Dozen fans banned for life from Talladega Superspeedway

AP (via Breitbart) ^ | May 2, 2007

[Mr. Mojo]

TALLADEGA, ALABAMA (TICKER) -- A dozen fans who threw debris at race winner Jeff Gordon's car on Sunday have been banned from Talladega Superspeedway for life.

Talladega Superspeedway president Grant Lynch said Wednesday that he will ask all other NASCAR facilities and ISC sister tracks to issue similar bans to the individuals.

"This is not the type of behavior Talladega Superspeedway will tolerate and therefore, these 12 individuals have been banned from Talladega Superspeedway from this point forward," Lynch said in a statement.

"We are also working with our legal counsel on additional ways to ensure these individuals do not commit these acts again on Talladega Superspeedway property," he added.

It did not take long for Lynch's appeal to be answered. Las Vegas Motor Speedway Chris Powell said Wednesday that the fans banned from Talladega would also be banned from all events at his track.

"There is absolutely no place in our sport for that kind of behavior," Powell said. "Grant and I have been friends for a long time, and I have a great deal of respect for what he is trying to do. I think we all have the best interest of our sport in mind in making this decision."

A total of 14 fans in the track's grandstand were arrested at the conclusion of Sunday's Aaron's 499 on disorderly conduct charges. All but two were determined to have been throwing objects such as beer cans and toilet paper at the car of Gordon.

The crowd at Talladega Superspeedway usually includes a strong contingent of fans of the late Dale Earnhardt and his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. A rival of the younger Earnhardt, Gordon moved past the elder Earnhardt with his 77th career win Sunday.

The dozen fans arrested for throwing objects were released after paying a $500 bond. Six were from Alabama, four from Georgia, one from North Carolina and one from Florida.

Some of those arrested pled guilty upon their arrest. Others have court dates pending in Talladega County.

[South40]

NASCAR, like any other sport, has its eccentricities.

[HangnJudge]

Nice statistics
Looks about right,
although I know a lot of rabid female nascar fans

Still don’t see a tooth count however

[South40]

lol!

I think income level might in some way be reflective of tooth count.

[glock rocks]

Plaster their mugs on posters at the tracks.

Chain em to Flash's rear bumper and drag em for a victory lap!

[LongElegantLegs]

Now, now, now bad boy, baaaaaad stereotypes, BAD

Girl, actually, and I know, but I couldn't help myself. That sentence just set it up so perfectly...

My (hispanic, fully-toothed) brother-in-law says I have too much estrogen to appreciate the subtleties of Nascar.

[Calvin Locke]

It sometimes looks the like the ratio of finishes under caution to finishes not under caution makes for a boring sport.

[Shadowstrike]

Dose Talladega have viking kitties too?

Nope, but we surely need 'em

[Calvin Locke]

I like Stewart because he's a good driver, and makes the races interesting. Earnhardt (#3) generally made a good race. I like any driver that makes a race competitive, even Gordon, especially in the two road races. Preferably when he starts back in the pack.

As for Stewart complaining, I missed him saying that. But Stewart always complains, so I probably tuned out that last one...

[Calvin Locke]

A recent post mention that even somebody on the Speed Channel said it looked like the cautions were for the benefit of the tv commercials.

[HangnJudge]

I think income level might in some way be reflective of tooth count.

Maybe an asymptotic ratio, hard to get lower than zero or higher than 32
But Socioeconomic status is a strong predictor for tooth loss

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teeth http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1360976

[HangnJudge]

Hmmm, that didn’t work
There, that’s better

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1360976

[sgtbono2002]

I dont even bother to watch the road races.

I root for anybody but Gordon.

these guys should miss watching the races in the stand ,I think they are better on TV anyway. The toilet is much closer

[Rb ver. 2.0]

Stupid Tony Stewart fan. He’s got the Mcdonald’s logo sideways on his back.

[South40]

National Center For Health Statistics

[CJ Wolf]

I think I can sell NASCAR some facial recognition software to ensure these a-holes never get in again. And they should be banned from watching it on TV and the buying any NASCAR Products.

[Musketeer]

I believe Tony Stewart! The powers that be at NASCAR has turned this once respectable event into "Big Time Wrestling". The events that occurred during the final 20 laps at Pheonix, clearly and blatently indicated NASCAR premeditated who would win that race. When it was clear during those last few laps that Jeff Gordon wouldn't win by his own abilities, a caution was created by a "track filler" driver at the same time the top race leaders were making a green flag pit stop. All of those race leaders suddenly found themselves a LAP DOWN, except Jeff Gordon, who simply drove thru pit road, just behind those leaders who just pitted ahead of Him. This made Jeff Gordon leader and then race winner, as NASCAR needed so Jeff Gordon could drive around the track with the #3 flag of Dale Earnhart.

Tony Stewart and many others have witnessed this NASCAR behavior on multible ocassions. Out of frustration, Tony Stewart expressed his opionion this past week, finding himself penalized $10,000 dollars for his "free speech".

NASCAR lost me as a "fan".

[thinkthenpost]

I bailed on NASCAR during Gordon’s rise back in the 90’s. I was a big Bill Elliott fan, and couldn't stand the way Earnhardt got away with actions that would have any other driver black flagged. Well, when it was clear that Jeff Gordon was the new golden boy I was already losing any tolerance for NASCAR antics and I walked away.

IMO the irony is that Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt are/were great drivers on top teams and would have won a bunch or races and championships anyway.

Finally, I believe Bill would still be winning most popular driver if he hadn't ask for his name to be removed from the voting a few years back.

[river rat]

Has anyone ever heard of any fans from ANY other sport being banned for bad behavior?

Thugball should carefully consider the NASCAR action - to cover both FANS and PLAYERS...

[I still care]

I was watching a show on crime in Europe, they have a lot of problems with sports fan thuggery there.

The say the same ones come as gangs and cause trouble over and over again, and it’s one of the reasons for the rise of all their crime cameras. They use facial recognition software and look for these thugs at every sporting event, they are not allowed in the stadiums.

[Poodlebrain]

If the fix was on why didn't Gordon's team mates take advantage of it? How did NASCAR send the signal to the rent a wreck driver to go into crash mode? How did NASCAR insure the rent a wreck driver was still running at the critical time? How many seconds away from going a lap down was Gordon because of the pit stop and accident?

Seriously, Gordon was making a scheduled pit stop, within his window of opportunity to finish the race. He and his crew realized his car needed new tires and some adjustments. If the adjustments improved the car then Gordon would be better off than running an inferior set up and losing track position to other competitive cars. It's not like the other competitive cars would not have had to make pit stops in the next few laps. And since the caution was intentional, and would not have occurred otherwise according to you, they would have been green flag stops. So Gordon would have gotten back his track position anyway, adjusted for pit stop time.

Gordon's car, and cars with Hendrick engines, have been among the race leaders at practically every race this year. Why is anyone surprised that they win a race with some good luck. No one seems to feel sorry for them when they lose due to bad luck.