Jeremy Mayfield calls out NASCAR ‘suits’ for ‘stupid redneck’ comment in lawsuit documents

Tensions are definitely heating up. I’m not sure how Richard Childress will react to this. However, it feels like something that at the very least requires an apology and honestly, could lead to other consequences down the road.

Richard Childress Racing began in 1969. Childress himself risked his own life and health as a driver during a time in the sport where he risks were much steeper and apparent. Say what you will about him personally or as a team owner, but he has sacrificed for the sport.

On top of that, as Jeremy Mayfield points out, rednecks built NASCAR. You know who else was nothing but a stupid redneck? The sport’s most popular and celebrated driver of all time, Dale Earnhardt. Imagine if Jay Monahan, Commissioner of the PGA Tour, complained about all of the “country club attitudes” in golf. What did you think this was when you took the job?

Jeremy Mayfield is right about NASCAR

There is a lot to be said about NASCAR and its former identity as a sport for “stupid rednecks” from the South. But the truth is, those stupid rednecks come from all over the country. Jokes aside, it is astonishing to see a team owner insulted that way, even in private messages, and Jeremy Mayfield is right. Rednecks built the sport and they continue to hold it up, too.

There can be a lot of negative connotations with redneck. As a sport, NASCAR doesn’t have to embrace that. Redneck doesn’t have to mean stupid and ignorant. It can be an embrace of pushing limits, risking your own well-being just to go fast, and a sense of freedom you can’t get anywhere else.

A lot of stupid rednecks helped break speed records only a few decades ago. They still continue to work on the cars and buy tickets to races, too. Imagine that. Jeremy Mayfield hit the nail on the head.

Because let’s be honest, as Steve Phelps pointed out, Richard Childress is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet, Phelps still sees him as nothing more than a stupid redneck. That kind of contempt, one that overlooks even the socioeconomic status of a fellow stakeholder, might be too ingrained to root out. If that is the case, NASCAR has bigger problems than text messages.