This lady needs a couple of bigger brothers

H

HardScrabble

Guest
And these brothers need to go open a can of whup-a$$ on some people. There have two or three differnet stories about this since Saturday and all of them relate the story the same way. I was holding off to be sure it wasn't slanted.

DQ tactics drive Renshaw away from track

By LARRY WOODY
Staff Writer

Deborah Renshaw, a rising auto racing star, yesterday said she will stop racing at Fairgrounds Speedway immediately because she fears for her safety after several drivers plotted to get her car disqualified Saturday night.

''I do not feel comfortable racing with some of the same guys who would go to that extreme,'' said the 24 year old who is the only female driver in the track's premier division.
''I'm afraid for her to be out there with a bunch like that,'' said Dan Renshaw, Deborah's father and the owner of her racing team. ''If they'd pull something like this, who knows what they might do next to get her off the track?''

Track officials spent almost three hours inspecting Renshaw's car after the race. The only violation they found was a cylinder hold that was less than one centimeter too large.

''It amounted to less than one drop of water,'' Dan Renshaw said.

''It wasn't anything that would give Deborah's car the least bit of an advantage,'' Speedway president Dennis Grau said. ''It was about as technical as you could get. Still, a rule is a rule.''
Renshaw had to forfeit her sixth-place finish, the prize money (about $500) and championship points. The car of Renshaw's teammate Chevy White also was protested, but it passed inspection.

Renshaw, who just last week moved to Nashville from her home in Bowling Green, Ky., to try to further her racing career, attracted national attention by briefly leading the series standings earlier in the season. A few weeks ago she also became the first woman to win a top-division pole in the Speedway's 44-year history. Renshaw said some of the drivers resent the media attention she has attracted this season.

Renshaw, who made her ARCA debut last Friday at Kentucky Speedway, said she will continue to run some mid-level races around the region and, ''explore what options that might be out there.'' Her goal is to advance through the NASCAR ranks and eventually compete in Winston Cup.

''It's a shame, but I understand their (the Renshaws') concern,'' Grau said. ''We're going to protect every one of our drivers. We're going to have a meeting first thing (this morning) to decide what we need to do.''

Grau said the plan used to get Renshaw disqualified following Saturday night's feature race was ''legal but unethical.''
''I'm upset at how it all happened,'' said Grau, who heard about the plan to protest Renshaw's car prior to the race and phoned NASCAR to see how it should be handled. Grau said NASCAR advised him to throw out the protest, but Dan Renshaw told him to proceed with the post-race inspection ''to clear the air.''
Driver Mark Day, who finished third in the race, organized the protest prior to the race. He said ''almost all'' of the drivers in the division contributed to a $3,600 fee required to protest the cars of Renshaw and White.

Day also arranged to have a car entered in the race by Scottie Smothers, who had never competed in the division. Smothers completed just seven laps of the 75-lap race, then pulled off the track, assuring that he would finish behind Renshaw. A driver is permitted to protest only cars which finish ahead of him.

Minutes after the race, Smothers presented track officials with the $3,600 fee and filed an official protest.

Grau, angry with the protest plan, said, ''The track had absolutely nothing to do with this.''

''We had no idea that the motor was slightly off,'' Dan Renshaw said. ''We don't build our motors and the man who does had assured us that they met all specifications. But we all know this didn't have anything to do with motors. This was just a bunch of guys who ganged up to get the girl driver. They must be very proud of themselves.''

Day, who earlier in the season was involved in a dispute with Renshaw and questioned the ability of women to compete in racing, insisted the protest ''was nothing personal. I've been disqualified for technical violations myself. I just wanted to see if her car was legal and I guess we found out.''

Day admitted he organized the protest fund, ''but I didn't twist anybody's arm to donate. Everybody contributed because they wanted to.''
Day said ''almost all'' of the 16 drivers in the division contributed, but refused to disclose the names of the participants.
''I put my money in,'' driver Andy Johnson said. ''Me and Mark Day talked about it all day. I don't have anything to hide.''

Joe Buford, who won the race, denied that he or anyone on his team ''to my knowledge'' participated in the protest plan, as did runnerup Mike Reynolds. Johnson, however, said that both Buford and Reynolds, ''were in on it.''

