AP Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer is reporting that a former NASCAR Official has filed a lawsuit against NASCAR for $250 million, alleging racial and sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination.
Mauricia Gant, who is black, was a technical inspector,her job was to certify cars in the NASCAR Nationwide Series from January 2005 until October 2007 when she was fired.
Grant stated that she was subjected to sexual advances from male co-workers, two of which she says allegedly exposed themselves to her and made graphic and lewd jokes.
"NASCAR perpetuated, condoned and actively participated in perverted and disgusting sexual conduct designed to demean and diminish (Grant) and the handful of other women employed by NASCAR as officials," according to the suit.
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston issued this statement:
"As an equal opportunity employer, NASCAR is fully committed to the spirit and letter of affirmative action law," Poston said. "NASCAR provides equal opportunity employment to job candidates and employees without regard to race, religion, creed, age, gender, or any other characteristic protected by law. Personnel decisions are made based on factors such as performance and adherence to corporate policy."
Grant says that she told her supervisors many times about how she had been treated, but nothing was done. She stated that she was told to "deal with it" by her immediate supervisor.
The lawsuit details a series of alleged incidents:
• Grant was forced to work outside more often than the white male officials because her supervisors believed she couldn't sunburn because she was black.
• While riding in the backseat of her carpool at Talladega Superspeedway, co-workers told her to duck as they passed race fans. "I don't want to start a riot when these fans see a black woman in my car," she claims one official said.
• When packing up a dark garage at Texas Motor Speedway an official told Grant: "Keep smiling and pop your eyes out 'cause we can't see you."
• When she ignored advances from co-workers, Grant was accused of being gay. She also claimed co-workers questioned the sexual orientation of two other female officials.
Grant said that she was warned a few weeks after a her last complaint that she had engaged in "conduct unbecoming of a NASCAR representative", and that she would be dismissed unless she changed her actions.
About 2 months later Grant was fired, NASCAR said due to her poor work performance. The lawsuit states that she had never been disciplined for her job performance, other than a warning for using "street" language, and that she received positive reviews
My take on this lawsuit is why did she wait so long to file? This is something that could have come out back in October when she was fired. Also why wait until you are fired to hire a lawyer? NASCAR says they have not received the lawsuit yet, so some more detils may come forward.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
NASCAR SUED BY FORMER OFFICIAL
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Pocono gets Kahne'd
Kasey Kahne wins his 3rd race out of the last 4 starts (including All-Star Race), as bad luck hits Tony Stewart and points leader Kyle Busch. Busch now leads by only 21 points as contact with Jamie McMurray ends his day with a 43rd place finish. Busch was trying to clear McMurray and had a mis-cue with his spotter, as Busch went to go high, he was not clear of the #26 and hit the wall with the front of his car.
Kahne and Kyle Busch have combined to win the last five races. Busch won at Darlington, Kahne in the all-star race and the 600 and then Kyle at Dover and now Kahne at Pocono. Busch nearly won at Richmond, finishing second, which came a week after his Talladega win. So, if Kyle had won at Richmond, this streak would be even longer. This matches a streak of wins by two drivers from last year when Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch combined to be the only winners in a five-race stretch last summer from Chicago to Michigan.
Stewart once again gets bit by pit road, with 28 laps to go NASCAR deemed Tony too fast exiting pit road which put him 1 lap down after getting a pass-through penalty. Stewart finished 35th. Stewart falls to 12th in the points the last transfer spot for the Chase. He leads 13th-place David Ragan by seven points, 14th-place Ryan Newman by 10 points and 15th-place Matt Kenseth by 38 points.
His season of bad luck started at the Daytona 500 as he lost the lead a mile from the finish of the Daytona 500 and placed third.
He crashed at Las Vegas, finishing last and bruising his foot. Hits wall after blowing right front tire.
Two laps from the finish at Bristol, Harvick and Stewart race for second. Harvick goes under Stewart, wiggles and hits Stewart, sending him spinning. Stewart finishes 14th.
Leads a race-high 61 laps at Talladega but is involved in late-race crash and finishes 38th.
Elliott Sadler crashes into Stewart on lap 2 at Darlington. Stewart, who started fourth, finishes 21st
Stewart has a right front tire go flat while leading with three laps to go in the Coca-Cola 600. He finishes 18th.
