IndyCar officials are insisting that their new conduct and speech rules for people involved in the series is not a gag-order and they are right. The rules are NOT a gag-order, they are a muzzle. In an attempt to squash drivers and anyone else with an IndyCar logo on their shirt from saying anything negative, the series has rolled out rule “9.3.8 Detrimental Competitor Conduct”. In the rule are statements such as, “Competitors must be respectful, professional, fair and courteous to others. At all times, Competitors must not, attempt to, or engage in conduct or statements that in the judgment of INDYCAR….” and then it goes on to list what the driver’s and competitors cannot do. The link below has the entire rule for you to check out.

With a series that cannot draw 10,000 people to races outside of Indiana, sponsors who no doubt have to be questioning the value of their massive investments, and drivers who no one in the country knows outside of the few that actually open their mouths to say something interesting every once in a while, the last thing IndyCar needs to be worrying about is someone spouting off at a press conference. Heck, after Fontana IndyCar got more press for what Tony Kannan said than they did after the Indy 500! Outside of all this, IndyCar has an even bigger black cloud that recently popped up and that is the NHRA’s television deal which puts them on actual network airwaves a few times a year, raises the profile of the series a bunch, and officially makes them real competition for sponsor dollars, which is what keeps all of this stuff moving.

The second unintended consequence to this is the fact that the post race interviews which are normally about as exciting as watching someone drool into a cup will get even worse with the specter of someone saying something newsworthy completely removed. Reporters will stop wasting time asking good questions that will get drivers to respond after the get “no commented” to death and it will literally be a five minute exercise in canned statements, thank yous, and atta boys for the “people back at the shop”. They are also squashing the personalities of their drivers and that may be the biggest problem of all.

When everyone is saying the same thing it is like no one is saying anything. How did AJ Foyt, Parnelli Jones, and others of their ilk become American heroes? They drove like hell and they had mean streaks about 30 feet wide which would expose themselves and their own humanity right out in the open. Now, a guy opens his mouth and says something about the quality of the champagne in the winner’s circle and he’s going to get whacked. Myopia and short sighted thinking to the max here.

How long can this thing linger on for?

CLICK HERE FOR THE NEWS STORY ON THE RULES FROM RACER.COM

CLICK HERE FOR THE BRILLIANT RESPONSE BY MARSHALL PRUETT