Felix Sabates opens mouth, inserts foot, apologizes to Michigan
January 30th, 2010
Sometimes, team owners should be seen and not heard. Because when you put a microphone in front of a guy who’s used to having everyone snap to at his every word, well, you might just get a little something unexpected and — dare I say it — offensive.
Exhibit A: Felix Sabates — you know, the special guest star in "Earnhardt Ganassi Featuring Felix Sabates" — who raised a few eyebrows and a few blood pressure rates in Detroit when he teed off on the state and Michigan International Speedway, calling the state and its people …
Wait a second, Detroit? Hang on, this calls for some musical accompaniment. Give us some Motor City-appropriate audio, Mr. Mathers:
Ah, yeah. Perfect. So anyway, Sabates had some choice words about which tracks should lose NASCAR races, starting with Michigan International Speedway. Why?
"I mean, there’s nobody left in Detroit other than the police and the
unemployed," Sabates said. "I’d cut Michigan off
the schedule altogether. Michigan — I’m talking about the state — is
never coming back to what it used to be, so why go there and throw good
money after bad money?"
Wow. Brilliant move there, Felix, kicking NASCAR right in one of its sweet spots. What’s next, saying "Sweet Home Alabama" sucks? Demanding all beer be removed from the infield? Come on, man, could you be any more out of touch?
Rather than tearing Sabates a new one, MIS president Roger Curtis took the high road:
"He races Chevrolets. His peers are Jack Roush and Roger
Penske — fine examples of Michigan’s resilience. Hopefully, they can
explain to him why NASCAR races at MIS," Curtis told The Detroit News. "We draw
100,000 fans on our worst day and a lot of those great fans make big
sacrifices to come here. I’ll make sure to invite him to sit with me
and the fans in the grandstands this summer. Then he’ll see what great
fans we have, the beauty of this area and why we race here. Even
in the economic conditions that we’re in, and attendance being down a
little bit last year, MIS is still a huge economic driver with our two
NASCAR weekends, and we’re very proud of that."
Yes, I’m sure Felix will be rushing right out to sit in the stands with the Great Michigan Unwashed after his comments. Still, seems like somebody — my money’s on Kid Rock — got to Sabates, and late Friday afternoon, he issued an apology:
"In an
attempt at humor I made some comments about the city of Detroit and the people
of Michigan that were in poor taste and that I sincerely apologize for,”
Sabates said. “I have worked directly or indirectly with the auto
industry for over 40 years as both an auto dealer and a NASCAR owner and it was
never my intention to put down the auto industry, its workers, the city of
Detroit or the state of Michigan. I have such respect for all of them."I am
so frustrated over the challenges that this tough economy has brought to
everyone in this country that I inadvertently joked about one of the areas hit
the hardest. Those of us that have the luxury of getting to work in such a
great sport like NASCAR owe a great deal to the city of Detroit and their
support of the auto industry because without either, the sport of NASCAR would
not be what it is today."In
fact, Michigan International Speedway, even in this tough environment drew an
impressive 100,000 fans to the track at their last race."My
sincerest apologies to anyone that I might have offended, it was certainly not
my intent."
All righty then. Nice gesture by Sabates, albeit way way way too late. Still, if you’re going to screw up like this, now’s the time to do it. By the time the Michigan races roll around this summer, nobody’s going to remember this.
Unless Bob Seger writes a song about it, that is …
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