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

Exactly. It's a toxic word and rightly so. 

He'll have other options once the smoke clears But for now he'll need to do the right things for a period of time. 

     No, I don't think they are in the long run. But I can tell you that nearly every business in the country is trying to figure out how to cut their costs on everything right now. This incident will likely make it easier for some companies to throttle back their involvement. Not cool, but not unthinkable to bean counters.

I think some major water would have to pass under the bridge before even Stewart-Haas would touch him.   Chevy ended their association with him, does anyone really think Ford would be quick to jump on him?   Ford would have to be on board before he could go to Stewart Haas I would think.   I'd very much like to be wrong on that though.   

Jeez, people on here actually think this is a cost cutting deal instead of companies wanting to get away from Larson as quickly as they could? Your premise is that if the economy was good, companies would just shrug and say "Give me more of that guy who drops an n-bomb in public."

Using that word is always going to lead to termination -- good econony or bad economy.

Where do you some of you work that you don't realize that is an automatic termination?

     I understand and I agree. He was stupid, made a mistake and he will pay the consequences. I'm saying this made it real easy for some bean counter to save some money. Watch to see how fast- or slow-those companies hitch their star to another NASCAR team as sponsors.

They didn't leave CGR.

That's out of the 50's.

Appears he may have to complete sensativity training to regain access to World of Outlaws races. Below is the Outlaws statement.

https://twitter.com/WorldofOutlaws/status/1250176416819425282?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Playing the devil's advocate I'll ask the $1,000 question.  What message will it send about Sprint Car racing if Kyle is allowed to compete in Sprints before he has been reinstated in NASCAR?  The Outlaws statement says he can join them if completes a diversity class within 30 days of the infraction.  We will be lucky if we see any racing within the next 30 days and I expect it to take months before he is reinstated by NASCAR.  Basically the way it looks he will be able to jump right into a Sprint Car so the requirements appear to be much easier to satisfy than NASCAR's.  How will the big sponsors with the Outlaws or any other dirt series or local track feel about that?  Do they want to open themselves up to being too leient and send the wrong message about dirt track racing?

I'm just putting that question out there and am not advocating one way or the other.  I'm just wondering what kind of message dirt racing welcoming him back with open arms sends.  Based on the context I think him and his circle of friends must use that term among themselves and he got caught in a hot mic.  The problem is that if he was accustomed to using that word in his private circle he was eventually going to say it at the wrong time.  When I think of white kids using that term I think of fifteen year olds still living with their parents and not a professional driver who depends on corporate sponsors for his living.  In my mind it shows a lack of maturity when someone in that position does something like that.

Sometimes I see posts criticising NASCAR drivers for being too corporate and some of our crustier dirt heroes praised for telling it like it is.  This incident is an example of why the corporate sponsors want those representing them to project a spit and polish image.  

The interesting thing about iRacing is that it has already resulted in two NASCAR drivers getting in trouble, Kyle and the other being Bubba Wallace who ironically is African American.  

Stan Meissner

When the smoke clears he'll end up at Stewart Haas in the 14

I'll wear his shirt and gladly tell anyone to fuck off if they give me an ounce of shit about it. He along with his whole family are class people. He said a singular word in what he thought was a private online conversation, clearly not knowing anyone unintended would hear it let alone feel hurt by it. Everyone would deserve a genuine second chance in that instance. He didn't target a people of color with that word. He didn't use it along with other hurtful language. He uttered a singular word as a poor choice joke. Now unfortunately he has to deal with all the cancel culture virtue signalers up on their ivory towers acting like their shit doesn't stink. He made a critical error in judgement, yes but that is all it was. Disproportionate outrage on the matter will not convince we otherwise. You might not realize it but all of you holding him in contempt for a singular case of bad judgement are no better than he is. Judge not unless you want to be judged yourself. He fucked up, he'll own up to it more than you will ever realize. On a personal level I'm ready for all these social justice warrior twitter twats to crawl back into their greasy online holes and shut the hell up.

Cheers!

That would be the best for all parties involved.

