NASCAR WANTS THEIR SPORT to be family entertainment and they are working hard to make it just that.
When Janet Jackson had her wardrobe malfunction during the Super Bowl halftime show it caused the Federal Communications Commission to react and they are cracking down on "bad behavior" taking place during broadcasts. And when Shaq O'Neal let go with a profanity laced TV interview after a bad day on the basketball court the National Basketball Association reacted by fining O'Neal and suspended him for a game.
Just about every day the sports pages carry stories of athletes, those who are supposed to be role models for the youth of our nation, getting arrested on drug charges, drunken driving incidents, the cowardly act of spousal abuse and then there are the profanity laced interviews with the media.
The NASCAR brass does not want anything like that to be happening in their sport and if it does happen it will be met with quick action.
Mike Helton, the man who runs NASCAR on a day-to-day basis as president, recently told all the Craftsman Truck,  Busch Series and Nextel Cup drivers that they will not put up with drivers (or anyone else involved with NASCAR events) using obscene language, profanity, while being interviewed by the broadcast media.
Auto racing is an emotional sport. One driver feels another pushed him, spun him or somehow gained an unfair advantage. The TV camera is in the face of the racer just moments after the incident and the language can be "colorful."
NASCAR has made it clear they will not tolerate anything less than proper language. In fact Helton told the racers that they should do their broadcast interviews as if they were talking to their grandmother. Apparently any language is acceptable with the print media unless the comment should actually show up in print.
This past Saturday, before the Craftsman Truck race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Helton again pointed out, "This is a serious issue for us because it effects our perception to the public. But, more importantly, it has become a significant issue at the federal government level to the point to where, even yesterday, there were a couple of half million dollar fines handed out to some radio networks for a couple of words that were used on a live radio show.
"And I'll tell you, if it gets to the point that this happens in our sport, we're not going to pay those fines. We'll pass them on to somebody.
"We're under a great deal of scrutiny and we're going to police the sport."
Just the week before Nextel Cup rookie Johnny Sauter who also races on the Busch Series circuit became the first to feel the sting of NASCAR as a result of comments he made during a radio interview after last Saturday's Busch race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Sauter blamed Michael Waltrip for an accident that saw him having to duck low to avoid a slower Waltrip and that forced Sauter into race leader Matt Kenseth. Sauter and Kenseth were actually battling for the lead and Waltrip was a lap down. The two leaders suffered extensive damage and Sauter feels it cost him a win or at least at top five finish.
"Michael Waltrip is pretty much an idiot," Sauter told Performance Racing Network. "A lap down, racing three-wide." That is the censored version of  Sauter's profanity laced comments.
As a result NASCAR has announced that Sauter is being fined $10,000. With the kind of money that Busch and Nextel Cup racers are earning these days that is pocket change. The real serious part of the penalty is that Sauter has lost 25 championship points dropping him from 2nd to 4th in the Busch Series standings. And figuring that the Busch Series title was decided on the final day of the season last year those 25 points can prove to be very important.
In addition Sauter is on probation until December 31 of this year. But those of us who work the NASCAR circuit on a regular basis know probation is not something that is taken too seriously. There have been cases where drivers on probation have gotten in trouble and received more probation.
Sauter seems to have no problem with the fine. He did it and he has to suffer the consequences. However he does have a problem with the loss of points and he plans to appeal. He does not feel it is fair to penalize the team for his mistake. It is very rare for a NASCAR driver to win on appeal.
Performance Racing Network has announced that future radio coverage of NASCAR events will include a seven second delay. Fox TV will not use a delay though I often times think they should so they have time to reconsider some of the stuff some of the on-air talent says. Having been a broadcaster I know that there have been times I have wished that I could reconsider something I had said. And the folks at MotorRacing Network also will not be going to a seven second delay.
And NASCAR has suspended young Kevin Grubb from competition after he failed a drug test that had been administered to a half dozen drivers at North Carolina Speedway a few weeks back.
Grubb, a veteran Busch Series competitor who finished 19th in the standings last season, will not be eligible to be considered for reinstatement until he goes through NASCAR approved drug rehab programs. It is unlikely that Grubb will be racing this season.
Unlike the so called "big four" of sports (actually I think auto racing has replaced a couple of those sports when it comes to big) race drivers have no union to stand up and fight their battles, try to get the suspensions and fines overturned. In a way that is a good thing.