Anti-trust Woes Continue

This week it was reported that Kentucky Speedway is filing an Anti-Trust lawsuit against NASCAR and the France family because they can't get a date on the Nextel Cup schedule. A lot of people are comparing this to the suit filed by Francis Ferko on behalf of Speedway Motorsports over a second race date at Texas Motor Speedway. Unfortunately, that comparison is weak, and if International Speedway Corporation doesn't give up a date or buy out the Kentucky track, this lawsuit could be a lot more damaging and force the needed divestiture of interests between ISC and NASCAR.

I'm no lawyer, but I'll still give my two-bit Texan opinion on the matter.

First, the Ferko case was based on the premise that TMS was told verbally by the folks in Daytona to expect two races dates. In fact Bruton Smith alleged he would not have built the Ft. Worth track if he thought he was only going to get one race date. The TMS issue wasn't so much an anti-trust case but more of a breech of contract, albeit sketchy and verbal. The anti-trust threat was thrown in there as extra leverage. If this suit had not been settled out of court, NASCAR, and privately owned company, would have had to open their books and disclose their interests to prove that they were not a trust. That threat alone is what probably got this case settled out of court. In short, NASCAR acting through their sister company ISC, gave up their race dates at Darlingotn and Rockingham to make room for another race at California and another at Texas. The blood of Darlington and Rockingham paid off the debt owed to Texas.

In comparison, this suit at Kentucky is a genuine anti-trust suit. Unlike Texas, Kentucky was never told the would get a race date. According to some sources (Ken Schrader on Inside Nextel Cup), the Kentucky owners were told that if they built their track in that location, they would never get a Cup race date. that's the sort of lockout that instigates an anti-trust lawsuit. It's not that fact that Kentucky doesn't have a Cup race date. It's that NASCAR is so intertwined with ISC that Kentucky isn't allowed compete for a race date. The oligarchy of SMS and ISC is another matter alltogether. When 2 of the 6 track owners own 76% of the race dates you have an oligarchy. When 1 of 6 track owners controls 50% of the race dates and 100% of the schedule, you have a trust. I don't see any other way around that logic.

In my estimation one of three things will happen:

1. NASCAR will let this thing go to trial and open their books for public dislcosure. Given the past history and what is at stake, I would not hold my breath. The end result would be that the France family would have to divest themselves of either NASCAR or ISC, and tracks would have to competitively bid for race dates. This is not in the interest of anyone currently holding a race date. Then again, if Brian France flies the coup to buy an NFL franchise like it's been runored, it could very well happen.

2a. ISC will forfeit a race date at one of their tracks (probably the last date at Darlington) and give it to Kentucky as a payoff to drop the suit. This will give them one more chance until another independent track owner files another suit. As Ken Schrader said, if Kentucky gets a Cup date, he's going to sue to get a Busch race at Pevely, the track he owns.

2b. ISC will buy out the Kentucky owners to shut them up much like has happened at North Wilkesboro and Rockingham.

Tighten your belts up. This one will be fun.

The real source of power at DEI

I've been a little lax in posting again mainly because there wasn't much to post about. Sure there was the F1 fiasco at Indy, but that was beaten to death in short order.

It is all over the web this afternoon that Dale Earnhardt, Inc and Michael Waltrip are parting ways at the end of 2005. That's a damn shame for Mikey because at age 42 this will be the final step for him to slip back to racing irrelevancy and into the TV booth as an excitable analyst just like his older brother. *YAWN* With the 2001 Daytona 500 steadily becoming a memory, Mikey's win and Deal Sr's death will become just another footnote in the history of Bill France's money machine. Life goes on in racing even without a guy like Dale Earnhardt Sr. DEI was Waltrip's best hope for success in NASCAR, and now he's moving down the totem pole instead of up. Things must be bad for Mikey at DEI if he wants out that badly.

Last season when Dale Earnhardt Jr. started showing some inconsistency(eg. getting lapped after 36 miles at Las Vegas), everyone was quick to point the finger at Tony Eury Sr. That was a little misguided blame. On paper he is ultimately responsible for the success of the team. However, in my opinion the key to Jr's and Waltrip's success was not their mediocre crew cheifs. Don't get me wrong, Eury Sr is a fine crew chief, but he's no Ray Evernham or Todd Parrot. Both Junior and Waltrip had been riding a wave success into 2004, and have been gently sliding ever since the start of that season.

It was the loss of Ty Norris in early 2004 that did it. Tony Eury Sr. didn't suddenly get stupid. He was just mediocre all along, and Ty Norris was the real guy making it all work.

Teresa, Junior, and the Eurys are all fine people, but without the leadership of Dale Earnhardt Sr, it has become just like many other family run businesses after the patriarch passes on. It suffers from too many family members trying to assert control without hurting anyone's feeling, living off the old man's success, and not keeping their eyes on what it takes to make it grow. Ty Norris was the guy who kept everyone pissed off enough to want to win, and when they lost him they lost their focus.

I hate to say it, but look for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to become the next Kyle Petty only with better merchandise sales.