings and is definitely worth the read.  The counter suit on NASCAR’s part smells more of revenge seeking.

With all that NASCAR has been trying to do in the past three weeks to try and show fans that they are concerned over the product they are putting out, why would they revert to the pettiness of a counter suit?

NASCAR does not want drivers, owners, crew members or anyone else involved in the sport to question their decisions and directives.  Carl Long, after his appeal was denied talked about the fatherly way the sport had been run under Bills Senior and Junior and how it is no longer so.  The first two France family members had a feel for how to run a business where all of it’s stars are independent contractors.  The current regime seems to have forgotten that the fans come to watch those independant contractors; not NASCR officials.

To paraphrase from baseball; “How do you know if a NASCAR official did a good job? Because you never noticed he was there.”

Brian France and the entire NASCAR heirarchy is getting noticed way too much.  And much of that notice is their own fault.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Filed under: ESPN, Hendrick Motorsports, How to fix NASCAR, Jeremy Mayfield, NASCAR, NASCAR & the Media, NASCAR Bidness, NASCAR officials, Nextel Cup Series 

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Comments

3 Responses to “NASCAR Charges Mayfield with Fraud”

  1. Paul on June 6th, 2009 8:12 pm

    I agree with alot of what you’ve outlined But I have to take NASCAR side on this .As a former owner of a business I ‘ve gone through the drug business with employees at one time getting sued for letting the person go and possibly making it hard on him to get a job in that industry.Its hard for both ,but to put me up in front of a judge to tell me how to run my business was awful on me.I had to explain the policies I put forth especially the drug policy was legal .The judge said this to US . All my policies were within the law and making it ,the policies, available before and during employment with the signature of employee basically throws out any reason to reinstate or compensate employee .And there didnt seem to be on my part any action to derive said employee of reentering the professon he was verse in That any employer has the right to have employees follow those policies/ I won. My drug policy had no mention of what drugs i would test for and any illegal perscription and over counter would be tested for.If it wasnt illegal and within non abusive guidelines there would be no action.Sounds like NASCARS AS FOR CARL the rule book states the owner of the car is responsile for the car and it states exact measurements on many items including engines. it doesnt say alittle bit more would be ok.And finally Im tired of both these guys from making these distractions to my racing

  2. User Avatar Charlie Turner on June 6th, 2009 11:03 pm

    Paul thanks for commenting and I’m with you on this. NASCAR’s counter-suit is just prudent business. Mayfield is the one who chose to take this to the courts. He, and the fans, should expect the Frances to use whatever is available to NASCAR in defending their policies.

    As for Carl Long. He chose to play in the biggest game in town. Had he been able to compete, he would have had the opportunity for the huge rewards that NASCAR affords it’s successful teams. If the reason his motor was out of spec was because he was underfunded to the point where he couldn’t properly maintain it, well tough. Had he somehow, through some freak set of circumstances, been able to win a race, he would have won all the money. By breaking a rule, he should get all the penalty too.

  3. User Avatar Steve Wronkowicz on June 7th, 2009 12:31 am

    Paul– I see where you are coming from; but there is one slight difference between your regrettable situation and NASCAR’s. I would guess that your case wasn’t played out in front of millions of fans through the media. And that is where NASCAR’s PR has taken a serious hit and the counter suit exasperates that bad PR.

    I agree this topic has been debated to death by both sides of the drug issue. I have stated many times that I’m okay with NASCAR’s drug policy. My only beef has been that there was a moving target as far as what was being tested for. The notion that everyone in NASCAR has to call the doctor’s office every time they were going to take medication was ludicrous.

    NASCAR has become accustomed to going to court. In my opinion the counter suit is a case of “big dog-itis”. NASCAR must be the biggest dog and will go to any length to prove it.

    Carl Long was guilty of a rules infraction at a non-points exhibition race and was fined an exorbidant amount. A 200 point penalty was crazy when he had no opportunity to score any points. $200,000.00 was rediculous compared to the amounts of fines previously.

    My point was, and remains, that NASCAR has embarked on a public relations nightmare with both of these issues and seems to have no clue how to stop shooting themselves in the foot in their fan’s eyes.

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