Why the NASCAR Antitrust Settlement Benefits Everyone

Key Highlights

• incorporated NASCAR in February 1948. The sanctioning body retained governance of the nation’s premier stock car racing series. It didn’t have to sell any of its tracks. It retains ownership of IMSA, ARCA, American Flat Track motorcycle racing, and Historic Sportscar Racing. It avoided the nation’s premier stock car racing series being ripped apart as open-wheel racing was in 1980 and again in the mid-1990s. If the settlement hadn’t been reached at the beginning of the federal trial’s ninth day and it had gone to the six-man, three-woman jury, it could have been detrimental to all of racing in the United States.
• That’s because every racing series is privately owned, most have spec engines or parts, and the series owners govern their series via the rulebook.
• A loss by NASCAR would have affected all of those issues. James Gilbert - Getty ImagesUS District Court Judge Kenneth Bell made it clear to NASCAR, 23XI Racing, and Front Row Motorsports that they were “burning down the house from the inside.” He continuously encouraged them to settle, telling them if it went to the jury and the plaintiffs won, he could dismantle the Charter system and force NASCAR to sell tracks that it owned. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementEveryone knew whichever side lost, the other side would appeal to the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and from there to the US Supreme Court.
• Instead of putting the sport back together, the continued litigation would have ripped it apart. Throughout the legal proceedings, ugly emails and text messages that became public have left a burning trail of hurt feelings and destroyed relationships.
• People can say it’s just business, but that doesn’t always repair the damage, especially with racers who never forget. Often the antitrust suit filed by NBA Hall of Fame member Michael Jordan’s and NASCAR Cup driver Denny Hamlin’s 23XI Racing and Bob Jenkins’ Front Row Motorsports was characterized as a battle of billionaires and millionaires.