So NASCAR told a couple of its outspoken drivers to pay up then shut up, and folks are all-to-hell about it. Why? Are you really surprised? Fundamentally it's no different than it has ever been.
The current issue is about one thing: transparency. We'll get to that in a moment.
NASCAR's philosophies on driver-management haven't changed since 1948. It goes something like this: "We welcome you to play in the sandbox, but with the sandbox comes a set of written and unwritten rules by which you must play. If you don't, take your shovel elsewhere. The sandbox was here before you and it'll be here when you're gone. There's a line of kids around the building frothing at the mouth to play. You need us way worse than we need you."
NASCAR is a family business and the France family answers to no driver. NASCAR answers to myriad corporate sponsors and partners, and on behalf of those partners it must do whatever it takes to preserve the value of the sport.
NASCAR answers to the dollar bill.
Its racetrack business, International Speedway Corp., is different. It is publicly traded and has shareholders. But NASCAR Inc. is still private -- and it devises and enforces every rule in the game. Therefore it's NASCAR's game by NASCAR's rules.
The way they see it, they offer a platform for drivers to make $15 gazillion and have three houses and a motor home and a private jet. The way they see it, without NASCAR many of those drivers would be changing oil down at the Jiffy Lube Monday through Friday and racing a Ford Escort in the mini stock series over at Hickory on Saturday night.
They've always told drivers to shut up. It used to be a stern-but-private reminder in a smoky front lounge of a Big Red Truck. But that was when interest in the sport was growing exponentially by the year, so the impact of a driver's opinion wasn't so hurtful.
Nowadays interest is waning and media coverage is far more saturated, so disparaging comments about the level of competition or the legitimacy of decisions made during races seem to have far greater impact on swaying fans' opinions.
That's why NASCAR told these guys to shut up.
Driver opinion drives fan opinion.
I'm 99 percent sure I know who both drivers are, just by looking at which ones have been critical recently. But until I ask them personally or they comment publicly, it's not fair to speculate. I think they'll both be asked at Pocono if it's them, too.
It stinks that it happened, and sure I'd like to know where secretly-paid fine dollars go. But do we have the "right" to know? The IRS does. I'm not sure we do.
NASCAR met with drivers in January and showed them video footage of disparaging comments they'd made. NASCAR told them 2010 would be the year it buckled down on protecting the industry, its partners and owners and fans. It was eye-opening to the competitors, a stark reminder of how precious the spoils are that come with NASCAR fame.
For whatever reason, when I saw the fans' uproarious response to this story I thought of Mack 'n Manco Pizza in Ocean City, N.J., my wife's hometown. There's a line out the door every time you walk in. Time of day doesn't matter. The prices are twice as high as anywhere else in the city. So is the quality of the product. Therefore so are the tips.
There is a certain prestige in working there. There is an air of excellence.
With that comes a fine company line of rules. Male employees must wear all-white, shirts tucked-in. They must be clean-shaven.
If they don't want to do that, that's fine. They don't have to. But they won't work at Mack 'n Manco.
It's a lot like me at ESPN. I can complain all day about wearing a suit and tie in the garage. But ultimately, if I want to work at ESPN I have to shut up and wear the suit. If I go complaining publicly about it, they have the right to pull me in and tell me to zip it. And if I don't, and they take further action, that's their prerogative [Editor's Note: They should probably fine you for the ties you choose]. They have no obligation to anyone.
Companies do it all the time.
If drivers want to talk, they should be able to. But if they trash the sport and challenge its integrity, NASCAR has the right to fine them. Other sports do it. The difference is specificity. The crux of the issue here is transparency, whether NASCAR has an obligation to the public to divulge who was fined.
This may be an opaque parallel, but let's go back in the day to how it used to be handled. The driver got his talkin'-to in the lounge of that smoky truck. Meanwhile, his team was working its tail off trying to get a car through tech.
That meant less time on the track preparing for the race.
Time is money.
Did we know about all that, then?
Nope.