The High Walls of NASCAR
Written by Journo on June 15th, 2008Often when I describe NASCAR to people who are unfamiliar with it, I like to compare it to a fortress. It is small relatively compared, has high walls, a strong closed door, and a lot of power. Once you are allowed a pass inside, you are free to come and go as you please, but if you step out of line or upset the balance of power, unless you yourself have great influence within the walls, you will be expelled. In the garage area team members like to refer to NASCAR as the evil empire. They hate NASCAR, but respect it and its authority in the same breath. This weekend we saw one of these instances where what NASCAR says goes, in a closed door come-to-Jesus meeting where they warned drivers about bashing the COT. This though is only the latest case of NASCAR keeping the door closed on the goings of the sport.
We received an email the other day from someone asking why NASCAR did not release their rule book to the public. The fact of the matter is, I cannot give a definitive answer for that one, and to be honest, I do not know why anyone would want to read it. It is full of a lot of technical jargon and very boring. Do they do this to keep people in the shadows about the rules, I do not think so, but it is also beneficial for them to keep it close to the cuff.
People forget that NASCAR is unlike any other major US sport. Where the NBA, MLB and NFL are all collectively owned and very open, NASCAR is owned by one family, the Frances. It is beneficial financially, and frankly for the sport if they can suppress things and keep control. They don’t have unions or strikes to worry about and if the owners, track operators or drivers do not want to follow their rules they can find something else to do. There is a reason that NASCAR does not have the problems or controversy that other sports do; the Series directors, officials and executives at NASCAR keep control of things and people down on pit road know better than spread things outside of the fortress.
In the early days of NASCAR racing it is widely known that Bill France Sr. would carry around a sidearm to keep control. He did not ask for respect, he commanded it. From the first official race, where the results were disputed and NASCAR won, to this weekend and the closed door meeting, a lot goes inside the sport that you will never hear about. Is that a bad thing? No, because it allows for the sport to maintain integrity and keep things that don’t need to be out, in. Control is key and if ever there was a family who knew how to keep it, it would be the Frances.
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Posted under NASCAR at the Track, The Business of NASCAR.
Comments: 4
Comments
Comment from Karah
Time: June 15, 2008, 4:41 pm
I don’t know how I feel about the meeting that took place on Friday. Obviously I wasn’t there, but it’s almost like a slap at the drivers’ first amendment rights.
Tony Stewart made a comment after the race kind of proved that. He didn’t know what to say because he wasn’t sure what he could say that NASCAR would approve of.
Then again… it is Tony saying it lol
Comment from Nick
Time: June 16, 2008, 5:49 am
Thank you for answering my question.
Technical jargon or not, we, as paying fans, have a right to know exactly what rules govern the sport that we fork over increasing amounts of coin to follow. We deserve to know that there is a basis for the (in)consistency that NASCAR uses in making the calls that they do, and when someone gets penalized, we deserve a better explanation than “actions detrimental to stock car racing.”
Comment from Journo
Time: June 16, 2008, 6:40 pm
Nick - It is something I probably should have included in the post and not something I thought about until just now. Fans being able to purchase a rule book is not going to make NASCAR more accountable for the very reason you said. There is actually a rule in the rule book, section 12-4.A (I will give you the wording below). Anything that didn’t fit into a rule in the book would automatically go there like it does now. It is a catch all category.
“A. Any Member who performs an act or participates in actions deemed by NASCAR officials as detrimental to NASCAR racing or to NASCAR: a fine, and/or disqualification, and/or loss of Championship points, and/or loss of finishing position(s) in the Event, and/or probation, and/or suspension”
There are several other letters after that outlining other penalties. The point is NASCAR is going to do what they want whether rule books are sold to the public or not. Do you deserve a better explanation about penalties? Yeah you do, but unfortunately NASCAR is not known for its openness.
Comment from Nick
Time: June 17, 2008, 12:30 pm
By keeping their rule book from the general public, NASCAR has no concrete standard for making their decisions. There is no common measuring tape, no moral compass that they can follow. NASCAR seemingly makes decisions as the mood strikes… I am not the first one to accuse NASCAR of making sh!t up as they go along, and I will not be the last, especially with the phantom rulebook. I do not wholly disagree with your opinion that NASCAR would be more accountable with a public rule book, but I think there would be enormous pressure on them to follow whatever steps are prescribed. NASCAR needs to make the rule book public more for the sake of the integrity of the sport. Without that, there isn’t a whole hell of a lot separating NASCAR from pro-wrestling, and I say that as someone who has poured his passion into the sport for more than two decades. This is one of NASCAR’s biggest faults, and it needs to be addressed for the sport to achieve the credibility that it so richly deserves.
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