Posted on 10/08/2005 5:13:39 AM PDT by Crackingham
NASCAR CEO Brian France doesn’t like fans flying Confederate flags at races as he tries to make auto racing more appealing to minorities and women.
“It’s not a flag that I look at with anything favorable. That’s for sure,” he said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” to be aired Sunday. “I can’t tell people what flag to fly. I can tell you the flag we get behind: It’s the American flag.”
France is trying to broaden auto racing’s appeal with minorities in places like Los Angeles, where France moved the important Labor Day NASCAR event last year, and New York, soon to have a track.
“(Reaching out to minorities) is something I work on every day. I work on it personally,” France said.
Among those efforts France counts running a NASCAR event in Mexico and establishing a training program for female and minority drivers. And he doesn’t believe the racial stereotypes associated with the Confederate flag will affect NASCAR.
“I think it’s a fading image,” France said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
A brilliant idea of some nitwit, to have only the top ten drivers (by points) compete for the championship by awarding them points only for the last ten races.
Everybody else gets to compete for 11th place, doesn't matter if he wins every race left on the schedule.
Total BS if you ask me, and it has driven a lot of old fans like me away, because it eliminates most of the competition.
Why would a team risk bending cars and bruising drivers, knowing the best they could ever finish in the last 10 races, even if they win, is 11th place?
They can still win and collect the winning purse, but get no points toward the championship, therefore, no money from the points fund.
Except when it gets to 11th place.
Really stupid system, particularly in a sport where second place is considered nothing more than the 1st loser.
I think he has TV audiences in mind.
I turn on a race and all I see is rap commercialism anymore. I guess that is where the money is. I try to give tickets away to customers and all I get is a yawn nowadays. Racing has changed.
That reminds me of another pet-peeve with NASCAR.
How come a golfer can win $1 million for first place in a tournament and in the same weekend a NASCAR driver only wins $250,000??
And how much of that actually goes to the driver? Yeah, I know they get paid for endorsements but so do golfers.
Drivers risk their lives every second they're on the track. The only thing a golfer risks is getting a hangnail.
End of rant. :-)
The loudest opponents of the Confederate flag in my experience have been hypocritical, whiny, white, northeasterners.
Not surprising though, they have been told time and time again by the media that the flag stands for racism. Well, its not about racism, its about loyalty to and pride in the south.
The stuff ain't cheap, and yes, I agree with your point. But France is greedy and PC and an idiot, and is counting on the guys not going anywhere else.
Same reason it was put in elsewhere...to protect the fans. (Not that I like it...but I suppose there are liability issues these days...)
Who decides what the "real meaning" is? For some people it's just regional pride. But you have to throw out some historical baggage to reach that conclusion.
It cuts both ways. If some people recognized that historically Confederate flags weren't just symbols of feeling good about the South or general rebelliousness, maybe there'd be a real debate about the question.
Add car to car shooting during the race. that should do it
Yes, and a symbol of Chrisitanity. The "X" so to speak is the type of cross that of a crucifix of one of the saints, James I believe, when he was crucified. He didn't want the straight up and down like Christ's cross. And also, any true Southerner will tell you they resent that the KKK uses that same flag. Southern pride, loyalty like you said as well as a Christian symbol. We Southerners need to stand up for that flag, cherish it and remember it always for what it REALLY stood for, NOT what some THINKS it stands for.
Refer to post 95, x.
Right, the rear end of the car was too high after the end of the race. No rules broken there, just let it sit till it goes down, any other team except maybe Gibbs Racing would have been fined and lost points. Rick(convicted felon) Hendricks and Joe Gibbs must have something on somebody
That's what people said about Indianapolis. NASCAR running at the IMS? Nonsense, they said. But the success at Indy is what pushed NASCAR to move out of the South.
Now, I'm a fan of good ol' boy, tobacco chewing, Confederate flag totin' Southern 500 NASCAR and it's been a long time since I've watched a race, but France has pretty good credentials with what he's done. He's grown a niche sport into one of the biggest sports in this country. That ain't bad. Of course, he lost people like me along the way, but he's not looking back, I'm sure.
Nascar brought it's Racers to the West Coast in 1955. I attended a Nascar race at Redwood Acre in 1956 as a crew member for a Oregon Privater in a 1956 Chevy. The Chrysler 300's dominated on the one mile horse track...
It's back...
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