[968gene]

I live near the epicenter of racing and as is usually the case, rumors are always available if you want to listen. It seems as though a manufacturer in a very popular racing series is starting to push their weight around with their engine program. The requirement reportedly is that the individual teams associated with this manufacturer are no longer able to build their own engines. In some cases this has lead to local employment losses for those in the engine departments. Engines now are delivered complete. Teams are allowed to tweek them a bit, but not allowed to tear them down, rebuild them, or modify them. Post race the engines must be returned to the manufacturer. Keep in mind, this is not a sealed engine series built on a formula, but rather an open team and manufacturer series. Unless you were really paying attention to recent races, you wouldn’t notice the drop off that a few of the cars had with the new program. The engines have not lived up to all of the hype. One thing is certainly clear, you will not hear about it from the drivers, team members, or the owners. Why? Follow the money and legal ramifications of commenting publically and you can see why everyone is quiet. Not even the displaced employees are talking.



So this got me thinking…does this seem right? Should a manufacturer of a product (performance or otherwise) have so much control over free speech? Does this go against “the American Way” and free enterprise? Shouldn’t a manufacturer have to be exposed to the rigors of the free market to prove the worth of a product? It’s a shame that legal manipulation of people cannot be exposed for what it really is and that the masses are not made aware of the behind the scenes contracts that silence free speech.

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[ds968]

Sorry to be such a cynic but if we believe we enjoy freedom of speech here, we're all in denial. Of course it does not seem right, but there have always been consequences to any given so-called free speech , particularly in a litigious country such as ours.



Reminds me of a Yakov Smirnoff comedy routine from many many years ago , where he compared soviet Russia with US and said : " in US you have freedom of speech. In Russia we also have freedom of speech. The only difference is that in US you have freedom AFTER you speak " Yeah, not so much anymore...

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[lbpesq]

In the U.S. "Freedom of Speech" (as used in the 1st Amendment) refers to freedom from GOVERNMENT interference with speech. There is no similar protection from interference from the private sector. In the above situation, no one is preventing anyone from speaking. Rather, apparently anyone who does speak negatively about these engines will suffer economic or other consequences. If they are willing to voice their opinion, they certainly may, but the engine supplier will react accordingly. The "speaker" has a choice. Illustrating this point, consider the following: there is no law against my kid telling me he's not doing his homework and I can take a flying f#@*. But if he does, there's going to be consequences.



Bill

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[ds968]

good clarification Bill.. although I'm not that confident about the REAL LIFE aspect of Government interference ..whilst that may be the "letter of the law" , good luck to anyone trying to protect themselves from any Gov't action against them, using that principle as a defense..

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[Rap]

In a democracy with the right of free speech one of the options that can be exercised is to vote with your feet. No one forces these teams to to race in these series. If they all decided to they could force the issue by opting out. Now granted they now couldn't race in this series, but how long do you think the manufacturer could stand this light of day. Sort of courage of ones convictions. Capitalism is based on supply and demand.

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[968gene]

Another piece of the story is that a premier driver ended talks with a team involved with this manufacturer over the engine program, so he obviously voted with his feet. He was close to signing on when he found out about the program. Had he not found out in time, he would have been bound by the contract and stuck. Kinda like the owners of Pintos that found out after the fact that Ford had knowledge of an unfit product but continued to sell it anyway.

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[ds968]

I guess it depends on the engine program, but if you take something like Formula 1 where not just millions, but billions went into the engineering of a product by a team they should be entitled to protect that proprietary right via any reasonable method at their disposal .. Capitalism and competition is great, but you have to follow the rules of the game ; free speech has to have some parameters..

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[Rap]

Short of shouting "fire" in a crowded movie theatre, then it's not free!

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[968LS1]

In these high dollar racing series keeping things quiet through strong arm tactics is their attempt to protect their expensive secrets as well as hide their short comings when something fails or does not perform up to the level of the competition. If a high performance parts manufacturer selling to the public has failures and keeps it secret it is an integrity problem and eventually the truth will be known anyway. I represent several companies as an agent, they all have trouble at some point the measure is how they handle their issues, the good ones admit their problems and make it right at their cost and their business grows and the ones who don't make products that become known as inferior, get a bad reputation and loose business. I my opinion It is far less costly to stand behind your product than to hide a problem and have a bad reputation that becomes known.

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[968gene]

Anyone see the Nationwide Race on Friday or the Sprint Cup Race on Saturday?

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