NASCAR driver Carl Long was "forced to strip the logo of a Colorado-based marijuana vaping company from his car Friday" ahead of Saturday's Monster Energy Cup Series race after the governing body "said it violated rules governing sponsorship and paint schemes," according to the AP. The logo for Veedverks adorned Long's No. 66 for tech inspection, but a NASCAR spokesperson said that it was "never vetted and approved" for the Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway. When officials "learned of the hood logo, they had crew members remove it before the car went to the track" (AP, 5/12). In North Carolina, Jordan Anders wrote Long "drew more attention than ... he was hoping for." According to a lengthy post Saturday on his Facebook page, in his "haste to prepare his ride for Kansas, he didn’t do all the due diligence he should have." Long claimed that he submitted the sponsor for approval "thinking the company’s name was 'Veeoverks.'" NASCAR, unable to "find information on the company with the incorrect name, approved the sponsor when Long told them it was a company that sold 'vapes,' or electronic cigarette-type equipment, out of Denver." The problem arose when Long "got to Kansas with his car, emblazoned with the Veedverks logo on the hood." NASCAR "looked into the company again and found it does sell vape cartridges -- which contain THC, the main psychoactive in marijuana." Long claimed the "mix-up was just an oversight in the rush to get his Kansas effort funded." Long's last Cup race was in '09, when he was fined $200,000 for qualifying with an engine larger than the NASCAR limit, and Anders wrote for someone who has "spent eight years in the doghouse with NASCAR, it’s hard to believe Long would go to lengths to do something like this intentionally" (Greenville DAILY REFLECTOR, 5/14).
KEEP IT SIMPLE: In Daytona Beach, Ken Willis noted Cup Series teams once or twice a year used to "trot out a special paint scheme designed to hype a one-off sponsor or celebrate this or that." But now, the color patterns "seem to change from week to week, and for solid business reasons." Even the top NASCAR teams are "unable to lock down one major corporate sponsor for the entire 36-race season." Forcing these "optical calisthenics on longtime fans ... is detrimental to stock-car racing." NASCAR "totally reworked its constitution last year with the introduction of franchises, which are called charters." Willis: "Why not take the next step and assign one primary color pattern to each car?" (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 5/14).
