Down in the Pits: Cochran taking on NASCAR
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One big rumor is that Dale Earnhardt, Inc. is up for sale. Dale, Jr. says it’s not true, but then again, he doesn’t own it — his stepmother Teresa does. Their lack of success this year could be one of the reasons it’s on the market. Another reason is that Mrs. Earnhardt is ready to move on with her life and put racing in the rear-view mirror.
Rumor No. 2 is that Ricky Rudd’s luck has taken a turn for the better with his win at Sears Point. Even he will tell you, that’s just a rumor. His decision whether or not to stay in the No. 28 car will be decided next week in Daytona. Robert Yates will be the first to know, as is only proper.
This ain’t rumor, this is an absolute fact: Johnny Cochran, the attorney for O.J., is now taking on NASCAR.
You remember Cochran. He’s the guy that says, “If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit.” His new plea will be, “If the glove fits, you must split.”
He’s now suing NASCAR and alleging that it is a monopoly and should be split up.
Two or three years ago, I predicted this would happen. Bill France is so arrogant and greedy that it had to come to pass sooner or later. It seemed that no track could get a Winston Cup race unless France had part of the action. By action I mean ownership. The France family has controlling interest in International Speedway Corporation, which owns and operates 13 major tracks including Daytona International Speedway. Twelve of those tracks host 18 of the 36 Winston Cup races.
NASCAR is owned by the France family. Back in the days when I raced, I had to belong to NASCAR to run on some of the tracks. I think that was in ’74 or ’75. To my surprise, I had no voting rights and it was a dictatorship directed by the France family.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the NASCAR racing and I don’t even despise Bill France, Jr. although he is an arrogant, overbearing dictator.
But for once, Johnny Cochran is right.
If NASCAR is not a monopoly, there never has been one. Monopolies are not legal, and this will be Bill France’s worst nightmare. Johnny Cochran is one smart lawyer and he has a ton of lawyers working for him.
Cochran’s client in this case is a minority stockholder in the track that is owned by Bruton-Smith, who owns several of the other racetracks which Winston Cup races participate on.
For several years now, Smith and France have been fighting over an extra race date for the Texas Motor Speedway and, of course, a fight with France is a losing battle — or was so up until now.
When Smith was building the track, France had promised him one race date. Smith bought another track that had a Winston Cup date and immediately closed it so that he could secure a second date. Surprise, surprise!
France went back on his word, and thus far the Texas track still only has one date. The damages which will be assessed in a lawsuit will be huge, and even more frightening for Bill France will be that a lawsuit will require that NASCAR disclose its earnings.
All of this is going to be bad for racing, but France brought it all on himself and on NASCAR. Now let the little dictator suffer the consequences.
This should have happened a long time ago, and the only thing I’m sorry of is that I’m not the lawyer.
This is one where if the glove fits, you must convict.