What could we Surmise about you?
I am curious. How much money does ROAR contribute to these World Class racers and their trip to the Worlds? Is ROAR a financial backer of "Team USA"?
In most sports the athletes wear the shirts of the people paying them the money.
I can see the requirement of a ROAR logo of a certain size needing to be on the shirt but what about the sponsors of the racers, they are the ones putting up the money! Why shouldn't they get the attention and coverage at the opening ceremonies?
EXACTLY, why in the world would they bother showing up to the opening ceremony if its optional. Especially if they show up only to be penalized.
Oh right, read Mr Lutz reply below. Apparently he was asked too....
I haven't met you, don't know anything about you, but it appears that you don't mind passing judgment on others without complete information.
Its interesting about this "TEAM USA". I have yet to see any print ads or internet ads about "TEAM USA" at the worlds. Where is the benefit of "TEAM USA"?
I see some $10 t shirts that don't even have a decent size American Flag on it?? I see ROAR in big letters and a little American flag 1/2 of the size. I think you mean to say its the ROAR team.
Well said Mr Lutz. I do love how people are so quick to judge with so little information.
I am especially disappointed about the people who are close (or pretend to be close) to the situation and their comments on how this suspension is warranted. If the team manager (as said in his own words) asked the drivers to be a part of the ceremony and the drivers (for what ever reason) didn't have a shirt then the responsibility fully lands on the team manager.
After all it says in the rule that its "Optional" to attend.
I would like to personally thank the team manager Kendall Bennett for doing what few men have the guts to do these days; standing up and taking responsibility for his actions.
Here are his words off NEobuggy
Ok, I have to step in and say my piece about this. Firstly, nobody is actually getting suspended. It is a warning at this time.
Now, I was the USA Team Manager and the worlds, and I was responsible for drivers being in the procession without the necessary attire. I was informed by the ROAR president before I headed to the Worlds, that drivers would be handed our suspensions if they did not have shirts at the event, and that I was responsible for making sure they either had a shirt, or were not in the procession.
Before the ceremony I talked to as many drivers as I could and quickly discovered that some drivers simply did not have shirts for various reasons. Some of them claimed they never actually got the shirts that were supposed to be sent to them prior to the event. ROAR says that everybody was sent shirts, but in the end, we all know the postal service is not 100% and some may have simply gotten lost in the post (or maybe some never had them sent due to a clerical error). Some guys had left them behind by accident.
In the end I went and spoke to Bob Ingersol, who was the ROAR referee at the event and we had a discussion about what we should do. It was decided that given that we felt some drivers simply did not have shirts due to reasons they had no control over, that it was more important to have all the drivers for the USA team in the photo, than for everyone to have a shirt on. So I made the executive decision at the event to let everyone be in the procession, shirt or not. Clearly I wanted everyone to have a shirt if they had them (and I gave up my extra shirt for someone to wear), but I felt it was necessary to fully represent the entire team at the Worlds.
I did inform ROAR of my decision after the event and why I made it.
I have also informed ROAR that it is my stance on this issue that I feel it is completely naïve of ROAR to not expect that some guys WON’T have shirts at EVERY SINGLE EVENT. Murphy’s law tells us that shit happens. And with a team that big, someone is always going to not have a shirt. So the solution, as I have told ROAR, is that if it is that important to ROAR that we present a unified front and everyone needs to wear a shirt, that a supply of extra shirts in various sizes be sent to the event so they will be waiting for the USA team manager when he/she arrives at the hotel. That way, if drivers are missing their shirt for any reason, they can pay $15 and get a new shirt to wear. If we do this at the next Worlds event, I guarantee that everyone in the picture will have a shirt.
Regards, Kendall Bennett,
I have other thoughts on this but its not directly on topic so i started another thread here.
Team ROAR or Team USA?