Sadler spins in front of Stewart, who has nowhere to go, on lap 18 at Dover. Stewart crashes into Sadler. Stewart finishes 41st.
Then on the other side of lady luck there is Kasey Kahne, and the upswing improvement of his team.
"We've been running good all year,'' team director Kenny Francis, noting problems at Texas, Phoenix and Talladega that kept the team out of the 20 in those races. "I've felt like and the whole company has been on a ... we're going to take this slow and steady and build it back up from where we were at and that's what we've done. We've still got a long way to go. We keep learning every week and trying to get better.
Results:
1. Kasey Kahne ... has pit road problems, comes back and gets win #9
2. Brian Vickers ... been drinking his Red Bull!
3. Denny Hamlin ... Great rebound after Dover mess, climbs 4 spots to 5th in points.
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. ... records 10th top-10 this season, tying Kyle Busch for series best.
5. Jeff Burton ... huge boast in points, old guys still can get it done, 21 behind Busch
6. Jimmie Johnson ... was having his own race, and tried some off sequence pit stops
7. Matt Kenseth ... has finished 7th, 4th, 7th, and 6th in last 4 points races.
8. Kurt Busch ... recovers from early spin, and is the "Fastest Busch today"
9. Carl Edwards ... flat left rear forces extra pit stop late and goes from 33rd to 9th.
10. Mark Martin ... not bad for a retired guy, says he will win Indy next month
11. Bobby Labonte ... solid run all day, just short of a top 10
12. AJ Allmendinger ... earns career-best finish.
13. Kevin Harvick ... effort keeps him 10th in points.
14. Jeff Gordon ... worst finish since placing 19th at Talladega in late April
15. Greg Biffle ... SPEEDER!!! victim of pit road speeding penalty late in the race
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Keselowski Gets First Series Win In Nashville
By Amanda Brahler
Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
LEBANON, Tenn. (June 7, 2008) After narrowly missing victories on multiple occasions this season, Brad Keselowski claimed his first career NASCAR Nationwide Series win on Saturday night at Nashville Superspeedway, taking the lead from points leader Clint Bowyer with five laps remaining in the Federated Auto Parts 300.
Keselowski led early in the event, staying on track on Lap 79 when then-leader Joey Logano led other lead-lap cars down pit road. That set the stage for the evening, putting Keselowski on a different pit strategy than most of the leaders. With his counterparts opting to make their final stop of the night with 77 laps remaining, Keselowski, under the guidance of crew chief Tony Eury Sr., made his final stop of the night 41 laps from the finish.
It initially appeared that David Reutimann would run away with the race (though he was pushing it on fuel mileage), but a caution flag fell with just 10 laps remaining after Brad Teague spun off of Turn 2. That bunched the field back up behind Reutimann for a restart on Lap 217 of 225.
On that restart, Reutimann was ambushed by Bowyer and Kyle Busch. Bowyer took the lead after contact with Reutimann but only temporarily, as Keselowski dropped his No. 88 Chevrolet to the inside of Bowyer's No. 2, taking the position.
"That's what we needed to catch back up to the 99 (Reutimann)," Keselowski said. "For some reason, David didn't go. I got behind him, took the air off of him and the next thing I knew I got by David and next was taking on Clint," Keselowski said.
"I feel like I paid some dues," he added after hoisting his first NASCAR Nationwide Series trophy, which came in the form of a Gibson Guitar.
"To catch that break like I did with Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and this Navy Chevrolet, it vindicates it. I've got a team that just keeps getting better every week, and I keep getting better every week. I felt like this was just a matter of time."
As Keselowski drove towards the checkered flag, things got dicey behind him. Reutimann continued to get pushed around, as he dropped back to third as David Stremme slid into the second position.
Bowyer also had contact with Stremme, dropping him to fourth at the finish.
David Ragan closed out the top five finishers.
Reutimann, Bowyer, Ragan, Busch, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Jason Leffler all flew to Nashville to compete in Saturday's race after taking part in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa. Busch finished the second leg of his historic attempt at a triple, competing in his second national series race in as many days. Pocono represents the third and final segment.
