NASCAR CEO Brian France owes Carl Long an apology, and a full pardon
Little guy Carl Long gets the NASCAR boot in the face. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
By Mike Mulhern
mikemulhern.net
It's a sad day for the sport of NASCAR racing.
A very sad and embarrassing day.
What a blunder.
Heartless, how else to describe it.
Tuesday's decision by NASCAR's appeals board to grind its boot in Carl Long's face, by upholding the sport's biggest penalty ever, is simply outrageous.
I wish David Poole were here to vent about this.
But then there are no newspapers covering NASCAR any more, virtually no independent journalists left on the beat to raise a cry in defense of the little guys like Carl Long.
NASCAR's actions in the Carl Long situation are simply unreasonable, even unconscionable.
NASCAR executives have shown again that they are hopelessly out of touch with the real world.
Bullies.
Exactly the right word to describe NASCAR officials in this situation.
Commonsense is such a rare commodity in the NASCAR garage, yes…..
But this….
There is simply no excuse for this decision.
About the only hope now for Daytona sports' executives to extricate themselves from this PR nightmare, to regain even a bit of respect, is for NASCAR CEO Brian France to immediately rescind the entire series of penalties and grant Long a pardon and welcome him back to the Cup garage.
And France ought to do it in person, not just with some letter or edict.
Anything less than a full, complete recission is simply unacceptable.
Carl Long is one of this sport's good guys. Loyal to the sport for more than 20 years. Diligent. Hard working. One of the little guys who makes this sport work.
NASCAR executives seem to have forgotten who built this sport.
It was little guys like Carl Long.
But then NASCAR seems to be doing its best to make life as rough as possible on the little guys in the sport. There have been too many examples in recent weeks.
All Carl Long wanted to do at Charlotte's Lowe's Motor Speedway two weeks ago was run in the All-star preliminary. Not to win it, certainly. Just to race in it. When the engine at question failed during practice, Long could easily have just packed his stuff and gone home, and NASCAR wouldn't have had to check the engine. Indeed, if Long had even thought the engine might not be right, he certainly wouldn't have handed it over for inspection. Not a case here of someone trying to slip something by.
Maybe we should recall NASCAR's handling of Michael Waltrip's illegal gas additives at Daytona a few years back…and NASCAR's handling of Jeff Gordon's Daytona car for being too low…..
A double-standard of justice? One for this sport's stars, another for the rest of the guys?
You can decide.
Hand it to NASCAR to bring out a sledgehammer to swat a fly.
So just when you might have thought NASCAR execs were starting to get their act back together comes this – Carl Long, the harshest penalty in NASCAR history.
The NASCAR death penalty.
Upheld.
Shameful.
How can these guys sleep at night?
I have been a HUGE fan of
I have been a HUGE fan of NASCAR since I was a child. Grew up with the Mighty Modifieds at Islip and Freeport. I have seen NASCAR slowly cold shoulder its local series over the years. They have seen fit to take care of their best and brightest. Just look at the "top 35" rule. Used to be with the local series everyone was "go or go home". You had to qualify EVERY week. There was no "Lucky Dog". You raced your way back to the lead lap. NASCAR has no consistancy in its indiscriminate handing out of penaltys. The largest fine and penalty in NASCAR history is handed out to probably the smallest team in the CUP series, for what was an insignificant event at a NON POINTS race7. This is the icing on the cake for me. Think I am going to watch Formula1. Yes, they may be as messed up as NASCAR in handing out penalties for infractions, however, they screw everyone EQUALLY. Thomas C Danisevich. Bartlett, TN.
i wonder how we're all
i wonder how we're all supposed to get nascar's attention on this stuff?
I have followed the sport for
I have followed the sport for a long time like many. As well, I attend 2 to 3 events per year. If you do not think Nascar and there officals are not "Arrogant", get a garage pass and observe for yourself. Granted you are on the inside and close up to the sport, but they run the garage like a prison.
I became close friends to a past Cup driver and he helped me understand who was the boss. You do not talk bad about Nascar if you want to race. If you got him to the side, there were crazy of some of the storiss you would hear.
My wife and I were walking thru the garage area and she had taken off her sweater because it was getting warm, without thinking. Her blouse did not have sleeves. HOLY MOLLY, a offical that was leaning on a race car waiting to get thru tech grabbed her by the arm and told her to put it back on right now or he was going to throw her out of the garage area. Had I not been given a pass by a driver, that offical would be getting out of the hospital about now.
In other words, we were "little people" and he knew that. We both knew the rules, but did the punishment (arrogant, senseless approach) fit the crime?
Carl, they are consistent. If you aren't a player, they can live without you.
The reason NASCAR is losing
The reason NASCAR is losing its fans is plain and simply. I for one find it close to a true horror story. All too familiar.
Check it out...
Check it out...
www.SaveCarlLong.com
Sign the petition!
Sorry, but to set the fine
Sorry, but to set the fine based on Carl's finances would be wrong. I like Carl, but if this was Kyle Busch or Jimmy Johnson would everyone be up in arms? NO because they would be called cheaters and they can also afford to pay the fine. We complain about double standards and yet that is what you seem to want...
This was aimed directly at
This was aimed directly at Carl Long from the start. Everyone involved would have suspected an engine with that much history, use, would surely be "off" a little.
The nascar techs, all involved would know this even before measurements.
One has to wonder what they have against Carl Long? The only reasonable answer I can come up with, is, they must feel the need to rid themselves of the "start and park" guys (an issue that's been talked about lately) and Carl was the first.
Everyone knows this was NOT an intentional violation. I'd say that engine was EXACTLY to spec...the day it was built...many miles ago...
You are so right saying "shame on nascar".
Big Alice
i think they don't want the
i think they don't want the small independents like long and mayfield so their intent was to squeeze them out of business.thanks nascar you gave me my sunday afternoons back.
An absolute double-standard
An absolute double-standard by NASCAR. They can ruin Carl Long over an illegal engine, but Michael Waltrip, Hendrick Motorsports, Gibbs, that whole big-team bunch - the fines they get amount to one afternoon's lunch money for them; $60,000 is chump change for them.
When Hendrick Motorsports gets hammered with a multi-million-dollar monetary fine and a four-digit points penalty for each car (it's a multicar team and they basically operate as One Team) over a cheating incident like what Chad Knaus pulled at Daytona a few years back is when NASCAR shows it has real credibility with regard to policing cheating.
Well you see how much effect
Well you see how much effect you and other journalists have on BossNascar. They just keep on truckin. In fact they likely sleep very well at night thank you. These are bullies and arrogant butts that run this thing now. Junior Johnson cheated on his headlight cover more than what Carl Long was caught for. And they let that go on for years. No conspiracy theorist here Mike, you and I and a whole bunch of others know how corrupt this thing used to be. Bill Gazaway was old school rough. I know those were the old days, but these guys today are ethical lite in many ways, never letting the right hand see what the left hand is doing or to whom it's doing it to. At least Robby Gordon had enough depth to do a PR gig that overturned one of last year's idiotic rulings. But Carl Long? As you say just a little guy that is easy to step on. It goes to show you this bunch is nothing but hypocrites. At least Carl Long didn't endanger a life...He didn't even gain a spot. Hey that's like going after WMDs. We shore do need to be afraid em tearoists!
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