Press Conference At 6 PM

[Yatesguy]

"So, who are you gonna believe? France, rich Doctor & politician or JM?
'
I remember back when I used to believe in the athletes in this kind of situation. Not any more, I'm tired of losing that fight. Turns out, our heroes are just like us and screw up good things just like we do. I would like to see Mayfield be found innocent, but that's probably not going to happen, it never does. NASCAR didn't just throw a dart at a wall and suspend whatever driver it landed on. I'm sure they wanted to be ABSOLUTELY sure before they would do something of this magnitude. Why would they want to boot an innocent driver? What would they have to gain? Compared to the enormous amount they have to lose if they would get found out? And of course they would. That's what lawyers do.

NASCAR MUST win this. If they don't, not only will they lose a ton of money to Mayfield and his lawyers, they lose respect of fans and drivers alike. Losing this could kill NASCAR and unlike all the NASCAR Nay-sayers out there, I LOVE this sport and WANT it to succeed. Why can't we have a NASCAR that has drivers that don't combine drugs and drive? Surely that's possible.

Why won't he tell us what the prescription drug was?...

Why won't his lawyer tells us what the test results were?....

[skool]

I like nascar too, but I don't RESPECT THEM, OR BRIAN FRANCE one DAMN bit! 

And something of this magnatude?  Jeremy Mayfield is a 2nd rate driver at best!  nascar has nothing to lose if Mayfield is gone. Same as with the Carl Long violation and penalty.

Dale Jr. could do lines of cocaine WITH Brian France and not get suspended or a word ever heard about it! Im not saying JM DID or DID NOT do recreational drugs. Im just saying, who are you most going to believe, a large for profit, corporation with a history of shady dealings or a second rate guy trying to start his own team?

Me, I'll give JM the benefit of the doubt over nascar as a sanctioning body ANYDAY!!!!  Maybe I will be proved wrong, but like I have always said, until nascar will publicly post the rules, for any given year, then there is something that they are trying to hide, or feel that they cannot adjust any outcome to a situation as they see fit, or benefits them the most.

If nascar is truly a 'sport', why cant the rules, the banned substance list and all sorts of other things be public, just like real sports? If there is nothing to hide, why the secrecy?

Respect? F___ no I don't 'respect' Brian France or his sanctioning body!  Give me something to respect and maybe I will change my mind.

[Yatesguy]

How do you like a sport and yet find so much fault with it? How do you cheer with one hand and flip the bird with the other? Why wouldn't you want this to be a successful attempt a noble effort of keeping drugs out of NASCAR?   
 
And trust me, the media attention and internet chatter this story is getting MAKES it a high magnitude event regardless of what rate driver Jeremy Mayfield is. NASCAR has a hell-of-a-lot to lose if they have wrongly accused him. They BETTER make sure they have gotten this right. Whatever (little) respect NASCAR has with the fans and the drivers will be lost if they drop the ball here. They've GOT to get this one right. 
 
There's a bigger issue here than by what processes takes place and how much information is given to the fans. Maybe a more open approach is appropriate in the future, but I think for this first case, it's appropriate for this to be on a "need to know basis". It's too important to air this all out in public. That would only make separating truth from rumor harder when it goes to court. Let's see how it plays out. Isn't it at least possible that NASCAR may have prevented a tragedy? Is it even possible? Isn't that what we should hope for?

Even if we trust JM, he admitted to mixing drugs in a way that might be dangerous. We don't know what side effects that combination might have had on the track. Should we really trust drivers to mix drugs like that? What should we do about the next drug combo drug test? Release all the information and let the fans vote on whether it's dangerous or not?

NASCAR has a hard job to do and as good of a fan as you may be, you make it awful hard for them to do it.....but maybe that's the way it should be.

[Tyyrus]

" no one ever see's the facts"

Trust me, everyone who needs to see the facts..will see the facts. We, the fans, don't need to see the facts.

 

Sorry everyone has the right to the facts. Freedom of disclosure Please !  There is a lot of $$$ and lives at stake here like others (Skool / Flammer) have said  , what is the big secret , what is Nascar trying to hide ?

[Fathead]

Freedom of disclosure?  What? 




You have no right to any information that Nascar holds.   