Polesitter Logano led 64 laps in what marked his second series event. The early favorite to win, the 18-year-old was the victim of a four-wide race through Turn 4 on Lap 89. His No. 20 Toyota got clipped by Greg Biffle's Ford, sending him sideways into Busch's machine before shooting up track and into the outside wall. He ended the event 31st.
Kyle Busch crashes in Cup practice
Kyle Busch has gone to a backup car and will start at the rear of the field Sunday at Pocono after crashing on pit road in practice Saturday.
Busch got loose off turn 3 and collected his sliding car. He then headed to pit road but lost the car entering the pits and it slammed against the inside pit wall near the pit entrance. Busch's car suffered heavy right front damage. Speed Channel reported that Busch radioed his crew and said that he "lost it.''
Busch was third quickest in that car in that practice session. That leaves him with the final practice session to make adjustments.
What this means is that Busch will start all three NASCAR races at the back of the field. He started at the rear in Friday's truck race since someone else qualified the truck for him there. He bounced back to finish second to Ron Hornaday Jr. Busch also will start at the rear in Saturday's Nationwide race at Nashville because someone else qualified the car. Now he'll start at the rear of the field for the Cup race.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Ron Hornaday Win at Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas (June 6, 2008) -- Ron Hornaday Jr. made one of his trademark masterful restarts on a green-white-checkered flag restart and kept Kyle Busch in his mirrors for the final two laps to win the Sam's Town 400 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race Friday at Texas Motor Speedway.
Busch started at the back of the 35-truck field after missing Thursday's qualifying and practice sessions. He flew to Fort Worth after qualifying Friday for the Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.
For the next-to-last restart on Lap 157, Busch was fourth, the highest he'd been to that point in the race. He darted to the inside to pass Jack Sprague's Chevrolet in Turn 1 and went past Johnny Benson's Toyota on the backstretch to move up to second.
Hornaday had a comfortable lead over Busch, but an accident involving Scott Speed and Marc Mitchell sent the race, scheduled for 167 laps on the 1.5-mile track, into overtime.
"I wanted to win this race so bad and Kyle got up there," Hornaday said.
On the final restart, Hornaday's Chevrolet hugged the inside, as the driver of the No. 33 put his left-front wheel next to the grass exiting Turn 4, to take away the move Busch had used to overtake Sprague.
"I think maybe he (Busch) spun the tires," Hornaday said. "We were having some problems in Turn 2 and we got the truck up on the high side to get through there."
Busch's Toyota closed up on Hornaday's bumper on the backstretch, but never was able to get alongside.
Hornaday won by .283 seconds, about two truck lengths.
"I drove my heart out", Hornaday said. "I wanted to win this race bad. I won Texas, woo-hoo! But it was a team victory."
It was Hornaday's first win at Texas in 11 starts, his second of the season and the 35th of his CTS career. Hornaday moved into the points lead by 45 over Matt Crafton, who finished seventh.
Hornaday led 140 of 172 laps, including the last 57.
Busch climbed into the top 10 in 70 laps, but needed another 50 to get into the top five.
"The truck was terrible at the beginning," Busch said. "It was absolute junk. We had about an 11th place truck at the start and got it to about an eighth-place truck."
J.R. Norris practiced and qualified Busch's Toyota.
"J.R. and the guys did what they could do, but nobody drives like I do," Busch said. "It's hard to find a guy to set it up how I like it. We finished second for (owner) Billy Ballew. That's what matters most."
Benson finished third, followed by Sprague and Todd Bodine. Hornaday reclaimed the points lead by 45 over Matt Crafton, who finished seventh.
Staying, Going, and Gone
Staying is Clint Bowyer, RCR has used an option to keep Bowyer for the 2009 season and "we are just working on a long-term deal right now,'' Boywer said.
Bowyer was asked if RCR is where he wants to be long term and he responsed:
"Yes, absolutely. Nobody wants to shuffle around year to year, you want to know where you are at and know you that your team is underneath you and every thing’s put in place for long term. Nobody wants to be bouncing back and forth and see the guys in the silly season year after year, that has to be torture. Not knowing where you are going to be and worrying about that all the time and trying to stay focused on the task at hand at the same time; I think that would be pretty tough.”
Going, well not according to him, is Jamie McMurray. When asked about leaving Roush/Fenway Racing he said:
THERE IS PLENTY OF SILLY SEASON SPECULATION GOING ON. ARE YOU PUTTING OUT ANY FEELERS?