Day defended putting a car in the race for the express purpose of dropping out.
''That's not against the rules,'' he said. ''Anybody can enter a race that wants to.''

Smothers confirmed that Day orchestrated his entry. Asked if he felt the situation he participated in was ethical, Smothers said: ''Yes I do. I don't think it's fair for Mark and other drivers to have to finish behind a car that's illegal.''
 
It looks like the little boys down there in Nashville don't want to share their toys and play nice. How pathetic.

Racing is only a male-dominated sport because, like most of the others, men in power have sought to keep it that way. If women were really such inferior drivers, why did those idiots have to go out of their collective way to get Renshaw disqualified?

It's like grade school all over again. :rolleyes:
 
Maybe that Mark Day is afraid that Debbie has a bigger set of gahonas then he does. That is just pathetic that he can't deal with a woman in racing and has to get her DQ'ed from the race.
 
Very sad state of affairs if you ask me. Nothing more than a bunch of sore losers!
 
HS, They receive my vote for a##holes of the year, so far.
 
Wow! I am speechless. Well, sort of. That is complete B.S. I think I will send her a check and tell her to run 1 lap and protest that idiots car with a fine tooth comb. I am sure the officials would really look hard since this story got out.

Oh, it appears that one of the sponsor stickers is 1/16th too low!
 
This is total :bs: but are you really suprised? Of course some would say its just boys being boys.:waa: :waa: :waa:.Shouldn't she be at home raising the kid instead of out having some fun? Hey Budgirl do you actually think they can spell "ethical"?:takethat:
 
From deborahrenshaw.com:


Things that need to be said. . . by Deborah Renshaw
July 14, 2002

After coming down from such a high from our ARCA debut at Kentucky Speedway (qualifing 7th, finishing 8th), I found myself walking around the pit area of Fairgrounds speedway hearing rumors of a tear down of my late model. Watching several of the late model drivers have a group meeting out in the open for everyone to see. I wasn’t invited to those meetings. . . ha ha! Also, they were going around collecting money from anyone who was interested in tearing us down.

So, after hearing those rumors and seeing the evidence, my team wanted me to just forget about all the "circus atmosphere" and to just go racing. So that’s what we did.

Then we learned of a new late model driver that was racing the #75 car (owned by Mark Day), and driven by one of Mark’s crew members, who just got his NASCAR license the day of the race. Also, I thought it was pretty funny how they chose the #75, the same number of the my ARCA car.

As some of you may or may not know, Mark Day made it clear that women in motorsports was a definite NO NO. And since then, he’s been on a weekly mission with any driver or crew member that would listen that we didn’t need women in racing. It seems SO funny that all these top drivers at Fairgrounds Speedway would contribute money to get me torn down. . . It’s like they couldn’t stand having another driver, who happens to be female, being just as competitive as they are.

After staying at the track for the entire tear down, KNOWING that we would prove to be legal, we came down to measuring the heads of the engine. My crew chief, team and I were completely confident we would be right. We were shocked to learn that we were less than one cc short of filling the head, which has absolutely NOTHING to do with the performance or horsepower of the race car. The engine builder failed to build the head correctly. The crank, cam shaft, carbuerator and everything else passed with flying colors . . . those are the same things that have been found illegal in the late models and supertrucks this year, ours were PERFECT!

I guess they succeeded in what they sought out to do. . . they can have their track back for now. I have decided to take a breather from Fairgrounds Speedway, due to not feeling comfortable racing with the same guys who would go to this extreme gathering money in groups to get me torn down. I am TRULY sorry to all my crew and fans who have supported us for so long. This DOESN’T mean our team won’t be racing. We will continue to run our 6 ARCA races for the remainder of this year, and looking into running some Hooter’s Cup, NASCAR All-Pro series or Southern All Stars.

I can’t tell you how much FUN I’ve had running at the Fairground Speedway and supporting Dennis Grau, Gary Fryer and the entire crew at the track. BUT I guess all good things change at some point in all of our lives, whether we want them to or not.

