re: #13 Great White Snark

By some coincidence, CBS Sunday Morning just did a feature on a NASCAR family, the Kennedy family. Lesa Kennedy is a top official for a corporation that runs a bunch of the major tracks. Hearing where she wants to take the sport is very encouraging. Invested $400 million at Daytona to modernize the place. Encouraging more minority/womens participation.

Lesa Kennedy is from the France family. Lesa France Kennedy, (born Lesa Dawn France). She is one of the daughters of Bill France Jr, the founders son and the long time leader of the sport. They started and control the sport. And that is done with a very heavy hand. The corporation you speak of (International Speedway Corporation) is majority held by the France family (35%). Almost all officials at ISC are France family members.

What else do the Frances own? NASCAR - the sport’s sanctioning body. So, they own the sport and more or less own the tracks the sport races on.

Check out the anti-trust lawsuits they’ve had to settle.

In a way it is like Major League Baseball owning half the parks they play in.

They have been talking minority participation for years. I know…I saw some of the checks for a minority driver (all the details you will get from me…protecting the guilty!) They get nowhere with it when all is said and done.

Take Danica Patrick for example. Supposedly the greatest female driver ever (doubtful…just cute, media manipulation and GoDaddy driven to popularity) Her contract is up this year. It is doubtful she gets rehired by her current team. Reason. No wins, little results…and the buzz is dying. Will someone else hire her to drive? Smaller teams need results to make money.

The question I have is do they really want minorities or the interest in saying they do. Was Danica hired because she is good, or was it market driven because they could feed off the popularity. And, as hinted earlier, she may not be the best female driver out there.

The minority driver (African American) I believe is out of the sport. The sport remains a tough place for minorities due to many reasons…a bunch I am sure everyone here at LGF can figure out.