Cheers!

I could not agree more Stan. If WOO wants him back in thirty days basically, I believe they are playinbg with fire because those embers will still be quite warm and it wouldn't take much to respark those flames. You have guys(fans) in the pits that will have been drinking and sure enough the liquid balls to let something out of their mouths in the general area of Larson's rig and crew members and all hell will break loose. Wouldn't say much for the sport if WOO had to pay private securiuty to escort larson to his ride from the rig and reverse that when he camne off the track. Then there are all sorts of people who buy those pit passes that is to the WOO cofers that could be in the middle of something bad and get hurt. I just can't see it !

A couple of points to play devil's advocate:

1.  Kurt Busch---charges were dropped.

2.  Ray Lewis was found not guilty.  

Kyle Larson was guilty.  So, it's comparing 2 "innocent" people to 1 proven guilty 

Ray lewis innocent hahaha that's funny. 

   OK. So all they have to do is put in another driver and they're ready to go?

Is that post a joke? The entire world has seen what a "class" act he is, and you are going to defend that?

It doesn't make it any better because he though it was a private conversation.

In a situation like this, whoever gives him a chance will always get flack no matter the form of racing and when. There are going to be people that will never forgive him and never give him another chance so whether its 30days, 1year, or 30years. His apology has already gotten him grief with certain individuals who have said that it was not geniune and felt the only reason he did it was to keep his sponsors.

The thing that is making this more difficult than anything else is the sponsorship dynamic. Lets face it, if this were football the same things would be happening right now but the thing that makes it harder is the 2nd chance. Football players like Michael Vick or Kareem Hunt have been given second chances for things IMO were worst. However they only needed their ability and not the support of millions of sponsor dollars. People were not happy about it and will always have their detractors, and the NFL has been battling 1 image problem after another for the past decade but Football games are still the highest rated programs in the U.S each year.

I'm sure their will be people that do not even know what a sprint car is but will automattically judge the sport, him, and fans as racists because he is allowed to race no matter the timeline. Which I find odd because the whole point is to not use language or actions that is hateful and/or prejudice but yet they will then do the same thing to another segment of people. I am not defending what he said at all becuase it was wrong and should never be said and has no place in society. I understand how it can upset some people but reading some of the tweets responding and listening to one of the talking heads on ESPN kind of has me pulling for the kid now.

One thing that I have struggled with a little morally is when I compare some of the sports analyists responses to this with the Miles Garrett incident in the NFL. Earlier this year Garrett basically made an accusation that he acted out of character using a helmet to hit another individual over the head because said individual called him that word. All evidence, including individuals of Garrets own team said they did not hear the word, and microphones did not pick anything up. Essentially everything points that Miles Garrett lied and accused someone of using a racial slur when they did not. The same people talking negative about Kyle Larson saying he was not sincere are the same people who basically dismissed Miles Garrett's lie as they only talked about his action. Basically one said he understood his reaction if the word was said but never said anything about the lie. One even said that he was going to give Garrett a pass since blacks had suffered so much throughout history (which I do not deny), but he is the same person saying Larson needed to shut up and was no sincere. To me that is not helping with thatl issue overall in society either when you treat this as something that doesn't deserve a second chance but yet give other individuals a pass on the other end. I am fine with second chances or no second chances as long as it works the same way. I am trying to look at it objectively but that aspect is kind of hard

I can see Larson sitting out the rest of the Nascar and sprint car seasons this year just to let it blow over. I could see him replacing Clint Bowyer next year at SHR, just not at the salary Kyle has been making, which was rumored to be around $8 million a year. Or he'll spend next year in a very good Xfinity Series ride and driving sprint cars before he goes back to Cup full time in 2022.

Personally this will be my 60th season attending dirt track races and my attendance isn't dependent on any particular driver.  Perhaps you didn't get the sense of what I was saying when I said that I was being the devil's advocate.  I'm just putting the questions out there but whatever they do or don't do doesn't really matter to me.  Chill out and get off your high horse.

Stan Meissner