This week NASCAR will make its third trip to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course in Mexico City. Last season thousands of Mexican race fans packed the facility and watched American NASCAR Busch Series driver Denny Hamlin win the event. It was Hamlin's first Busch Series victory.
Mexican race fans are beginning to realize the reach of NASCAR and the businessmen behind the scenes - the track promoter and those within NASCAR are reaping the benefits of a population craving entertainment.
I'm a proud supporter of NASCAR and their efforts to expand the sport and while I've been disappointed in the method of trading tradition for expansion, I understand how the business model works and have come to accept it.
What I haven't accepted and I still continue to struggle with is the need to put NASCAR drivers, team members, owners and American race fans at risk by expanding the series into Mexico. In my opinion, based on all the facts and information available through security reports and travel warnings provided to the public, Mexico continues to be politically unstable and extremely unsafe.
According to a Public Announcement put out by the U.S. Department of State, "In recent months there have been execution-style murders of Mexican and U.S. citizens in Tamaulipas (particularly Nuevo Laredo), Michoacan, Baja California, Guerrero, and other states. U.S. citizens have also been victims of random shootings on major highways outside of Mexico City, Nuevo Laredo, Tijuana, and other areas throughout Mexico. In recent years, dozens of U.S. citizens have been kidnapped in Nuevo Laredo, with more than two dozen cases still unresolved; recent incidents indicate a possible resurgence of kidnappings for ransom. Drug cartel members have been known to follow and harass U.S. citizens traveling in their vehicles, particularly in border areas including Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros."
The U.S. Department of State Public Announcement is set to expire in mid March 2007.
I feel the DOS announcement is important and points out important safety concerns, concerns where if they were on-track safety concerns NASCAR would do everything in its power to make it safer or eliminate the risks altogether.
I don't fault the motives of NASCAR because at the end of the day every business wants to be profitable and those wanting to expand would like an opportunity to realize new markets. But knowing my one voice isn't going to deter the NASCAR road show from entering foreign soil, I would like to shine the light on a situation involving three American heroes needing our support and protection from Mexico.
In 2003 the FBI had formed an International manhunt for Andrew Lester, a millionaire fugitive from California who at the time was on trial facing 86 charges for raping women.
While out on $1 million bond and on house arrest, Lester fled the United States and into hiding in Mexico.
After Lester fled, Duane "Dog" Chapman a bounty hunter from Colorado and Hawaii decided to make Lester his number one priority. Chapman made the search for Lester personal and made it known that he wasn't looking for payment. Chapman told CNN at the time, "I'm a bounty hunter, this is the number one fugitive in America," Chapman said. "This one has become personal. If one of the victims comes up to me and says, 'Dog, thank you,' that's it. I'm paid."
After months of unsuccessful attempts to locate Lester, "Dog" Chapman and the FBI had no solid clues to the whereabouts of the American fugitive. Then "Dog" Chapman received a lead that caused him and his team to set out for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
While in Mexico "Dog" Chapman and his team, including a television crew to document the capture, located Lester at a nightclub and seized him. Soon afterwards, "Dog" Chapman and his team were arrested by Mexican authorities for unlawful deprivation of liberty and then released on bail. In Mexico bounty hunting is illegal and Mexican authorities claim that even though Lester was wanted in the United States for 86 charges of raping women, his capture was unlawful. In the meantime, Lester was turned over to the FBI and was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to 124 years in prison.
At the time in 2003, authorities with a television crew searched Lester's apartment and found a hit list written up by Lester of people that testified against him during his trial including one of his victims.
Recently Tonja "Doe" one of Lester's victims and supporters of "Dog" Chapman" told Rita Cosby of MSNBC, "Andrew Luster had a hit list with my name on it, amongst a lot of other people. Thankfully Dog was able to capture him before anything like that could have happened to me or anyone else."
After the 2003 arrest, "Dog" Chapman and his team went back home to Hawaii and have enjoyed the success of their television show on A&E called Dog the Bounty Hunter.
Then the unimaginable happened.
