Let me alter my headline a little bit, I love lawsuits when they aren’t directed at me. And do you know why? Because they allow us to find things out we normally don’t have the privilege to know.
I have always been an information junky. I suppose that’s probably why I always wanted to be a journalist. I love sleuthing and digging to find information. But nothing is better than when it falls in your lap.
And that’s what you get with lawsuits; free, easily accessible information. Not to mention, the information you get is always very detailed. Case in point, Atlanta Motor Speedway is suing Pep-Boys for failure to make payments on an existing sponsorship agreement.
With the lawsuit we got the specific amount of their sponsorship arrangement with Pep Boys; $3 million. And we also got the details of the sponsorship agreement. For instance Pep Boys got 1,000 grandstand tickets and a 64-person suite for both weekends they sponsored. We wouldn’t know this otherwise.
This isn’t the first case like this we have seen. Remember the HMS Holdings lawsuit against DEI? We learned Ginn’s engine program with Hendrick cost $12.8 million. A lot of people were shocked by the amount.
Or how about the lawsuit by Sterling Marlin, Joe Nemechek and others against Ginn Racing and DEI. If you were curious how much a driver or crew chief makes and all of the benefits of being in one of those positions, there you had it.
Now I don’t like to see lawsuits occurring too often. They aren’t good for anyone involved. But when they do happen I always enjoy seeing the dirty details.
Kevin Grubb
A few years ago NASCAR decided to make an example of a couple of drivers who violated their substance abuse policy.
Shane Hmiel was the first example. He was banned from the sport for life in February 2006 after failing three separate tests.
The second driver was Kevin Grubb, who received an indefinite suspension in September 2006 after failing one test and then refusing to take a second after a wreck in Richmond. He always maintained he had no knowledge of the refusal because of a concussion he received in the wreck.
Over the last several years I can honestly say I have very little knowledge about what Grubb was doing. That was until yesterday when reports came that he had been found dead in a Richmond, Va. area hotel room. Later we learned police believe he committed suicide.
Jay Busbee over at Yahoo Sports wrote today about Grubb’s story. He very eloquently summed up the situation:
At just 31, Grubb had a lot of life left. Death is always a very sad thing, but for it to happen in this way is nothing short of tragic.
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on May 8th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Wow, after reading your linked report from 2007 on Marlin and Nemecheck and the list of money, bonuses, perks and responsibilities I thought to myself…..what….for these guys? I don’t personnally know either of them and by all rights they appear(ed) to be somewhat decent drivers and should have been entitled to contract specs, but common here. No wonder open wheelers flock the NASCAR money when mostly backmarkers w/ limited success make a killin’.
on May 8th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
It’s easy for those of us to wonder why anyone like a Nascar driver who is seemingly on top of the world could have a problem like drug addiction. I guess it shows that no mater where or who you are some demons are just to strong to overcome.
Drugs ended his career, the end of his career may have been what brought him to end his life.
R.I.P. Kevin, I hope you have found some peace.
on May 9th, 2009 at 9:47 am
It’s a shame that Grubb did’nt think a racing career was enough of a good life for him. I can think of alot of folks like myself who would have loved the opportunities he had in racing. I guess in some cases, the more you get, the more you want.
I only hope I have impressed on my daughter enough that many people are not what they seem, and some cannot be trusted very far, leading to lawsuits. I guess sometimes I believed racing people were above these things, but it was only wishful thinking. Maybe we have too many lawyers in this country, but that’s better than not being able to get one when the need arises. Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms.
on May 10th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Drug abusers are not less than human! It is a terrible disease. If your an addict in Nascar, you will be exposed, rightly so. Between the competitors and BIG MONEY Nascar the addict will always be crushed. Anything or anyone that gets in the way of Nascar is delt with in a swift manner. Money or expulsion. I just wish there was a different way.