"Phelps referred to Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress as an "idiot" and a "stupid redneck" who "needs to be taken out back and flogged.""
"That prompted Bass Pro Shops founder and CEO Johnny Morris - whose company is a longtime sponsor of NASCAR and some of its teams, including Richard Childress Racing - to release a scathing statement calling out Phelps for being "not capable of being fair and objective when it comes to impartially enforcing the rules and regulations that govern the sport.""
"Morris also suggested that a hypothetical MLB commissioner who made such disparaging remarks about any baseball legend "most likely wouldn't, or shouldn't, keep his or her job for very long.""
Steve Phelps will step down as NASCAR commissioner and leave the company by the end of the month after more than 20 years. Text messages Phelps sent during contentious revenue-sharing negotiations surfaced during a federal antitrust trial and included derogatory remarks about Hall of Fame team owner Richard Childress, calling him an "idiot" and a "stupid redneck" who "needs to be taken out back and flogged." Sponsor Johnny Morris condemned Phelps as "not capable of being fair and objective" and said a comparable baseball commissioner "most likely wouldn't, or shouldn't, keep his or her job for very long." NASCAR will redistribute Phelps's duties with no immediate replacement planned. Phelps rose from vice president of corporate marketing in 1995 to the newly created commissioner position last March.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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