Late last year, U.S. Marshals at the request of the Mexican government arrested "Dog" Chapman and the team that assisted him in Mexico. Shortly after the arrest, the Chapman group was released on bail and is currently fighting extradition to Mexico where they could serve up to fours years in a Mexican prison for bringing a rapist to justice.
The outcry has been load and clear from Americans who feel "Dog" Chapman did what the FBI was unable to do - locate a criminal who harmed innocent women.
Lawmakers in Washington D.C. are currently working hard to put together a diplomatic effort to have the charges dropped and to assist "Dog" Chapman in his fight against the Mexican government. But more needs to be done to get the American public involved.
See Congressman Tancredo's call to Condoleezza Rice to deny extradition:
This is where NASCAR comes into play. While in Mexico, if a few drivers stepped up and said "Free Dog Chapman" while doing interviews, I believe the additional exposure would benefit the cause. If a team put a poster in their pits that said "Free the Dog" - it would be enough to raise questions and the word would get out.
Bottom line, "Dog" Chapman and his team took a step of faith to go after a fugitive who abused, drugged and raped women. Being sentenced to 124 years of prison is proof that Lester needed to be behind bars for the rest of his life. Thanks to "Dog" Chapman and his team, Lester will never harm another woman again.
I understand NASCAR is playing a profitable game with Mexico, but in an effort to do something good, to do something bigger than entertainment, we should stand up and support our fellow Americans.
Email your favorite teams and drivers. Tell them the story and hopefully during this trip to Mexico, NASCAR will leave with more than profits and a winner - they'll leave in the name of freedom!
Check out these help "Dog" sites:
December 15, 2006
Jeff Gordon fell 220 points short of winning his fifth NASCAR championship this season. Gordon's "Drive for Five" tour started at the end of the 2001 season after winning his fourth and last championship to date.
 Since 2001, Gordon has finished inside the top five in the NASCAR point standings in each season except for 2005, where he shocked the NASCAR community by not making the cut into the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
The 2006 season can be defined as inconsistent for Gordon and his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team. However if success is based on making the Chase, then this season we can easily pat Gordon on his back and congratulate him. But when you are dealing with a four-time NASCAR champion, it seems to me, the only success that a champion can taste is winning the championship once again.
The running debate of Gordon reaching the number of championships achieved by Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt is an interesting topic to discuss. With seven championships each, Petty and Earnhardt won their titles in a different NASCAR environment. One must admit, technology plays more of an important factor in today's NASCAR and one can't forget NASCAR has seen incredible changes since Gordon's last championship in 2001.
Even though I believe Gordon has the talent to catch and pass Petty and Earnhardt in the number of championships they have, I hold the opinion that Gordon will not reach them before his retirement. Two factors cause me to come to this conclusion. First, I believe NASCAR is more competitive today than it was back in 2001. Second, I don't like the fact that Gordon has a lifetime contract with Hendrick Motorsports. Lifetime contracts benefit the owner 100% of the time, not the driver. If Hendrick were unable to provide sponsorships, top-notch equipment and/or highly qualified team members including crew chiefs, drivers with lifetime contracts would be at his mercy and possibly stuck in less than championship equipment. Bottom line, the owner doesn't have to work hard on driver retention.
Moving on.
When Gordon won his last championship Kevin Harvick was a rookie, Tony Stewart was at the end of his NASCAR development and the top 10 drivers included Sterling Marlin, Ricky Rudd, Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte and Rusty Wallace.
In today's NASCAR, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson are dominating the sport. Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch are upcoming young-guns and Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle are poised to run for championships in the future. Open-wheelers are coming into NASCAR and the Chase format adds pressure to every driver that wasn't found in NASCAR before the 2004 season. My point, Gordon will have an incredible mountain to climb trying to reach Petty and Earnhardt much less winning a fifth championship.
So, can Gordon win another championship or is he stuck on four?
Maybe the more realistic question should be, how long will it take Tony Stewart or Matt Kenseth to reach Gordon's four championships?
I leave you with this fun fact. While married Jeff Gordon won each of his four championships in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2001. After his divorce in 2003, Gordon has gone without a championship. Well, Gordon has now remarried and his new wife is expecting. Maybe his "Drive for Five" hopes are looking good for 2007 and we can once again call him Wonder Boy!