A little advice to all young and upcoming drivers that are thinking of coming to Fairgrounds Speedway. . . BE CAREFUL and not step on any of the veteran's toes. They expect you to know your place!! Ha ha Good Luck and God Bless!

I’d like to send a special comment out to Mark Day and all of his "groupies!" I hope he accomplished whatever his intentions were.

Cheers,

Deborah Renshaw
 
Oh, sweet justice...

Driver who led plot against woman is himself disqualified
By DAVIS POOLE
The Charlotte Observer

There was a twist of irony when racing resumed at Nashville’s Fairgrounds Speedway on Saturday when Mark Day, the admitted ringleader of a scheme to protest Deborah Renshaw’s car two weeks earlier, was disqualified after winning a late model race.
Day was disqualified for using unapproved fuel in his car. Track president Dennis Grau told The Tennessean that Day, upon being notified of his penalty, said he wouldn’t race at the track any more.

Renshaw, meanwhile, has decided to return to the track after the incident two weeks ago when she was disqualified from a sixth-place finish because of a violation found in her engine. Day and other male drivers at the track had contributed to a fund to pay the $3,600 protest fee to challenge Renshaw’s car. Their plot has drawn national attention and criticism.

"Poetic justice," Renshaw told The Tennessean when told about Day’s disqualification.

http://www.thatsracin.com/mld/thatsracin/3765061.htm
 
Do ya somehow get the feeling that Day will at some point claim his fuel was sabotaged??

And just to be clear, Day's car was tested because of a long standing rule that an inspection is required after a car wins three events, or something like that. There was no driver protest filed by anyone to lead up to this post race inspection.
 
it just shows they were scared of the power of this women--if she was finishing in the back every week i dont think they would have spent the money to protest her.
 
Those men just cant stand being beat by a woman. Its like womans suffrage back in the day, when men didnt want woman to be doing much of anything. Total BS!! I cant believe that a series sanctioned by Nascar would allow that to happen....o wait its NASCAR so yeah i can.
 
unfreakinbelievable and I hope that when Renshaw does return those children apologize and kiss her feet.
 
Some more Finger Flying Nascar fans for sure.Grow up Weiner Wagers,Spit your Skoal,and scratch your sacs,Women can drive a Racecar too.
 
A little reported fact about all this is that Day used to work for Renshaw. So this could have been a case of a disgruntled ex-employee or maybe he had some inside information from when he worked for her. Also doesn't it seem strange to anyone that in this day and age you have not just one backward thinking guy but 13 at the same track? Just seems to me that there might be more behind the story than just guys not wanting to compete with a woman. But men picking on a woman sells more papers I guess.

Here's a quote and a link to the article on dotcom.


"Day is unapologetic, saying he went by the rulebook.

"She got caught cheating," said Day, who worked on Renshaw's cars before she started racing in Nashville."

http://www.nascar.com/2002/news/headlines/...t.ap/index.html
 
Howdy GTM,

There is the letter of the law and there is the spirit of the law. They are not the same thing. If as noted a racing historian as Bob Latford can't recall a situation like this, I would have to say it is outside the spirit of auto racing. Especially since Renshaw was not exactly dominating the series.

If in Day's opinion at the time of the dotcom story was it is no big deal and Debbie should not make a big deal of it, why is that now Day says he will no longer run at Nashville.

Sauce for the goose and sauce for the gander, if ya know what I mean.
 
I'm not trying to say in any way that Day was being a model citizen when he pulled his stunt. I'm just saying that I think something that happens all the time at local tracks (intimidating a
fellow driver) was used by a journalist in a sensational way to get his 15 minutes of fame. There has been a lot worse done to male drivers over the years besides getting their car protested. But you didn't see Mr Woody out there writing a story about a male driver getting knocked in the head with a tire iron. If Mr Day really believes a woman shouldn't drive a race car, he definitely has some issues to work out. But a driver having their car protested is NOT the worst thing that has ever happened to a driver in the history of the sport.

And once again, I'll point to the fact that Day worked for Renshaw as an indicator that there is more to the story than just gender bias. Why would he have worked for her in the first place if that was the case.

I do find humor in the fact he now wants to go elsewhere. He did make the statement that getting protested was no big deal. He does need to listen to his own advice.
 
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