Racing star Dale Earnhardt Jr. defies NASCAR owners to show solidarity with NFL protesters
Source: RawStory
BRAD REED
25 SEP 2017 AT 08:43 ET
Racing legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. is apparently not on board with NASCAR owners threats to drivers to not take part in protests against police brutality that take place during the national anthem.
On Twitter Monday morning, Earnhardt Jr. expressed his support for the right of all Americans to engage in nonviolent protests and he shared a quote from John F. Kennedy in which he said that, those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
Link to tweet
Over the weekend, multiple NASCAR owners said they would fire drivers who took a knee during the national anthem, and Trump on Monday tweeted out his approval of their threatened crackdown on protests.
Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/racing-star-dale-earnhardt-jr-defies-nascar-owners-to-show-solidarity-with-nfl-protesters/
Historic NY
(37,452 posts)DAMANgoldberg
(1,278 posts)that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be retiring from NASCAR at the end of this season. He is relatively newly married, and have suffered many injuries during the course of his recent career that has led to this decision. He also knows that Hendrick Motorsports and NASCAR will not fire him, but they would fire Bubba Wallace, one of a handful of POC in the top 3 NASCAR national series.
Johnyawl
(3,205 posts)...for using his position of power and privilege to speak up for those who are struggling for justice.
renate
(13,776 posts)And he's risking it for a good cause. I admire that very much.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,113 posts)but dont know if they have it in them to do this.
Maxheader
(4,373 posts)..
Mr.Bill
(24,317 posts)will to some extent be dictated by their sponsors. Some sponsors are more attached to the driver than to the team or brand of car they drive. They dictate who drives and who doesn't. Some are even contracted in such a way that if they were fired, they would take the sponsor and their money to whoever else lets them drive the car. Some of these team owners are talking out of their ass, because it's sponsor money that pays the bills.
DK504
(3,847 posts)He has plenty of money and trophies, every trophy from every race. So I think he can walk away with out caring.
MichMan
(11,960 posts)Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)But isn't he retired? I do not follow NASCAR but I thought I heard his last race was last season.
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)ollie10
(2,091 posts)....but the season is not over. He is not eligible for the chase, but he will continue to race until the end of the season.
Scalded Nun
(1,236 posts)NASCAR and NASCAR supporters do not know anything about patriotism beyond wearing a flag hat. They are mostly cowards and mindless sheep willing to walk any path their cowardly leaders tell them to, as long as they get to keep viewing cars driving around in circles.
SonofDonald
(2,050 posts)I'm a life long nascar fan, yet I'm I'm here, what does that say about your theory?.
And I thought liberals like myself are supposed to accept others as they are.
Well thats what I thought......
uppityperson
(115,678 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)so he'll be mostly immune from the blowback
Eliot Rosewater
(31,113 posts)are liberals or as close as you can get to that given where they work.
I hope Jimmy and Jeff say the same thing soon.
Dale Jr. was always very careful how he said what he said, he discarded the whole redneck stuff long ago.
Always been a fan, now I will always be for sure.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)NASCAR has far too many white wing fans and confederate flags.
Grins
(7,227 posts)There's a new "uniter" in town...
The orange headed barbarian with the comb-over has managed to bring together BLM and NASCAR. And that ain't easy. But he did it!
"I'm a uniter, not a divider. ...I don't like the politics of pitting one group of people against another, the politics of pointing fingers." - George W. Bush, February 29, 2000.
TlalocW
(15,388 posts)I'd watch a NASCAR event for that.
TlalocW
nycbos
(6,037 posts)Last edited Mon Sep 25, 2017, 12:24 PM - Edit history (1)
however I have never been a racing fan. But I definitely know the name Dale Earnhardt Jr and know enough about NASCAR from watching Sports Center to know he is a god in the racing world. He is one racer that NASAR wouldn't dare move against.
vkkv
(3,384 posts)Tell me this - Who flies MORE Confederate Flags than the NASCAR fans ??
Doy !!
SonofDonald
(2,050 posts)He is their biggest draw and most followed driver in the media, he's retiring to survive the sport that killed his Father.
He is the one person in the sport who will have the biggest audience and impact by his words and actions.
They won't even try to silence him because they know they can't.
Always one of my many favorites in the sport, for him to stand up and do this speaks volumes.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,113 posts)He never had the killer instinct daddy had and I saw daddy once, drove like a madman.
Jr. was great on the super-speedways though.
Good guy, and this is not news to me.
vkkv
(3,384 posts)ms liberty
(8,592 posts)You should be aware that when Farenheit 911 came out in theaters, Dale Jr took his whole team to the theater to see it. He seems to be a long time Democrat. NC is a purple state and has been for a very long time; And Jr is very much an NC native.
Gothmog
(145,489 posts)Red Mountain
(1,737 posts)MichMan
(11,960 posts)SonofDonald
(2,050 posts)Just because of their mostly redneck fan base, we are not all rednecks, we don't all own confederate flags or white hoods.
It's auto racing, just because some of the people who watch it have serious problems with people not like them does not make the sport bad.
It's just auto racing, AND I FUCKING LOVE IT.
As they say if you don't like it don't watch it.
But don't lump all it's fans together with the deplorable ones, I live in Washington state and there are thousands upon thousands of Nascar fans living here.
And probably not a confederate surrender flag among them.
Just my two cents in reply to the many posts above that equate a sport with it's fans they don't like.
It's just auto racing.
MichMan
(11,960 posts)The level of disrespect here for auto racing is pathetic. I am at a racetrack every single weekend from April through September; the best people I have ever met are in racing.
Kasey Kahne and Biffle fan? Or Derrick Cope to go back a ways
SonofDonald
(2,050 posts)Chance at a checkered flag, but what the heck, he's racing, I'm not , it's all good.
yodermon
(6,143 posts)NASCAR can't fire on the basis of race, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status... but by this logic one could be fired for simply being a Democrat. ? Simply taking a knee during an anthem could hold up in court, could it not?
open question.
MichMan
(11,960 posts)Team owners can fire a driver for any reason at any time. Lack of team chemistry, sponsor directives, on or off track issues, you name it
Since making a sponsor mad will almost always result in a driver change, the team owners & drivers bend over backwards to keep the sponsors happy. You will never see a driver taking a knee for just that reason, so it is a moot point
No court would rule otherwise