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January 21, 2005
Crew Members Takes Stand on Alcohol, Quits RCR
David Smith, who worked for Richard Childress Racing in various capacities for 25 years, including as Dale Earnhart's crew chief, has quit because the #07 car will be sponsored next season by Jack Daniels. Smith apparently used to have an alcohol problem until he found God. When he went to work for RCR in 1979 he told Richard Childress that he would work there as long as there were no liquor, dirty magazine or gambling sponsors. But now that Jack Daniels has come on board he said, "If I associated myself with [liquor] and one person took a drink because of me and then went out and drove their car into something or killed someone, how could I live with that?"
I applaud Smith for standing up for what he believes in. It's not easy to take a stand, especially when it involves leaving a job where he's been for 25 years. Even harder is that he has to speak publically about the way he feels and that takes some courage too.
However, I don't quite understand what makes liquor different from any other kind of alcohol. Richard Childress has a winery and presumably some of the revenue from his winery goes into running RCR. All three RCR cars have Budwieser decals on them so that they are eligible for Bud Pole Award funds. Granted a major sponsor will attract a lot more attention than a side business or a decal but the fact remains that RCR has been associated with alcohol and has recieved money from that association for some time. Someone could drive into a tree as a result of drinking beer or wine, just as much as they could drive drunk from drinking alcohol.
Petty Enterprises is one of the only organizations that doesn't put the Bud decal on their cars, because they also take a very strong stand against alcohol or at least the appearance of endorsing it. I would guess that they are also unlikely to ever take sponsorship money from a casino or magazine like Playboy. So it would seem that if Smith wants to stay in Nascar he might want to see if there are any openings at PE.
Posted by silverdsl at January 21, 2005 11:49 AM