Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Not going to post the clip, but wondering what the fallout from Kyle Larson using a horrifically racist term on iRacing toinght could be. Can't imagine sponsors are going to want to hang around. All his talent might not be enough to save him here.

Ouch, he is going to have the worst Monday of his life.      No way to spin that one...

Realistically, he has probably run his last NASCAR race for awhile, at least as far as quality teams go. Ganassi is too big of an organization to let that go. If they don't distance themselves not only will they lose Kyle's sponsors (all but guaranteed anyway) but sponsors from other cars, and their teams outside of NASCAR such as Indycar could be lost as well. 

Most likely you will see Larson racing sprints more often going forward. The real victim here could end up being Carson Macedo though. 

Ya, not good for sure. Looks like may be getting his wish to run sprint cars full time earlier than he planned. If this is true (yes, I've heard the audio clip), no excusing that. I'll certainly not defend him on this, and obviously I've always been a huge fan.

That's not a word that just slips out by accident unless it's a part of your daily vocabulary. I think we had this same conversation about that stupid kid at the Chili Bowl who ended up losing his ride over it. 

Game over. Would not be suprised to see him released today.

Have to say he is going to get fired over this.  No way do sponsors tolerate this and they shouldn't have to.  Being an owner of a small company, if my employee says that word - or any extreme racial phrase that is commonly know as a major social no no, in front of a store full of people and they all walk out and take to social media to share that experience and disgust for my employee. I can't print his last pay check fast enough and let everyone know that we distanced ourselves from him/her. He has just cost me thousands of dollars on the spot and thousands more in the aftermath.  Free speak or not, that is the reality and you cannot have people representing your company running off a majority of your customer base (the small minority defending him probably aren't your customer base anyway). Tthis is on a much, much, much bigger scale.

I have seen on twitter people defending him and it is down right crazy.  He does have the constitutional right to say the word, heck he can walk around his neighborhood saying it if he wants.  Whether it was his buddy or whatever, the vast majority of society condones using the word therefore his sponsors have the constitutional right to run as far away from him as possible.  He is a human being that I am sure is a great person but he made a big mistake and he has to pay the consequences for that mistake - plain and simple. 

Very very dumb on his part. In context it didn't sound malicious, it sounded like him goofing off with his buddies. That being said, it's 100% wrong to say and he has to realize everything that comes out of his mouth will be scrutinized. As Saaphead said, this doesn't just slip, he's apparently been saying it for awhile. 

How many more drivers will lose their rides while playing a game? Pretty dumb moves on he and Wallace. Who watches that crap anyway?

Member of this message board since 1997

Larson will have to go through diversity and sensitivity training probably have to donate a ton of money to some charities, but he'll remain in nascar.

Cartoon Racing gets another.

That particular race between all the streams from individual drivers, and the main stream had well over 100,000 views. The races they have been showing on FS1 are getting 1m+ views and are currently ranking at the very top for live events on all of TV. 

Great...The dumbing of America continues. Some corporate asshole is contriving a path to move their corporate support to cartoon racing in lieu of real racing now that they are creating a fan base that will equal real racing. Not that I give a shit about NASCAR anyway. But if you the fan are that bored, stop watching cartoons that rely on a programed algorithm to make it look real and competitive and go watch some of the thousands of hours of killer past races on YouTube. Just my $.02

Member of this message board since 1997

I don't spend my time watching sim racing, as you said I prefer to watch races from around the world from racing series I wouldn't normally be following. That way the races are new to me and there is almost unlimited hours of entertainment there so I have not had to revert to watching sim racing.

However, my grandfather does not even know what Youtube is. He is living in isolation completely right now, with no visitors or anything because he is 80 years old. He looks forward to these "cartoon races" every week on FS1 because there is nothing else to look forward to. 

Regarding your other concerns, these sim races only get this level of views right now because the racers are filled with only real drivers. As soon as real racing comes back the views will drop back down and things will get back to normal. I wouldn't expect to see real life sponsors leave for sim racing unless they were leaving anyway. There is no nobody who will choose to watch a sim NASCAR race over a real NASCAR race, at least nobody I know. People are doing what they can to pass the time while this is going on, you can't fault them for that.

Also, as a now 11 year subscriber to iRacing all of you that like to call this cartoon racing should try it out. There is a reason why all of these real drivers are on there night and day. In the past week I've raced sprint cars on iRacing with Bobby Labonte, Brian Brown, David Gravel and doznes of other real drivers. It's a lot of fun. 

I just read that Ganassi Racing has suspended Kyle larson indefinetly without pay.

I'm not able to watch the races live but saw the news this morning and heard the clip and as a fan of his, was dissappointed. As someone who played video games as a teenager and through college with friends, I get how some people get a litte riled up and you bust  each other's balls with the name calling. However, there is a line that you should never cross. I heard a couple of my friends use the word playing Madden a few times amoung all of us white kids just in the rrom, and didn't like it then and still don't like it now. As others have said, the way he used it you know its not the first time it has come out of his mouth unfortunately. I'll be interested to see what type of apology he will have with this and if it is just the standard PR apology which is basically I'm sorry I got caught, or an actual heartfelt I know what I said was wrong and I am ashamed of myself apology. I don't think he should get a death sentence for it but at the same time, there will be consequences to pay. Freedom of speech is not freedom of consequences. It will also be interesting to see what his fanbase does as well. He is a driver that has (had now) the ability to break some barriers into some different demographics just with his personality. Not sure he will have that ability now.

I am also in the camp of people that can't believe that for 2 races in a row someone has gotten into trouble over essentially a video game. I'm not saying that video games are stupid but, if you are a professional racecar driver that drives racecars for a living I don't think you should be getting as angry or angrier than an actual race.

NASCAR has suspended Kyle Larson indefinitely.

Most likely will have to complete a program and sensitivity training for reinstatement. The event similar to this in Nascar would have been in 2013 when Jeremy Clements used the same word. He still competes in the xfinity series I believe. Not sure of how long that suspension was and if this will be different due to the race stoppage going on. He could not have picked worst timing to make a bone head move about to become a free agent and one of the top ones as well. Now owners will have to talk to the sponsors to see if they have any issues with the hire for their image. Saw Ganassi Racing said he was suspended withough pay while they work through the situation with the appropriate parties. Which translates into, we are calling all of our sponsors right now and seeing if they will stick with us. If not then unfortunately will will probably be releasing him.

So he hates colored people is that it? I dont feel sorry for a guy that says that shit and hopefully he will be in a street stock where he belongs he dont win anyway and never deserved crapcar money but theres a ass for every seat. He will never be liked again for something he said but everbody has there moments and his will cost him money I cant wait till we get his fake im sorry can i please have my crapcar money still apology 

I’m pretty sure “colored people“ isn‘t ok to say either.