NASCAR�s �Fine� Decision To Help Charity

Fines are commonplace in all of professional sports from basketball, football, baseball to hockey. Every time a player does something wrong or commits an act deemed inappropriate and then subsequently earns the ire of league officials, they get fined. Depending on the gravity of the offense committed, the amount of the fine imposed on the player/s can range from minuscule to outrageous. Of course, NASCAR isn�t excluded from the list of sport associations that don�t impose fines. Over the years, NASCAR has imposed and collected numerous fines from race car drivers who had the guts (or lack of brain cells) to do something outrageous that goes against league rulings. However, the good part about NASCAR imposing fines now is what they plan to do with it after it�s collected. Effective this season, NASCAR has announced that all fines imposed on race car drivers will automatically go to the NASCAR Foundation.

During the previous seasons, the fines that were imposed on racers were collected and then given out at the end of the season to winners, giving them an advantage of actually getting back the money they lost. While the initial set-up seemed okay since not all who get fined are guaranteed to get their money back (but will only have an opening to do so), at least now, the money they lost will be used for a good cause since it will end up going to the charities sponsored by the NASCAR Foundation like Kyle and Pattie Petty�s Victory Junction Gang Camp and Speedway Children�s Charities and the other charitable institutions it supports.

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France had this to say regarding the decision to have the fines donated to charity. �Now that the NASCAR Foundation is well established and supporting dozens of charitable organizations it is the logical place for fine money to be distributed.�

Added Sandy Marshall, executive director of the NASCAR Foundation,
�We are excited to be able to work with our charities and help them develop a program that will maximize the impact they can have with their organizations.�

Now you have to wonder how the NASCAR drivers will react to this. Will they end up calling their accountants to determine if the fines imposed on them, once donated to charity, could be tax-deductible? Or better yet, now that it benefits them, will these charitable institutions exert any means necessary to find ways to agitate the race car drivers in order for them to get fined? Now wouldn�t that be something?

Sources: autoblog.com, lasvegassun.com, scenedaily.com