Highlights

NASCAR drivers on own to plan for future

(AP)
Updated: 2007-02-07 09:16

In a world of million-dollar motorhomes, private jets and McMansions on nearby Lake Norman, it's hard to argue NASCAR drivers are underpaid. But all that wealth can't hide this fact: No major league takes a more hands-off approach toward its competitors' future than NASCAR.

"You really have to plan for things you don't think are going to happen," said veteran Jeff Burton, who cautions fellow drivers to spend, save and invest conservatively because a career-ending injury could lurk around the next turn.

"You have to paint a worst-case scenario," he said.

In this photo provided by The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Mike Helton, center, president of NASCAR, signs a contract extension for Goodyear to continue as the exclusive tire provider to NASCAR through 2012, at Goodyear's annual dealer conference in Orlando, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 3, 2007. Looking on are Robert Keegan, left, Goodyear chairman and CEO, and NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip, right. [AP]

At a time when nearly every other major sport has some sort of pension program for athletes past and present, NASCAR does nothing.

Drivers are beginning to wonder why.

"It doesn't mean that we need to be paid more in salary," said Tony Stewart, a two-time Cup champion. "But it'd be nice to see them take care of us after we race, or take care of the ones that came up before."

In a sport that celebrates rugged individualism and personal responsibility, drivers are on their own to prepare for life after racing.

NASCAR vice president of communications Jim Hunter said that because NASCAR is not structured like other sports, it isn't fair to make a direct comparison on pension plans.

"We are not like other sports," Hunter said. "The drivers are not employees of NASCAR. They're independent contractors."

Unlike their crew members, who get full benefits and 401(k) plans from their teams, drivers are responsible for their finances, health care, retirement and life insurance.

Although NASCAR has discussed a pension fund before, Hunter said the idea never went anywhere because of the difficulty of determining who might be eligible.

Would crew members get money, too? And what about Busch and Craftsman Truck series drivers?

And, of course, somebody would have to pay.

Hunter said NASCAR hypothetically could take a slice out of each race's prize-money pool to fund a pension, but wondered how that would be any better for drivers.

"Would the money be better served in a pension fund or being paid out now to where guys can set aside money on their own?," Hunter said.

When it comes to talk of funding a pension, many in the garage area privately point to the staggering 65 percent chunk of television contract revenue that goes to racetracks — 12 of which, including Daytona International Speedway, are owned by International Speedway Corp., a company run by the same France family that controls NASCAR.