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Tuesday, July 3 France, Helton: NASCAR hasn't lied ESPN.com news serices NASCAR's top two officials admitted Monday night to making mistakes in the organization's investigation of the crash that killed Dale Earnhardt in February, taking exception with newspaper stories that have implied NASCAR officials may be lying or covering something up. "Well, first place, we have not lied, OK?" NASCAR Chairman Bill France said on MSNBC's The News with Brian Williams. "And the second thing is, there's been some corrections. We may have made some comments that we have regretted, but it's never been the intention of lying, and it's all gonna be on the table sometime in August. There are some things we have done in this investigation that we, if we had it to do over again, we would do it different." NASCAR President Mike Helton said: "It's incorrect to announce that NASCAR has lied about anything. We may not talk out publicly until we're sure about answers. But that doesn't mean we're lying about things." France said NASCAR officials should have done a better job in interviewing emergency medical technician Tommy Propst, who contends that Earnhardt's left lap belt did not break during the crash, disputing NASCAR accounts. "We would have interviewed him, you know, moments after the -- or within -- in the next day when we interviewed the other two people," France said. "That was a mistake on our part. We don't question what he said as far as what he made the comment, in his opinion, the seat belt was not separated. ... So we're not disputing what he's saying; we don't agree with it." Although only highlights of the interview appeared on MSNBC, the full text appeared on MSNBC.com. In it, both France and Helton said NASCAR did not need an independent investigator to look into this crash or others, much as the National Traffic Safety Board looks into air crashes. "Motor sports is a sport. It's a closed sport -- not a public transportation," France said. "And the investigative process of what happened, in our form of motor sports, at least, is done by the community of NASCAR. By NASCAR as an officiating group and -- and as a business entity, but more importantly by the crew members and the crew chiefs and the car-builders and -- and the different specialists that exist in NASCAR's community." France disagreed with comments from Darrell Waltrip that NASCAR should require that drivers use a neck restraining device. "The developer of the HANS device himself, Jim Downey, Dr. Hubbard, have -- have said that we're not ready -- to be universal with these elements," France said. "Other forms of motor sports have taken positions similar to NASCAR's -- between recommending and mandating. So I -- I take exception to what Darrell said."  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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