People making the 9-hour trek to Antigonish, Nova Scotia for the PASS North Series race there on July 21st won't see former Cup champion Bill Elliott when they get there.According to Riverside Speedway, Elliott canceled his appearance there on Friday and then told the track, "Now stop bugging me."
Word first came that Elliott would be racing in the IWK 250 in late-April, after Riverside Speedway secured an agreement to have Elliott drive a car provided by a local race team. Of course, that was also before Elliott had agreed upon a part-time return to Nextel Cup racing this season in the No. 21 Fords owned by the Wood Brothers.
Riverside management released a pointed statement, roundly criticizing Elliott's decision.
Here are some of the highlights from that release:
* “We received notice in writing that Bill Elliott has backed out of his commitment. He stated that, ‘There is no way I am going to Nova Scotia to race that weekend. Now stop bugging me.’”
* “So much for Elliott’s southern gentleman persona. He has proven to us that he is not a man of his word, and his cavalier attitude shows he is nothing more than a prima dona.”
* “If we had any idea Elliott was that kind of person, we would never have approached him, but instead chosen a Cup driver that understands a deal and the seriousness of his actions.”
* “The credibility of the track and promoters has been compromised by these uncontrollable circumstances.”
Uh, wow.
Actually, the credibility of the track and promoters is taking a greater hit with all of the grade-school accusations and carrying-ons in their statement. Cup drivers, like all of us, need to be held accountable, but expecting us to understand your predicament while giving no consideration to his is out of bounds.
Besides, maybe Michael Waltrip's looking for a competitive ride that night.
19 comments:
The track releases that little hissy-fit and then says that thier integrity has been compromised?
WOW
I tend to agree with the statements of the track. This was a huge promotion for the Atlantic Canadian market. This is an IWK Childrens Hospital Charity event and tickets were a premium. Sold out on his commitment to attend. The letter sent on behalf of Bill Elliot stating that he would not go to Nova Scotia so "stop bugging me" is an insult to many fans in this area. In fact a young Nascar fan currently undergoing cancer treatment with the IWK was reported exstatic to be able to meet his racing hero. Nice words from a hero. They signed a garanteed contract, I hope they go after Million dollar Bill for his millions.
Cheap shot about MW. Bill Elliot should stand by his commitment, like MW would do, very disappointed in Elliot if this is all true.
IF...is the most important word in that sentence.
There's got to be more to this story. Bill Elliott has always been very professional throughout his career. Let's reserve judement till all the facts are in. Sounds like a scumbag track promoter to me.
I find it very hard to believe that was Bill's response. I've beeb an Elliot fan for over 20 years and have never seen anything like that from him before.
Unfortunately, it doesn't surprise me a bit. Bill Elliott has long been a fan favorite, but has quite a reputation down South for being very difficult to work with.
I am surprised that he would make those comments, because I thought that he was more PR-savy than that, but maybe they were intended for the track and not for the public to ever see.
There saying he made the comitment before his cup return. I'm sure theirs conflicting schedules. Its a tough call to make. I really dont think you can expect someone to pass on a cup race for a charity event. That being said I think they should of tried to work out a deal. Mabey give them a spot on the cup car for the charity event and give they cahrity and race track some national exposure. Or something.
There is no Cup race that weekend. I think he just decided since he is running pretty much full time now, he wants the weekend off, whereas before, he wasn't racing every week. Either way, he has been back in the driver's seat for a while now. Why wait until 2 weeks before the event?
If Bill Elliott can't make the race there is a good reason. I really doubt he said what he is accused of. If the comments from the track are really coming from the track or the author of the article, they all better go back to grade school and start over. Pretty immature! They can report the TRUTHFUL facts and let people draw their opinions. What a really low blow to tell people to bombard Elliot's own website and the Wood Brothers Website. Who issued these statements or wrote the article. Some 10 year old!
I think the track and promoters have compromised their own integrity.
All I know for sure is it appears that for some unexplained reason Bill is not intending to participate in the Riverside 250.
It is quite obvious that there was in fact some sort of a deal as both the track and Bill were promoting his participation in this charity event on their respective websites.
