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June 05, 2008
Casey Mears is Going to be a Father
I usually avoid discussing the driver's personal lives like the plague in this space. However, there are times when a driver makes something known publically or there's something that's newsworthy and I feel more comfortable discussing it, which is the case in regards to Casey Mears whose girlfriend is pregnant. It's not my place to pass judgment on the rightness or wrongness of Casey's situation (he isn't married). What interests me is how Casey's fans and his sponsor is going to react to this piece of news. Times are changing but there are still many who have very conservative views when it comes to family and that could really present a problem for Casey given that his sponsor is Kellogg's, a brand that markets to families.
Practically since the start of the season rumors have circulated that Casey might be replaced in the #5 even though his deal with Hendrick Motorsports goes through 2009 at least. I haven't really understood where those rumors were coming from because even though Casey hasn't won multiple races while at HMS like some thought he would, he certainly hasn't been awful and some of his poor results have been due to issues out of his control like getting caught in wrecks. However, in light of this news I'm wondering whether there's speculation about Casey losing his ride because his sponsor might not be all that happy about his situation.
Robby Gordon, another single driver, is also rumored to have a pregnant girlfriend. Normally I wouldn't touch a rumor about a driver like that with a ten-foot-flaming pole but it obviously relates to this topic. If that rumor is true, there might be more fans who accept Robby's situation than Casey's. Robby is older, he races for himself, and most significantly Robby has a far less clean-cut image than a driver like Casey. So both Robby's fans and his sponsors are probably less likely to take issue with that kind of thing.
I'd like to think that except in extreme cases like with criminal behavior or drug use that sponsors wouldn't make decisions based on morals or personal behavior but image is very important to the sponsors. It's unfortunate because a lot of things that some fans think is such horrifying behavior from the drivers are things that go on every day in the real world. But some fans hold the drivers up to such a high standard for the way they want them to behave that they can't accept when they act differently. It's kind of unfortunate because most of the time even if the circumstances are non-traditional or difficult a new baby is an event that brings with it a lot of joy.
Posted by silverdsl at June 5, 2008 11:50 AM