Dale Junior sounds of on cursing policy
March 17
Tuesday at Texas Motor Speedway. Dale Earnhardt Junior gave his opinion on the sport's crackdown on cursing by drivers during broadcast interviews.
"It's a good plan, but I think they have to draw the line with the in-car radios," Earnhardt said. "It's a privacy issue. We've had these frequencies for years. To turn around and claim it's public property is not right. If they tell me they are going to fine me $5,000 for saying a cuss word on my radio, that's wrong."
Driver Johnny Sauter was fined $10,000 last week and docked 25 Busch Series points for cursing in a radio interview after a race at Las Vegas. Earnhardt also has said a few four-letter words in broadcast interviews, which he feels was inappropriate. But he doesn't think the rules should apply to in-car radio comments.
"NASCAR officials say they may have to do it because it's so easy for people to get those frequencies," Earnhardt said. "But they go out of their way to get it. We don't offer it to them. If that's the case, we're going to start selling it. Now I'm having to try to be careful what I say during a race when I never had to worry about it before."
Some fans have scanners at the races to listen to conversations between drivers and crew chiefs. Scanners also are rented at each track. Earnhardt feels controlling in-car radio conversations is similar to telling coaches what they can say in a locker room.
"Bobby Knight is able to tell his players at halftime what he wants to tell them, the way he wants to tell it," Earnhardt said. "He doesn't need to worry about who's listening."
Earnhardt's comments came during a lunch break in the test session. Three or four reporters usually show up for a driver's test at TMS, but a visit by the sport's version of Elvis brought about 30 media members from as far away as Austin.
Earnhardt's session came two days after winning at Atlanta for his second victory of the season. He finished 35th one week earlier at Las Vegas when his team completely missed the setup on the new softer tires NASCAR is using this season.
"It shows we can be good and bad," he said. "That Vegas run is always going to be in the back of my mind. I'm going to wonder if that can happen again.
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March 17
Tuesday at Texas Motor Speedway. Dale Earnhardt Junior gave his opinion on the sport's crackdown on cursing by drivers during broadcast interviews.
"It's a good plan, but I think they have to draw the line with the in-car radios," Earnhardt said. "It's a privacy issue. We've had these frequencies for years. To turn around and claim it's public property is not right. If they tell me they are going to fine me $5,000 for saying a cuss word on my radio, that's wrong."
Driver Johnny Sauter was fined $10,000 last week and docked 25 Busch Series points for cursing in a radio interview after a race at Las Vegas. Earnhardt also has said a few four-letter words in broadcast interviews, which he feels was inappropriate. But he doesn't think the rules should apply to in-car radio comments.
"NASCAR officials say they may have to do it because it's so easy for people to get those frequencies," Earnhardt said. "But they go out of their way to get it. We don't offer it to them. If that's the case, we're going to start selling it. Now I'm having to try to be careful what I say during a race when I never had to worry about it before."
Some fans have scanners at the races to listen to conversations between drivers and crew chiefs. Scanners also are rented at each track. Earnhardt feels controlling in-car radio conversations is similar to telling coaches what they can say in a locker room.
"Bobby Knight is able to tell his players at halftime what he wants to tell them, the way he wants to tell it," Earnhardt said. "He doesn't need to worry about who's listening."
Earnhardt's comments came during a lunch break in the test session. Three or four reporters usually show up for a driver's test at TMS, but a visit by the sport's version of Elvis brought about 30 media members from as far away as Austin.
Earnhardt's session came two days after winning at Atlanta for his second victory of the season. He finished 35th one week earlier at Las Vegas when his team completely missed the setup on the new softer tires NASCAR is using this season.
"It shows we can be good and bad," he said. "That Vegas run is always going to be in the back of my mind. I'm going to wonder if that can happen again.
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j/k