“No, I have not.”
HAVE YOUR REPRESENTATIVES?
“Not that I am aware of.”
HAVE OTHER TEAMS INQUIRED ABOUT YOU?
“Not that I'm aware of. It’s hard to answer questions because anything I answer will lead to the next question, and there’s not really anything to talk about. I don’t know where Utter got his story, and so it’s certainly drawn attention to something that – it’s, I don’t know how you can say it, it’s like whenever there’s not anything to talk about, and you tell the truth, you feel like you need to add to the story so you can make people believe you. But, there’s not anything to talk about.”
DO YOU WANT TO BE THERE NEXT YEAR?
“Yes.”
DO YOU WORRY ABOUT IT?
“No.”
ARE YOU HAPPY?
“Yes. Certainly, we want to run better. I’m at an incredible organization, and we have all the cars and people that are capable of running to win every weekend. So, the move from Ganassi to here I really hoped was going to be able to put me in the chase every year, and that we’d contend to win races on a regular basis, and our performance hasn’t been as good what’s expected – whether it’s from me, the race team or the sponsor. So, you want to continue to get better, and the car of tomorrow has brought some new challenges. The first four or five races we didn’t run bad, but we just seemed to have bad luck or freaky things would happen to us, and it just put us in a really bad position. But the last four or five weeks have been pretty good, and you just try to continue and build on that. The thing about racing is that if you run well for four weeks everything’s great, and if you run bad for two it seems like you need to go find somewhere else to drive, they say. Everything is fine here. I don’t really know what the basis of Utter’s story was.”
HAVE YOU TALKED TO JACK ROUSH OR GEOFF SMITH ABOUT IT?
“Well, when all of it came up, we just all talked and I never asked to get out of my contract and they never said that they were going to release me from my contract. There was never any discussion of any of that. So, we just were all trying to figure out where it came from.”
and who is gone....
Matt Martin, who? The son of veteran driver Mark Martin, is no longer racing. Matt Martin Matt's career began in Quarter Midgets when he just was seven years old, and his racing experience also includes Bandoleros, Legend cars, the Fastruck Series, and the FASCAR Pro Truck Series.
In 2005, he won two races while competing against drivers 10 to 20 years his senior in the FASCAR league. He raced the No. 66 Ford F-150 Truck. In the game NASCAR 06 which takes place in the year 2005, Matt Martin can be noticed as a fantasy driver for the Whelen Modified Tour.
In 2006, at 14 years of age, he ran a limited schedule in the ASA Late Model Southern Series, as well as running in the FASCAR Pro Truck and Sportsman Series. He won a late model race at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida.
During the 2007 season; young Matt has been moved over from the Ford Motor Company development program to Ginn Racing's development program; headed up by Mark Martin. Matt plans on running a late model schedule very similar to teammate Ricky Carmichael. Mark and Matt plan on working together throughout Mark's limited NEXTEL Cup schedule.
During a March 8th, 2008 airing of Speed Channel's Trackside, Mark Martin (Matt's father) announced that his son Matt ended his racing career. Mark Martin stated his son wants to concentrate on his education but didn't rule out a possible return to racing.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Can You Hear Me Now?
Well it is official, Verizon Wireless said Thursday it would buy rural mobile phone service provider Alltel Corp for $28.1 billion, including debt, which would vault it to first place in the U.S. market ahead of AT&T Inc.
There is no word yet on how this is going to effect the sponsorship of the #12 Alltel Dodge, driven by Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman, but when Sprint started the sponsorship deal with NASCAR to headline the top series, the deal was that Alltel would be "grandfathered" in. Just as Cingular Wireless was on the #31 car, but after a buyout of Cingular by AT&T the deal was off, and AT&T is gone after 2010
NASCAR's comment about this was:
"When Nextel became the title sponsor, we notified all teams that existing competing sponsorships could stay in the series indefinitely so long as there was no change in branding," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said Thursday in a statement. "This is the case with the Alltel brand – it can stay on the car indefinitely but if it transitions to Verizon or any competing company then it can no longer run a different sponsor on any car in the [Cup Series]."
