![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/spencer.jpg\")
Steve Spencer, left, and fellow Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip after a race at Fairgrounds Speedway. SUBMITTED<\/p>\nSteve Spencer, left, and fellow Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip after a race at Fairgrounds Speedway. SUBMITTED<\/p>\n
Retired racer and Fairgrounds Speedway Hall of Famer Steve Spencer was like most NASCAR fans and followers as they watched the heated court battle between the sport\u2019s owners and competitors:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was confusing,\u201d said Spencer, a Lebanon resident who was a top area racer in the 1970s and 1980s and competed periodically in NASCAR\u2019s premier Cup Series.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody had ever challenged NASCAR and won, but Michael Jordan had the money and the clout to do it,\u201d Spencer said. \u201cNow, whether that\u2019s good or bad, I can\u2019t say.\u201d<\/p>\n
A compromise was reached, with both parties expressing satisfaction with the settlement of the acrimonious court case that some feared would tear the sport apart. \u201cI still don\u2019t know who won,\u201d Spencer joked, \u201cbut I\u2019m glad it\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n
The complex battle was over charters \u2013 basically race team franchises \u2013 which are controlled by NASCAR. Jordan, who co-owns a team with driver Denny Hamlin (23XI Racing), claimed the charter system is unfair, amounting to a NASCAR monopoly.<\/p>\n
However, Hamlin testified he is paid $12 million a year to drive for a team owned by former NFL coach Joe Gibbs, plus earning an additional $3.5 million as Jordan\u2019s team partner.<\/p>\n
NASCAR said drivers like Hamlin and their teams have gotten rich under the charter system, while team owners claimed they are struggling. Under the compromise, team owners are granted more charter benefits while NASCAR retains control of the sport.<\/p>\n
Spencer is not sure if that\u2019s good or bad.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of it needs changing,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t like the playoffs, for example. I liked the old points system, where the champion was determined over the course of the season. On the other hand, I blame the owners for the costs getting out of control. Some teams are spending around $40 million per car.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was racing, you could run a full season for around $100,000. One year I had a chance to drive for Richard Childress (who later fielded cars for Dale Earnhardt) if I could come up with a $25,000 sponsorship \u2013 which I couldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spencer drove most of his Cup races for team owner Roger Hamby, who often bought used tires from better-financed teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did what we could with what we had to work with, and we raced because we loved it,\u201d Spencer said. \u201cNow it\u2019s all about money \u2013 for NASCAR, the drivers and the owners \u2014 and it has turned off a lot of fans and hurt the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of the best times of my life were when I was racing, but those days are long gone, along with the NASCAR I used to know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Spencer, left, and fellow Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip after a race at Fairgrounds Speedway. SUBMITTED Retired…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-343121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}