"SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
10/28/2015 at 11:30 • Filed to: None
13
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"SteveLehto" (stevelehto)
10/28/2015 at 11:30 • Filed to: None | 13
| 38 |
I attended a winged car event in Alabama recently and saw all kinds of things I had never even imagined. How about Bobby Isaac’s 1969 NASCAR driver’s license? A fascinating piece of history - and it was chock full of legalese.
Isaac raced from 1961 through 1976 but !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! years. He won 17 races in ‘69 and won the National Championship in ‘70.
And to compete in those years, he signed a competition license like the one seen here. In it, he agreed to let NASCAR “represent his interests as they may appear in auto racing matters.” Huh? It also said that the license could be revoked “for cause.” What is “cause”? (It’s anything NASCAR says it is.)
It should be noted that Isaac fudge a bit on this - he listed his birth year as 1934 when it was really 1932. But that’s another story altogether.
He did agree that decisions of NASCAR “shall be final,” although everyone knew that had been the case since day one (and will remain so until the end of mankind). This language also allowed NASCAR to change its rules on the fly and to enforce rules as sporadically or as diligently as they saw fit. Funny how some things never change.
Finally, NASCAR reserved the right to terminate the license “at the end of any month” if NASCAR’s whims so dictated. All that was needed was a piece of paper, since the notice had to be written. But nowhere does it say that NASCAR needed good cause or any such reason to terminate said license. Except on the other side of the license. So, the license could be terminated for cause
or
at the end of any month without cause (in writing).
Still, it’s a great piece of history. At this point, NASCAR was already 20 years old. I’m sure the agreements between NASCAR and its drivers today are even more onerous. After all, things don’t get simpler over time when lawyers and big business are involved. They get more convoluted.
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Margin Of Error
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 11:36 |
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It takes a license to go around in circle making only slight left turns ?
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SteveLehto
> Margin Of Error
10/28/2015 at 11:37 |
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I believe the winning formula is “Floor it and turn left.”
That’s TWO (2) elements. License required.
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Margin Of Error
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 11:38 |
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Ross Kraz
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 11:45 |
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What's the birth year story? Did he just screw up or was it on purpose?
ovjho
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 11:46 |
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CATAWBADABANGDEBANGDIGGYDIGGYDIGGYSADDABOOGYSAUPJUPDABOOGIE
How NASCAR of a street name
Scott
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 11:52 |
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So what exactly would “without cause” entail with such an agreement? I mean it’s hard to imagine cancelling the license without cause. The cause may be just, we don’t like your personality, but that’s still technically a cause. Not a very fair cause but still a cause. Even opps we made a mistake and cancelled it due to a typo could be considered cause. So what is "without cause" in this case?
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SteveLehto
> Ross Kraz
10/28/2015 at 11:55 |
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When he met his team, he told them he was 29 (when he was 31). Stuck with it for the rest of his life.
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SteveLehto
> Scott
10/28/2015 at 11:57 |
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It means they can cancel it without explanation.
31ModelA
> Margin Of Error
10/28/2015 at 12:11 |
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This tag team trolling will not stand.
The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock
> Margin Of Error
10/28/2015 at 12:15 |
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Like LA rush hour traffic but at 200mph. A car is inches behind you, and on both sides. You are also following the car in front of you by inches. You have big hot V8 with a hot transmission. The car is pushing 130f inside, there is no heat shielding. You have to communicate with other drivers, your crew chief, and your spotter. To top it off you will be pulling 2-3 g’s in the corner, but wait there is more. A car spun out in front of you and you have to swerve at 200mph. Combine all of what I said, and is more then turning left.
Cars That Drive by my House
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 12:39 |
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Bobby Isaac or Isaac Bobby? Never trust a man with two first names.
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SteveLehto
> Cars That Drive by my House
10/28/2015 at 12:42 |
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Just so long as you don’t call him Bobby Isaacs. That’s a southern thing - they love to add an “s” to the end of every name. Like Hendricks Motorsports. And those people who work for Fords.
JimEmery
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 12:48 |
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This was only a few years after Curtis Turner caused trouble by trying to organize the drivers in a union, so NASCAR (Bill France) wanted maximum freedom of action to try to choke off any labor organizing by the drivers. Interestingly, the Talladega boycott happened later in 1969, but Bobby Isaac was one of a handful of big-name drivers who did not participate.
I would imagine that the standard “morals clause”-type misbehavior was something they wanted to be able to respond to also.
So it is established that Isaac could read and write, and that the illiteracy stories were just NASCAR folklore? It looks like he managed to sign this card.
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SteveLehto
> JimEmery
10/28/2015 at 12:53 |
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The Professional Driver’s Association was formed in the summer of 1969 and did, indeed, boycott the Talladega 500. Isaac was not invited to join the union (various reasons have been given) so he raced, as did Richard Brickhouse who won (Brickhouse had been in the union but resigned when he was offered a winged car to drive.)
Isaac dropped out of school quite young but could read and write. (He was married to a school teacher at one point.) He was, however, very self-conscious about public speaking and avoided publicity as much as he possible could.
