NASCAR Conflicted on Pulling Out of Russia - #60
By Valerie Yang
DALLAS, TEXAS – Howard “Gunner” Jeckers sat before me poking his jam on toast. “I like my jam thick like toast and my toast soft like jam. Does that there logic make sense?” He then got a phone call; we were in a quiet diner with three old men in the corner playing dominoes. I overheard his resulting exchange.
“Hey Peter Jean Short Jones,” Jeckers started. “How’s it going, cowboy?”
“Not good, Gunner. Are you around tomorrow at 10am?”
“I think I got a meetin’ with Jackie Ferns at that there time.”
“Tell him to look at next week. We need to tell Kuznetsov. We’ve been stalling for two weeks.”
“You’re right. I’ll text Ferns.”
He hung up the phone, went to his text messages – “Apologies,” he told me, “One more second,” – sent a message that had way too many sad face emojis, and put away his phone. Jeckers chugged his coffee, then asked me, “What was your question again?”
It has been three weeks since Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. The subsequent backlash was brutal; brands around the globe have pulled their business operations and upcoming events out of Russia. Recently, FIFA and Formula One have stated they are foregoing their 2022 events in Moscow. Starbucks and Airbnb are providing relief for Ukrainian refugees. It’s a no-brainer for the world’s CEOs: Russia bad, Ukraine good. Except for NASCAR’s very own, Howard Jeckers.
“Gunner”, as he was called by his father John Jeckers, the founder of NASCAR, was debating with his staff about their branch based in Russia. “Many folks don’t know that NASCAR is racing over there, but them Russians love it!” Jeckers explained. And many Americans, particularly in the South, love the motorsport as well. It all started on February 24th, 2022 when Putin invaded Ukraine. The NASCAR headquarters in Dallas went silent. According to Peter Jones, the company’s chief of marketing, “We were just glued to the TV, you know? Then I said to Gunner ‘Hey… when are we going to talk to Fyodor Kuznetsov?’ and Gunner looked at me like a deer in headlights. And then said, ‘Who’s Fyodor?’”
Fyodor Kuznetsov is the head of NASCAR’s Russia division. During a swift Zoom call between Jeckers, Jones, and Kuznetsov on the week of the invasion, an analyst, who chose not to be named, entered the virtual meeting with a blunt statement: “Our fans are mainly Republicans. Republicans like Trump. Trump likes Putin. Therefore, NASCAR fans like Putin. Here are the charts.” The analyst shared his screen, and the Zoom went quiet. “Those are pretty damn big numbers there, Charlie,” Jeckers said. (The analyst’s name is not “Charlie”.) The dilemma came into full view: Many US fans of NASCAR lean more favorable towards Putin than their own president, Joe Biden. If they pulled out of Russia, there would be backlash from their American audience, but staying in Russia would anger business partners and, ironically, their audience in Russia since that would be seen as support for the autocratic leader.
They were confused and didn’t know what to do next. “I started calling everybody,” Jones said to me during our phone interview. “I spoke to consultants, investors, board members, but information and guidance wasn’t clear cut from anyone. Then Gunner came into my office with a big smile and said ‘Let’s get that there Mexican guy Stephen Dominican on the phone!’ and he looked around the office and saw everyone’s faces were uncomfortable and then said ‘I think he’s Mexican? His name sounds Mexican.’ — He’s Italian.”
That afternoon, they were talking to “Dominican”, the CEO of the Formula One Group, over Zoom. “There was a dang lotta shouting coming from that man’s mouth,” Jeckers said. “My mother, bless her soul, she’d be dead if she heard what swear words he was using. Well, she’s already dead, but you catch my drift.” Jones’s reaction to him was different. “It was a call laden with profanity, yes – that is besides the point – he was painting a picture of pure catastrophe if we pulled out of Russia. He grabbed [the analyst from before] into the Zoom meeting, and told him to run the numbers if we stayed and simply changed the name. Kind of like how Russia competes in the Olympics as ROC or how Burger King in Australia is called Hungry Jacks. Our analyst came back and said our chances of backlash would be practically zero. Nobody would know about NASCAR staying in Russia if we just rebranded. It was the dumbest yet smartest thing I think I’ve ever heard. Then Stephen said ‘Now if you’ll excuse me, I have meeting with my mistress’ and dropped off the Zoom.”*
Jones then became quiet on the phone with me; I heard him sip his tea and his tone became serious. “I don’t think I had more trouble sleeping in my life. What the fuck were we going to name NASCAR in Russia?”
Jeckers kept playing with his jam on toast. The waitress came over with the ticket. “I got this,” he said to me, then gave the waitress a random dollar bill from his wallet without looking. “Do you have smaller bills, sir?” the waitress asked. He grabbed his dollar bill back, counted out a series of crumpled $1s, and gave them to the waitress. She left, then he said, “Let’s get outta here, I gotta get back to the office! Important people await me!” I then pointed out he left his wallet on the table. “Jesus Christ, Lord almighty! Thank you m’am!”
As we were waiting for his Uber on the curb, I commented, “You still have not answered my question.” I then asked him for the fourth and final time in our interview: “What are you going to rebrand NASCAR Russia as?”
“Well, you know, I remembered talking to my family about this one night during dinner, and you know, my wife Judy and my son Connor love NASCAR and go to all the races, and my son, you know, he’s actually a big fan of Russian history. He just devours that stuff like a fly on stink. And he was fascinated with the issue and suggested we change NASCAR Russia to something more Russian-y sounding rather than changing the actual name. I thought, what a bright idea, this kid’s going one day to Rice. So after some thought, I told the folks back at the office the next day that we’re calling it NAZKAR. No more debate! This is the official rebrand!”
On my phone interview with Jones, when I asked him what his opinion was of NAZKAR, he responded, “No comment.”
“Good, ain’t it?” he said like a kid showing a picture they’ve drawn. “I’m going to bring it up tomorrow at 10AM to Fyodor. NASCAR will stay in Russia, Kuznetsov will keep his job, and everyone will be okay. It’s a win-win-win!”
“But doesn’t that ruin the acronym?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” His Uber then arrived.
“NASCAR is an acronym. NAZKAR does not fit that acronym.”
Jeckers stared at me for a few moments.
I repeated what I said. “NASCAR is an acronym…”
“Right,” he replied. “We’ll be in touch Miss Yang.”
Jeckers entered his Uber and left.
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(*Editors Note: We reached out to the CEO of Formula One Group, Stefani Donemicalo, about his conversation with Jeckers and Jones. His statement: “I’a don’t know’a why’y Howie keeps’a thinkin’ I’m’a Mexican? I’a explained to him that he’s not’a in a good position, and to think about’a the long game’a. Stay in’a Moscow, I said to him, as his American audience’a loves that’a bastard Putin, but change tha’ fuckin’ name! It’s simple. Do it, and move on! Now if you’ll ah’ excusa’ me, I have’a meeting with my mistress – goodbye.” And he hung up on us. He ends all calls like that, apparently.)
Valerie Yang has been a staff writer for The New Yorkah since 2015. She is the writer of “Fast and Female: The Overlooked Legends of 20th Century Racing”.