Don't forget to listen to "Doin' Donuts" with Dennis and Lori on Monday nights at 8pm ET only on RaceTalkRadio.com.
Spin, out!
December 12, 2006
Welcome to the media world Smoke.
Tony Stewart, two-time NASCAR champion and driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing can add "radio show host" to his resume. Sirius Satellite Radio, the Official Satellite Radio Partner of NASCAR kicked off the 2007 season early with the debut of Tony Stewart Live a few weeks ago, a show hosted by Stewart (a.k.a. Smoke) and NASCAR pit report Matt Yocum.
In a newspaper interview prior to the show’s debut Stewart said, "It's a great opportunity to talk about anything we want to talk about," and it didn’t take Stewart and his radio mates long to throw out their opinions about what NASCAR should and shouldn’t do.
I think the media suit fits Smoke pretty good. Actually, I was pleased to find out Smoke and I agree on something other than where to buy home improvement supplies.
In a column I wrote for the Spring 2005 issue of SpeedWorld Magazine titled "NASCAR Penalties Out of Control" I stated, "There’s a problem in NASCAR when drivers and crew chiefs violate a rule, but wait for days for NASCAR to decide the penalty. In other sports there are no gray areas. In the NFL if a player gets caught holding it’s a 15-yard penalty. In NASCAR, drivers have no clue what their penalty will be when they violate a rule because NASCAR comes up with it as they go. It’s time to standardize the penalties!"
In other columns I’ve written dating back to October of 2004, I’ve screamed it from the mountain tops that "NASCAR should set a penalty so that a driver and/or owner knows what the ramification will be if they break a specific rule." I say this for two reasons. First, by making up the penalty for a rule violation as they go, NASCAR opens themselves up to their critics and it gives the perception that they play favorites to certain drivers. Second, I’ve said time and time again in my columns that if the penalties were standardized, drivers would be able to measure the risk/reward to a rule violation.
During Stewart’s first radio show on Sirius he said, "That’s something with NASCAR that I’ve never understood. I don’t know if it’s the frequency of penalties and the fines that go along with it or to me it should be if you punch a driver it cost you this much, if you flip somebody the bird and it’s caught on TV it’s this much. If you say a bad word it’s this much. Let us know what it is because the risk might be worth the reward, I don’t know. I might be willing to pay $25,000 to knock somebody out."
I agree with Smoke.
If Smoke wants to break a rule and pay the standardized fine, then so be it. It’s his choice and he will know the consequences if caught. Under today’s process, NASCAR will think about the penalty and announce it the next day or two. In addition, the majority of the time it’s inconsistent with a penalty and/or fine that they’ve given to another driver breaking the same rule in the past.
NASCAR needs to set fines and penalties in such a way that drivers, crew chiefs and owners won’t want to break a rule. If you flip the bird it’s $50,000 and 25 points, period. Punch another driver, $100,000 and suspension for one race, period. Push another driver, 5 points and a "way to go" for increasing the ratings!
Stewart’s new role in the media will surely give the media something to talk about. He’s one of the most opinionated drivers and now he has a platform to share his views and in my eyes that’s a win-win for the industry. In the past, NASCAR has shut down such opinionated shows. Pit Bull on SPEED comes to mind and the original NASCAR Nation on SPEED comes to mind too. But shutting down Stewart will be a difficult task for NASCAR.
The good news is the ideas and opinions that have gone ignored by NASCAR could find themselves at the top of the priority list because it’s being talked about. The bad news is the same thing, the ideas and opinions that have gone ignored by NASCAR could find themselves at the top of the priority list. Funny how that works!
In the end, Tony Stewart and I agree on the subject of penalties. And my volume control on this subject just got turned up higher thanks to Smoke and his new radio gig. So Smoke, crank it up and preach it brother! I’ve got your back on this one.
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For a similar plan to work for Waltrip and his sponsors, qualifying for Bristol should be noted as one of the most important events in the history of Michael Waltrip Racing. Waltrip is in an unfortunate position where to save his 2007 season he must make the Bristol race. In addition, Dale Jarrett must qualify on time at Bristol without having to exhaust another championship provisional.
