Saturday
Oct302004
NASCAR law firm says staged racial incidents planned
Saturday, October 30, 2004 at 11:44PM - The Dallas Morning News October 30, 2004
By Terry Blount
DALLAS _ A law firm representing NASCAR has accused Addison, Texas, businessman John Eckerd of helping to plan staged racial incidents at a NASCAR event this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Eckerd, whom NASCAR officials claim is a financial backer of the National Association for Minority Race Fans, disputed the claim.
"This is absolutely absurd and totally baseless," Eckerd said. "These are very serious accusations, and we will not take this lying down."
The Atlanta-based law firm of Alston & Bird accused Eckerd in a letter of conspiring with associates at Consolidated Sports Media Group, Inc., and the NAMRF to hire a white male actor to play a NASCAR fan inciting a fight with a black actor posing as a NASCAR protester. The letter claims the actors hoped to get arrested so the incident could be videotaped.
The attorneys also claim an actress would falsely claim to have been raped or sexually assaulted at a NASCAR sponsored event. The letter states law enforcement officials have been notified of the plan in order to protect fans.
Eckerd said he isn't affiliated with Consolidated Sports Media Group, but he is an independent consultant arranging financial backers for a documentary film NAMRF is producing.
NAMRF director Jirard Brown and NAMRF director of communications Rusty Thomas sent an e-mail to media Friday disputing the letter's claims.
"The National Association for Minority Race Fans is appalled by the outrageous falsehoods presented as fact," Thomas wrote in the e-mail.
We have signed affidavits from members confirming no one involved with NAMRF at any level has discussed intentionally creating or causing a violent incident at a race.
"On the contrary, NAMRF remains committed to its mission of making NASCAR races safe for all races. NASCAR is engaging in despicable and unlawful conduct. NAMRF will not be intimidated by NASCAR's unscrupulous ploys."
NAMRF is producing a documentary film, which it plans to release Feb. 20, which it claims will show racism makes NASCAR events unsafe for minorities and women.
Excerpts from the film are being shown on the NAMRF Web site.
The letter from the NASCAR law firm also claims Eckerd and his associates hope to distribute the film for profit, "featuring unauthorized footage taken at NASCAR events, misleadingly edited to depict alleged racial and gender discrimination that did not actually occur."
Eckerd also disputes those claims: "I have seen hundreds of hours of this footage. To say people will be shocked is an enormous understatement."
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(c) 2004, The Dallas Morning News.