It is a Big Deal to the track as they have no doubt spent a ton of money promoting this event and claim to have sold thousands of advance tickets at a premium. The track is no doubt placed in a compromising position with Bill as a last minute No-Show.
It is possible that the track may have done something to cause the problem or just as plausable, Bill himself may be the problem.
There may be more to this story but regardless it is a sure bet this newly renovated track is facing an expensive and embarrassing mess to clean up.
There is always 2 sides to the story.
We seem to have heard the tracks side in which their position appears to be that they had a guaranteed deal and are now in posession of a "stop bugging me" letter sent on behalf of Bill Elliot.
If the track is releasing such statements on National TV and other forms of media, logically, one could assume there might be some merit to their claim or if nothing else, an awfull misunderstanding of the written word has occurred.
I suggest we would expect and deserve to hear Mr. Elliot's version before passing judgement.
Mitch Bonnar
I am a huge Bill Elliott fan from this area and was counting down the days to see him. He has really gotten a entire province angry, most of Atlantic Canada and me. I was only going to go to see Bill but now i just have three 50$ tickets that are almost going to be used for nothing.
C'mon now, that track is amazing, it's basically a 3/8th mile version of Bristol, and just underwent a multi-million dollar renovation. I'd gladly pay $50 to see a day of racing with a 250 SLM feature. The owner of the track is a very respectable man, he used to be a racer and poured everything he had into the place. Check it out for yourselves, just copy and paste this into the address bar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpzOBoil-04
I have no idea what came over Bill to cancel at the last minute like this with no explaination other than he is "too busy". I hope there is a good reason but I do know the people in Atlantic Canada don't know what it is. He has put the owners of the track in a very difficult position and made a lot of folks who had been fans of his for many years, extremely angry. Whatever he is doing, I hope it is more important than the sick kids he was supposed to be helping out.
The responses to this article are quite amusing. I live close to the track and frankly, I am not a big race fan. However this race was promoted in Mr.Elliot's name until, of course, he backed out. Here are some facts ..the organisers had Elliot sign a NO_CANCELLATION Contract. I know you can all read and I am sure he can too so you understand what that means. The quotes you are reading are from his own management team's wire service. So,unless they are trying to sabotage his career and, ultimately their own paycheques the story starts to become more clear. Mr.Ellliot simply did not respect the contract or the event ,he saw the area as possibly back -water and not on the NASCAR map. Back out and who really cares ? It's only a small town in Nova Scotia, where is AntigoWhat anyways? Well don't ask him , he's made it crystal clear he doesn't want to be "bugged anymore"-his words, not mine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpzOBoil-04. man, whoever put this up was right. This place is nice..
The other side of the story as posted on JAYSKI.COM - Bill Elliott wishes to respond to the allegations that he rescinded an agreement to appear in the IWK 250 Pro All Stars Series at Riverside International Speedway, scheduled for Saturday, July 21 in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. "I steadfastly deny that there was ever a final contract, spoken or written, in which I agreed to both attend and compete in the event at the Riverside International Speedway. Riverside International Speedway officials contacted my representatives in April 2007 to gauge my interest in competing in this event. Race officials sent a lengthy appearance schedule in conjunction with the event. Although my family and I strongly considered attending the event, on May 15th we communicated to race officials that we were leaning against attending, due in large part to the excessive amount of travel time the commitment would involve. Speedway and event officials were notified in writing on June 5th, 2007 that I had declined their offer to participate in the event. My family and I are disappointed that speedway and event officials continue to portray us in a negative light as a result of this matter.(Motorsports Management International)(7-12-2007)
Maybe he signed a contract, the speedway can post it on thier website right beside the poem they posted about Elliott. They seem to like throwing mud.
Tell the track to call Jimmy Spencer. Jimmy is a man of his word. If Spencer agrees to be somewhere, he's there.
The track should build a huge greater than life size effigy of Bill Elliot and burn it before the start of the race. Get one of the kids from the IWK Children’s Hospital the chance to light the golden match... Then let it make the rounds on You Tube.
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