[Yatesguy]

The lives that are at stake are the drivers that may not want to drive around someone mixing drugs. I think you are referring to the Freedom of Information Act which only applies to non-classified govt. documents, not stock car racing. We have no right to know Jeremy's personal medical information no matter what he's accused of. Jeremy or his lawyers could release that information any time they want to..why should NASCAR have to? NASCAR isn't "hiding" anything, they are just trying to handle this as professional as possible with as little harm to Jeremy as possible. If it was a hard drug like Cocaine or something, NASCAR would rather that be kept private from the public. No need to wreck Jeremy's career any more than it already is. He wasn't charged with a crime, if Jeremy has a drug problem, it's not up to NASCAR to announce that to the world. He has the right for that information not to be released to the public.

What on earth would be gained by airing this all out in public? How could that possibly help get us to the truth. All you want is to satisfy your own curiosity and, sorry, you're not important enough. The truth will come out and that's all NASCAR owes us.

NASCAR is trying to not let this sport slip into the drug cesspool the other sports have fallen into AND YOU GUYS ARE FIGHTING THEM!

This world has gone nuckin' futs. We fight the good guys and bailout the bad guys. 

[skool]

NASCAR is trying to not let this sport slip into the drug cesspool the other sports have fallen into AND YOU GUYS ARE FIGHTING THEM!

This world has gone nuckin' futs. We fight the good guys and bailout the bad guys. 

nascar would not have done one damn thing to their drug policy if the whole Aaron Fike deal had not come along. nascar only acts, or APPEARS to act when they are painted into a corner and have no other move. The same way they did with safety, ie SAFER barriers and mandating the HANS device, both of which were already proven and available but not implemented until AFTER Dale, Sr.'s death. That is just how nascar operates and that is NOT speculation, but proven by their actions over and over again.

I do agree wit cha about the world though! 

[smyler]

It's a no-brainer to understand how someone can love racing but not love the political body that runs it.  I love my country but I can not stand the president.  See how that works?  There are a lot of parallels to the two examples, by the way.  Both do a lot of unnecessary things for political correctness.  Both feel their rulings don't need to be understood, just followed/obeyed.   Both say what they think the public wants to hear but has their own private agenda which we may or may not be able to figure out.  I would not trust the president to manage my grocery store any more than I'd want Brian to be my bartender (if I owned either one).  In any case, I'm not giving up on either my country or my favorite sport just because of who currently is in charge of it.

The reason why most of us care so much about many of these issues is that we are passionate about the sport and the culture of racing.  Growing up, I used to watch football, basketball, tennis, a bit of baseball and whatever Wide World of Sports was showing.  I never thought of racing, really.  Now, racing is the only "sport" that I care at all about.  If some don't understand how you don't give up on something just because you get frustrated by it then I would ask you to think about a family member that you think of as the black sheep.  Do you give up on them or do you try to love them back into shape, even if it's tough love?

[Yatesguy]

nascar would not have done one damn thing to their drug policy if the whole Aaron Fike deal had not come along. nascar only acts, or APPEARS to act when they are painted into a corner and have no other move. The same way they did with safety, ie SAFER barriers and mandating the HANS device, both of which were already proven and available but not implemented until AFTER Dale, Sr.'s death. That is just how nascar operates and that is NOT speculation, but proven by their actions over and over again.

I do agree wit cha about the world though! 

And we didn't put locks on cockpit doors until AFTER 9/11. Sadly that's the way much of the world operates. I think you're just TRYING to find things to slam NASCAR about. How does it matter HOW we've came to a better, safer NASCAR, just that we are there now and can be proud of our sport for being so. Half full/half empty?


  we are not alone 

[skool]

I believe the correct term is 'minority ovine' smyler!       (Or presidential ovine!   )

[skool]

And we didn't put locks on cockpit doors until AFTER 9/11. Sadly that's the way much of the world operates. I think you're just TRYING to find things to slam NASCAR about. How does it matter HOW we've came to a better, safer NASCAR, just that we are there now and can be proud of our sport for being so. Half full/half empty?


  we are not alone 

It matters because it shows that nascar is willing to sacrafice (in the safety issue) a LIFE before they are willing to part with some precious MONEY. I am not TRYING to find things to slam nascar about, but they have proven over and over again by their actions, from building tracks (ISC) to implementing safety issues, that they only act when they have to or if it is in their best (profiteering) interest.