POCONO RACE PREVIEW
This weekend the stars of the NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES head to the tricky triangle known as Pocono Raceway, a very different track then any other on the schedule, its has 3 different banked turn and the longest straightaway the driver will be on all year, here are some stats and what some drivers say about how they will do this weekend:
Press Release NASCAR:
Momentum Means All: Expect Gordon In The Mix At Pocono
While the first four months of the 2007 and 2008 season may be known The Tale Of Two Starts for Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet), Sunday’s Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway could find the four-time series champion in the same place — Victory Lane.
A year ago, Gordon arrived at Pocono having led the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings for nine consecutive weeks. He departed with his fourth victory of 2007, still firmly out front.
This year has been anything except a continuation.
Gordon began 2008 with a 39th-place finish in the Daytona 500 and has yet to win, clawing through the standings toward Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup eligibility (the top 12 in series points).
But recent performances may portend big things.
Gordon has jumped from 14th to sixth in the last four weeks. He returns to Pocono as the defending race champion and with momentum after last week’s fifth-place finish at Dover International Speedway.
Gordon has four wins, two poles, 15 top-five and 21 top-10 finishes in 30 career starts at Pocono. He also ranks third in NASCAR Loop Data’s pre-race Driver Rating for Pocono (97.5) behind Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Toyota) at 133.1 and Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Toyota) at 103.2.
Three tracks. Three states. Three national series.
In three days. With three different teams.
That’s Kyle Busch’s (No. 18 M&M’s Toyota) assignment as he prepares to compete in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Texas Motor Speedway, Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide event at Nashville Superspeedway and Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup event at Pocono
Raceway. CLICK IMAGE TO SEE KYLE BUSCH'S RACE WEEKEND
Assuming no travel or weather gremlins, Busch will become the first driver to compete in all three NASCAR national series on the same weekend at different tracks.
And that’s after participating in Wednesday’s fourth annual Old Spice Prelude to the Dream at Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora
Speedway — a Victory Junction Gang Camp fundraiser hosted by track owner and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Tony Stewart.
And a Thursday sponsor appearance.
At Nashville, Busch will drive the No. 32 Toyota for Braun Racing. At Texas, he’ll drive the No. 51 Toyota for Billy Ballew Motorsports. Due to travel, he’ll participate in only one qualifying session, Friday at Pocono. Tennessee native Willie Allen will sub for him at Nashville and J.R. Norris will step in at Texas, both taking Busch’s seat during qualifying and practices for those series’ events.
In The Loop: Hamlin The One To Catch At Pocono
Denny Hamlin loves Pocono Raceway.
Right off the bat, he had the track figured out – not an easy accomplishment, considering Pocono’s degree of difficulty and the unique layout.
In Hamlin’s rookie year of 2006, he won the pole and the race in each of his visits to the 2.5-mile track. In his second race there, he scored a near-perfect Driver Rating of 149.0 (a perfect rating is 150.0).
In his four races, Hamlin holds series-highs in a number of statistical categories: Driver Rating (133.1), Average Running Position (4.6) and Laps in the Top 15 percentage (93.9%). He also ranks second in Fastest Laps Run with 172.
But lately, if it hasn’t been Hamlin at Pocono, it’s been Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge).
Busch has two wins and two second-place finishes over his last five Pocono races. In both his wins, Busch scored a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0.
In his previous six Pocono races, Busch has notched a Driver Rating of 116.6 (second-best), an Average Running Position of 7.4 (second), a series-high 207 Fastest Laps Run and has spent 82.9% of the Laps in the Top 15.
Also watch for Tony Stewart’s luck to change.
His chances of victory were destroyed early at Dover, but Pocono has treated him kinder in recent years. Over the past six races there, Stewart has a Driver Rating of 103.2 (third-best), an Average Running Position of 10.5 (fourth), 36 Fastest Laps Run (tied for sixth), a Laps in the Top 15 percentage of 79.2% (fourth) and a series-high 266 Quality Passes (passes of cars in the top 15 under green).
One wild card this weekend is also a driver who is aiming to get back into the top 12.
Ryan Newman (No. 12 Kodak Dodge), currently in 14th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings, could charge into the top 12 with a win at Pocono – a feat that’s not out of the question.
Since 2005 at Pocono, Newman has a Driver Rating of 101.9 (fourth) and an Average Running Position of 8.6 (third).
What They Are Saying:
