Most NASCAR Teams Based Near Charlotte
NASCAR this week came out strongly against North Carolina‘s anti-LGBT law HB2. Chairman Brian France on Thursday said the auto racing governing body opposes the law and is working to change it. Reporters at the Associated Press Sports Editors meeting (APSE), asked NASCAR Chairman Brian France if he thought the stock car racing sanctioning group should take a stance, Motorsport.com reports.
“I do,” France told the group of AP editors, reminding them that “we did in Indiana when similar discrimination which were more religious occurred. We take the position that any discrimination, unintended or not, we do not like that,” he said. Last year NASCAR denounced Indiana’s anti-LGBT “religious freedom” law, saying, “We will not embrace nor participate in exclusion or intolerance.”
France on Thursday also said NASCAR is “working behind the scenes,” but insisted “we are not a political institution.” France earlier this year endorsed Donald Trump, only to receive considerable negative response. He later admitted he wasn’t especially familiar with Trump’s policies and was surprised by the reaction.
“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.”
France told the group NASCAR is “very direct and we do our civic part. 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,” he said. “We want to play our role but not overstate our role.”
In remarks similar to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver‘s this week at the same event, France said NASCAR is trying to be part of the solution. Motorsport.com reports France said NASCAR does not want to make “a bunch of threats.â€
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Image by Stephanie Wallace via Flickr and a CC license