I had a judge ask me once, 'How many times do you have to steal before you are a thief? How many times do you have to lie before you are a liar?'

How many times does nascar have to illustrate things of that nature before you don't trust them?

[Yatesguy]

It's a no-brainer to understand how someone can love racing but not love the political body that runs it.  I love my country but I can not stand the president.  See how that works?  There are a lot of parallels to the two examples, by the way.  Both do a lot of unnecessary things for political correctness.  Both feel their rulings don't need to be understood, just followed/obeyed.   Both say what they think the public wants to hear but has their own private agenda which we may or may not be able to figure out.  I would not trust the president to manage my grocery store any more than I'd want Brian to be my bartender (if I owned either one).  In any case, I'm not giving up on either my country or my favorite sport just because of who currently is in charge of it.

The reason why most of us care so much about many of these issues is that we are passionate about the sport and the culture of racing.  Growing up, I used to watch football, basketball, tennis, a bit of baseball and whatever Wide World of Sports was showing.  I never thought of racing, really.  Now, racing is the only "sport" that I care at all about.  If some don't understand how you don't give up on something just because you get frustrated by it then I would ask you to think about a family member that you think of as the black sheep.  Do you give up on them or do you try to love them back into shape, even if it's tough love?

Tag teaming me huh? lol  Very good analogy however the two can't really be compared. Every citizen in this country has equal say in how it is ran (in theory anyway). The right to run NASCAR was bought and paid for by the France family. Any private enterprise has the right to make it's own decisions (or used to) without citizen or fan vote. We, the fans, don't get to run NASCAR. They run it and we decide to whether to make it profitable or not. So far it's been very profitable.

While I may stand in opposition to the current President of this country, I will give him a certain amount of respect. I will give him the benefit of the doubt wherever I can. The citizens of this Country put him there and I must respect that.

I guess I understand the analogy though. Love for the Country/Sport vs. disrespect for the leader. I guess I just think it is useless and looks petty to continually criticize that which you have no control over and no right to have control over. We vote for NASCAR leadership with our pocketbooks and the results are in - "When's the next race" has won. NASCAR shouldn't tell us who to vote for and we shouldn't tell NASCAR how to run a stock car race. You replace leadership by proper channels, throwing tomatoes from the sideline doesn't accomplish anything but making a mess.  


  

[skool]

 We vote for NASCAR leadership with our pocketbooks and the results are in - "When's the next race" has won.

  

Well, I would say that 3 yrs of falling ratings, lowered attendance and slide of ISC stock (even before the current economic 'crisis') is a pretty good indication of what the nascar 'voters' think of the present leadership.   Brian father and grandfather, while you might not agree with them, were men to be respected. Brian simply does not have that. You would think that with recreational money as tight as it is nowadays that tv ratings would go UP. But no, they have declined. A sure indication that Brian got what he was after, the 'casual fan'. He has turned most of us into just that.

[20forLogano]

nascar would not have done one damn thing to their drug policy if the whole Aaron Fike deal had not come along. nascar only acts, or APPEARS to act when they are painted into a corner and have no other move. The same way they did with safety, ie SAFER barriers and mandating the HANS device, both of which were already proven and available but not implemented until AFTER Dale, Sr.'s death. That is just how nascar operates and that is NOT speculation, but proven by their actions over and over again.

I do agree wit cha about the world though! 

Yeah, we all know Nascar is reactive instead of proactive.

[20forLogano]

Well, I would say that 3 yrs of falling ratings, lowered attendance and slide of ISC stock (even before the current economic 'crisis') is a pretty good indication of what the nascar 'voters' think of the present leadership.   Brian father and grandfather, while you might not agree with them, were men to be respected. Brian simply does not have that. You would think that with recreational money as tight as it is nowadays that tv ratings would go UP. But no, they have declined. A sure indication that Brian got what he was after, the 'casual fan'. He has turned most of us into just that.

Part of Brian's problem is he has taken the sport and tried to mimic another (America's most popular sport).  If he just tried following his Father's way of doing things and mixed in some of his own (you know the one's that don't mimic football LOL) more people would respect the sport and not start losing interest.