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April 12, 2007

Lies, Damn Lies, and PR-
Michael Waltrip's Wild Adventure
By Dennis Michelsen
Remember that old adage about the scariest two words you can hear from a politician…trust me? I get that same feeling whenever I read a PR release from NASCAR or one of its teams when there is an incident on or away from the track. One of these days our friendly NASCAR PR writers will win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction writing! This week racing veteran Michael Waltrip rolls his SUV while driving home late at night on an off weekend. "I was almost home. I relaxed a little bit and ran off the road," Waltrip explained. Sure that seems possible…until you dig into the facts of the story a little deeper.

Walked Home But No One Home
After the news of Michael Waltrip's accident got out his explanation was quite simple. He simply fell asleep at the wheel and drove off the side of the road. But as often in the case in a NASCAR related mystery the facts seem to get in the way with the statements. Waltrip says he instinctively got out of his car, and then decided to walk home because he often runs the route and was only a mile away. But when officers showed up at his house around 2:30am after finding his car on the road, Michael Waltrip was not home. Perhaps the officers got to the house before Waltrip, but wouldn't they have stuck around or noticed him walking down the road since they used that same road to get to his house? Sometimes it is better to say nothing in a PR release rather than set up a "Three Bears Story" that will lately be trumped by the facts!

Alien Abduction
Since Michael Waltrip Racing has had so many issues this season on and now off the track I am here to volunteer my services. My advice is simple…if you plan to make something up make it a story that is so bizarre that no one can prove it is false! Perhaps the suggestion could have been made that Michael was busy working on secret testing of new Toyota technology to improve his race team. But on the way home the new hi-tech super secret headgear failed causing him to lose sight of the road and crash! Then again maybe a better philosophy is to go with something more plausible. I suggest a good old-fashioned alien abduction as the failsafe explanation next time!

This has not been a season to remember for Michael Waltrip. He has failed to make it into the show at every race except the Daytona 500. At Daytona his team was caught cheating and the rogue crewmember theory was used! Now a personal problem has emerged and once again the credibility of the story is in question. Why don't we believe anything we read from NASCAR PR people? They are so busy trying to cover everyone's butt they lose the truth in the complicated twisting of the news! Just what happened on that dark and lonely highway at 2am Saturday morning? Only Michael Waltrip and any varmints out and about have any clue what really happened. But the lack of truth in the past from PR mouthpieces makes the fans guess the worst! In racing there are lies, damn lies, and PR releases.