NASCAR Chairman Brian France was asked to comment on North Carolina's HB2 this week and said that the organization opposes discrimination, but failed to take a strong stand against the law.
The Charlotte Observer reports:
“We take the position that any discrimination, unintended or not, we do not like that and we are working behind the scenes, and we are not a political institution,” France said. “We don't set agendas or write laws but we express our values to policy makers. We will and we do. We are real clear about that.”
NASCAR, based in Daytona Beach, Fla., has offices in uptown Charlotte and Concord.
“We try to be part of a solution, not a bunch a threats truthfully; but we are very direct and we do our civic part,” said France. “We like to think we take a lot of out of communities and run events and do business in North Carolina and so when asked to put back into these communities and be part of big and small decisions, we want to be there, but we are one small piece of the fabric. We want to play our role but not overstate our role.”
Writes the AP's Paul Newberry:
After no comment on the issue for the better part of a month, despite Charlotte being the sport's epicenter, France was finally given the chance to take a stand during a meeting Thursday with the Associated Press Sports Editors.
France whiffed completely…
…He started out by bragging that NASCAR opposed a similar law in Indiana, before devolving into some tortured logic about why NASCAR wouldn't do the same in North Carolina.
…As if realizing he was getting backed into a corner, France concluded by trying to make the case that NASCAR really didn't have that much influence over the affairs of North Carolina, which would be news to taxpayers who helped fund the money draining Hall of Fame.
