NASCAR Chairman Brian France on
Thursday told reporters that the sport opposes a North Carolina law
that targets the LGBT community, but rejected being part “of a
bunch of threats.”
After noting that NASCAR opposed a
similar law last year in Indiana, France explained that NASCAR
“doesn't like” discrimination but wanted to be “part of a
solution.”
“In this instance, we take the
position that any discrimination, unintended or not, we’re on the
other side, we don’t like that,” France
said. “We are working, including myself, behind scenes to the
extent, again, we’re not a political institution, we don’t
obviously set political agendas and write laws, but to the extent we
can, express our values to policy makers – in this case, North
Carolina, we will and we do.”
“We try to be part of a solution, not
part of a bunch of threats. Truthfully. But we’re very direct
about it and I think, we just do our part. We always like to think we
take a lot out of the communities that run our events and do business
in North Carolina. Case in point, when we’re asked to put back into
these communities, be a part of these communities, big decisions and
small decisions, we want to be there doing that.”
“We're just one small piece of the
fabric. We want to play our role but not overstate our role,” he
added.
NASCAR has offices and its hall of fame
in Charlotte. Additionally, the Charlotte Motor Speedway hosts a
yearly race on Memorial Day weekend. And most of the teams are based
around Charlotte, making North Carolina the sport's epicenter.
When Georgia was considering a similar
bill, the NFL made it clear that the legislation threatened Atlanta's
bid to host a Super Bowl. And the NBA has threatened to move next
year's All-Star Game over North Carolina's law.
(Related: NBA's
Adam Silver says North Carolina risks losing All-Star Game over
anti-gay law.)