Soylent Green is Burners
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 12:56 |
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I had heard that “Ford’s” was a union thing. That is, the workers referred to the company as “Henry Ford’s” because of management’s heavy hand and a general antipathy to the man.
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SteveLehto
> Soylent Green is Burners
10/28/2015 at 12:59 |
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I have heard people say they work at Fords, shop at Meiers, watched Bobby Isaacs race, and respect Hendricks and the racing team. I doubt that there is any rationale to it other than it is slightly easier to say (despite it adding a letter to the word, it allows the speaker to be lazy).
BaconSandwich is tasty.
> Cars That Drive by my House
10/28/2015 at 13:04 |
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Two first names? I thought that was pretty much a requirement to be a NASCAR driver.
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BaconSandwich is tasty.
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 13:05 |
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At least they don’t add an s to “you” like some people in Ontario. “Hey yous guys!”.
Slant6
> ovjho
10/28/2015 at 13:09 |
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Not a street, it’s a town. PO boxes don’t have streets.
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SteveLehto
> BaconSandwich is tasty.
10/28/2015 at 13:15 |
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There are regions within Michigan that do that too. Drives me crazy.
kahpentah
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 13:49 |
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Restaurant in Tennessee, the waitress referred to our table as Yunes.
“And what Yunes be havin today”
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SteveLehto
> kahpentah
10/28/2015 at 14:11 |
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Interesting.
I spent a few days in Alabama and found myself trying to desconstruct some of the contractions I heard. A few stumped me.
Was she saying, “You ones”? That would make no sense either but . . .
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kahpentah
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 14:23 |
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I had to look it up. Apparently it was Youins. Still came out as Yunes.
http://www.yorkblog.com/onlyyork/2011/…
Jwend392
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 15:47 |
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“Box 173” is a street address?
Whitesmoke
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 15:53 |
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We’s all about that down heres ;)
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Whitesmoke
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 16:08 |
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Having lived in Georgia since 1982, I do have some experience translating from the Alabamian. D’ya rightly reckon hit wouldn’t make nary no nevermind iff’n I was to commence cipherin’ it fer ya? (Not too bad for a lad from Minnesota, eh?)
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SteveLehto
> Jwend392
10/28/2015 at 16:47 |
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In Catawba, yes.
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Cars That Drive by my House
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 16:57 |
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Southern and apparently northern. People in Michigan work for Fords and get their groceries at Meijers.
JP Dane-Castro
> SteveLehto
10/28/2015 at 17:51 |
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I have my grandfather’s 1962 SCCA competition license if you are interested in seeing it. He only had to pay a $3 fee for his racing license and it was signed off by Jim Hall!
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SteveLehto
> JP Dane-Castro
10/28/2015 at 18:03 |
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I’d love to see it. Can you post it here?
justinleedy
> SteveLehto
10/29/2015 at 08:21 |
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Here’s one from 1953. this was my grandfathers. I have a bunch more cool stuff at that flickr link.. I have a Nascar newsletter that talks about “the building of that new Daytona track” as well as some of his other local licenses and newspaper clippings and of course some great pics. Enjoy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmleedy…
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SteveLehto
> justinleedy
10/29/2015 at 08:34 |
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That is some cool stuff. Thanks for sharing it.
Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero
> SteveLehto
10/29/2015 at 09:05 |
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And the pronounce the “s” at the end of illinois
Bump
> Scott
10/30/2015 at 16:24 |
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Bill France would let you know what “cause” was when he needed to. Until then just keep in mind that you need NASCAR more than NASCAR needs you.
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Bump
> SteveLehto
10/30/2015 at 16:27 |
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Amazingly enough, the license looks much the same today. Well at least up until the early 2000's when I got my last officials license so I could work in the WRS (weekly racing series).
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SteveLehto
> Bump
10/30/2015 at 16:54 |
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I suspect there is some ancillary paperwork one must sign to get the license today. There may have been some back in the day too but I really don’t know.
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Bump
> SteveLehto
10/31/2015 at 11:58 |
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Yes, it was a basic “who you are, where you live and why you want a license” type of form that in the WRS needed to be signed off on by a representative of the track (or tracks) that you would be working (or racing) at. It really didn’t contain much more than what you see typed in on Issac’s license above. You had to have a license in order to get into the pit area of any NASCAR race, from the weekly stuff all the way to the Cup series. Officials, safety workers, drivers, crew, etc need to be licensed, the only exception I remember would be the media.
In reality the license is nothing more than a reason to make you sign the legalese and more importantly, collect money from a whole lot of people. If I remember right, my first license in 1992 cost $85 and my last in the early 2000’s cost around $150. Each of our tracks probably sold 300-500 licenses...at the time there were around 100 WRS tracks today they are down to around 60.
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asaspapa
> SteveLehto
10/31/2015 at 16:13 |
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Hey! I got one of those too. 1969 Even. Also have the NASCAR Tie-Tack.
Tie? Thanks for the memory. John Montgomery