NASCAR asks fans to keep rebel flags away from tracks
Some racing fans denounce move
BROOKLYN, Mich. — NASCAR tracks have a message for fans: Please don’t bring the Confederate flag on race day.
Thirty tracks that host NASCAR national series races, including Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., and MidOhio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, were signatories in a joint statement, that included several independent tracks including Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway, that asked fans to refrain from flying the Confederate flag at NASCAR events.
“We are committed to providing a welcoming atmosphere free of offensive symbols,” the tracks and their ownership groups said in a statement released Thursday. “This is an opportunity for NASCAR Nation to demonstrate its sense of mutual respect and acceptance for all who attend our events while collectively sharing the tremendous experience of NASCAR racing.”
The owners of the Motordrome Speedway in Smithton, Pa., a half-mile paved track that is the only NASCAR-sanctioned speedway in Southwestern Pennsylvania, will be on a conference call with NASCAR officials this morning to hear NASCAR’s view on the rebel flag issue.
“They’ll probably leave it up to each individual track,” Todd Melfi, a coowner of the Motordrome said Thursday. “They usually don’t dictate to the tracks on issues like this.”
If NASCAR does leave the decision to the independent tracks, Mr. Melfi said he doubts he and Motordome’s owners would do anything related to the rebel flag.
“I don’t think it’s something we’ll get into with our fans,” he said. “If this was a Southern track it might be a more delicate situation. But we just don’t see many rebel flags at our track.”
The issue of displaying the Confederate flag reached a fever pitch following the killings of nine people June 17 at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., about 140 miles south of Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, which hosts the Bojangles’ Southern 500 in September.
Dylann Roof was arrested and charged with the murders of nine people, and following the shooting, photos circulated of Mr. Roof posing with the Confederate battle flag and wearing symbols associated with white supremacy.
David Higdon, a NASCAR spokesman, said in an email that facilities have the right to ask fans to take the flag down if it is being flown, as it would fall under the umbrella of being an offensive symbol or unruly behavior.
Kim Schuette, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, said that asking to remove Confederate flags at NASCAR events is not a violation of an individual’s civil liberties, as track facilities are privately owned and NASCAR is a private organization. However, Ms. Schuette said flags can be brought to and displayed at public spaces outside a facility.
Guidelines for fan displays aren’t unique to NASCAR: At Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, for example, baseball fans are prohibited from displaying banners that are “commercial, political, derogatory or obscene as determined by the Pirates,” the team states on its website. The Pittsburgh Steelers’ stated policy for games at Heinz Field is less specific. “Banners and signs in good taste may be displayed in the stadium,” the team’s website states.
Six days after the church killings in South Carolina, NASCAR reiterated its policy that bans the use of the Confederate flag symbol in any official NASCAR capacity.
Auto racing fans took to social media to respond to NASCAR’s move Thursday, as hundreds of fans posted comments on facebook.com/NASCAR.
Someone demanded that fans boycott the national series; others insinuated that the organization either had ties to the Communist Party or to the Mafia. One user posted a link to a company that sold Confederate flags for $1.
Joie Chitwood, Daytona International Speedway president, announced Tuesday that the facility would not ban the Confederate flag from races this holiday weekend but, instead, would offer to exchange them for an American flag.
Brian France, NASCAR CEO and chairman, said his organization is attempting “to see how far we can go to get that [Confederate] flag disassociated entirely from our events.”
The Republican Party will have staffers and volunteers at Daytona, urging spectators to register to vote in what the GOP has termed a “National Day of Action.”