I didn’t look too hard if there is a thread… so I think it’s a safe assumption that part of this was rooted in his MJM AMA SB effort where he couldn’t win and he really thought it would be fair in NASCAR… at least in equipment… when it became unfair he stood up for what he thought was right… I don’t know the facts but some of the same guys are involved in both teams iirc… France decided to settle after 9 days of trial so all of the damning things that were leaked must’ve been way worse
NASCAR was getting their ass handed to them in the court of public opinion during this. I believe thats why they all of a sudden settled. When the letters from team owners and HUGE sponsors (Bass Pro) got shown on social media, it was looking pretty ugly for them.
When your board of directors whom could actually care less of stock car racing bash Richard Childress in leaked emails who's the longest serving team owner and brought in Bass Pro into the sport as one of its largest investors, you're going to lose. The amount of sponsors I can guarantee you called the France family threatening to pull out of the sport would've sunk it mid trial. People are going to be fired...alot of them and rightfully so.
Can i get the short 10 year old TLDR version of whats going on? I've tried to look around but i dont understand it. Havnt watched Nascar since Dale died lol.
Nascar bullied teams into a participation grid spot (charter agreement) contract at an unsustainable financial rate not conducive to the long term health of the individual teams. Jordan/Hamlin with their 23XI team refused to sign said contract and were threatened by Nascar they'd have to give up their grid spot eventually but also weren't allowed to participate in the Xfinity & Truck series as a result. Jordan informally polled owners who agreed Nascar was greedy however Jordan was the only one with enough pull and bankroll to hit Nascar in the pockets and change the contracts to be more financially equitable for teams. At trial, it was discovered that the Nascar president and execs were mocking Childress and the owner of Bass Pro concerning that issue among others. Hendrick, Childress, Gibbs, and a few others testified at trial that Nascar intimidated them into signing or else lose their spot on the grid and thus, forfeit sponsors and essentially dissolve. Jordan/Hamlin alledge Nascar monopolized negotiations/finances and competition in stock car racing by banning them from the other American series they controlled. End result, Jim France bent the knee realizing the allegations and evidence was overwhelming and conceding to Jordan/Hamlin. The owner of Bass Pro also spoke on the subject in a letter essentially pulling sponsorship from the series altogether for the misconduct.
So the same monopoly business tactics used everywhere else. Or, squeezing every last cent before it goes tits up altogether. Im guessing the second point.
I shared a damning email inside the industry that was forwarded to me by an ISC employee at Fontana in 2009. The marketing director of Daytona Motorsports Group, the Jim France created entity to purchase AMA Pro, instructed the NASCAR/ISC owned property to charge me $5k for every Toyota vehicle that I put on display. They were from John Elway’s group of dealerships adding to the allure of my new national Toyota partnership and my new semi truck expansion. That cunt’s daddy was in the France’s inner circle. I told them to fuck off and how about when I did the radio show from Elway’s dealership on live remote broadcasts that I’d make sure to tell the not to come to the races and not to support any events at their tracks and post the email… I put the trucks on display… I wasn’t extorted and I didn’t pay them shit… this started a plethora of actions that year as the tracks and DMG thought they were entitled to my team partnership funding… fuck corrupt greedy people that conspire to be unfair in any arena. Fuck your club…
Same group of people that purchased AMA Pro Racing and properly fucked it in the arse. It’s a damn shame they only care about racing as a means to fleece the shit out of people (spectators/teams/sponsors/etc).
I think MJ thought buying into NASCAR was going to be like a stick & ball team owner... a money making endeavor. Unfortunately, he quickly realized racing is a money losing investment. And he feels the series "owner" should help pay/make his operation/investment profitable. So moving forward... I am going to spend tons of money for my 2026 WERA racing endeavor... amd now I will expect Sean & Evelyn to offset my budget over runs!!!
What is worse is that the organization most of us are members of so we could race in the first place was so ridiculously inept and corrupt themselves to have been willing to have sold it all out from underneath of us all. The France family were the biggest, most well connected vultures to have been able to pull this heist off. The entire thing disgusts me. If I hadn't already earned my life member status before this happened, I would not be a member today.
What you want is a Federal funded program under the guise of Arts, Science, and Inclusion. Why just limit your racing to East coast Mid Atlantic & Mid western rounds? What do we pay the AMA $50/yr for?? We need a national logistic short term rental network to achieve the dream!! Im willing to filabuster through the Holidays & make a social media avatar to reflect my commitment!!
This shit goes on at every level- there's riders in MA who have found hard earned sponsorship only to have them poached by MA to support the series. I understand that it's fair game and business is business, but with the tiny pool of people willing to sponsor motorcycle racing it still sucks. Johnny Mathis (Bass Pro president) is an impressive guy, still running his business and involved in alot of every day operations. My brother and I got involved in a property sale from him in Key Largo, and even though we never dealt with him directly, it was funny listening to the lawyer saying "Johnny won't do this" or "Johnny don't like it"
He’s without question a shrewd businessman. I believe years ago he switched engines on his boat manufacturers, did some shorting/long positions and switched back a few years later. Nothing like playing the market when you have the muscle to drive it.
So every other sport, business, or enterprise has got it backwards and they should all be losing money? Herve just sold Tech 3 for 20M euros. Dorna pays the logistics fees for teams and supplements satellite teams budgets. Still not a great system, but at least there's some money flowing back to the teams. Taking it back to Nascar and automotive, if you're a Ford, Chevy, Honda, whatever dealer you better believe the expectation is that the OEM is going everything it can to make you, the dealer, profitable. Most other franchisees have the same expectation. I don't get why racing gets a pass.
Yeah, bad thing is them settling the suit the way they did breaks ASSCAR forever. What made the sport was the ability of people like Sr, Elliot, Junior Johnson, the Petty’s and others to put a car on the track and be successful. The Charters turn it into a rich guy only sport where every ride is bought and paid for in one way or another. No one wins in this deal. Would give good money to watch Childress beat the shit out of Phelps though.
I appriciate the sentiment but that ship has sailed in most forms of motorsport decades ago. I don't think that is the fault of NASCAR. I remember when random small teams were able to put a car on the grid for the Indy500. I did find some of the testimony interesting. A bunch of team owners losing a ton of money going racing in one of the most popular motorsports in the country. And on here we bitch that roadracing in America (a niche sports) sucks because every rider can't make a good living anymore and you have to pay to play...
Pro racing is a hobby for a lot of well to do kids. I wouldnt expect much team profit under that backdrop.
