Remember the Speak-N-Spell?

Back in 1978 Texas Instruments came out with the ingenious toy call the Speak-N-Spell. Now one make be asking just what good would a Nascar Crew Chief do with such a child's toy, but seeing Elliott Sadler go through crew chief after crew chief, maybe a different approach might be needed and Texas Instruments might be able to help. Or even Best Buy for that matter.

We have come to know (and some love) what is now being called 'Sadlereese' . 'Sadlereese' is the common but unique southern draw and accent of the driver of the 19 car. But maybe the problems Sadler has had the past 4 or so years is not that the CC is not listening to Sadler's feedback, but that can't 'hear' it. Remember the great words of Sidney Dean in "White Men Can't Jump"?

"Look man, Your can listen to Jimi but you can't hear him. There's a difference man. Just because your listening to him doesn't mean you're hearing him."

RodneyChilders, here is a quick reference or cheat sheet might help out with the 19 team's communication: or in 'Sadlereese' - commuunikayshun

The car, the team, hard work and happy -- The cah, the teyuhm, haarrd wuurk an hayuhppy

Motorcoach playing X-Box -- Motuhcowuhch playuhn Ehx-baawkx

You got me, birdman? -- Ya gowuht me, birdmayuhn?

10-4 -- Teyuhn-fowuh

The car doesn’t like this set of tires…-- The cah duhsn’t liike this seyuht of tahrs…

Were these the same set of codes?? -- Were theyse th’ sayuhm seyuht of cowduhs??

Go back to the way it was before -- Go bayuhk to the waay it wuuz befowuh

This is by far the worst the car has been all weekend -- This is bah fawuh the wuust the cah has beyuhn all weekeyuhnd…

You the man, Brett -- You da mayuhn Breyuhtt.

Football -- foowbaawuh?

Please, Please, Please, what ever you do, don’t make the car any looser! -- Puh-leeuhze, Puh-leeuhze, Puh-leeuhze, whut evah ya do, dowuhn’t mayuhk th’ cah eeny loowsuh!

Track position is going to be really really important --Trayuhk powzehshuhn gonna be reyuhlly reyuhlly impowduhnt

Top 10 car -- Tawuhp teyuhn cah

The guys on the team worked really really hard --The gauhs owhn da teyuhm wuhkuhd reyuhlly reyuhlly haawuhd

Really really bad luck -- Reyhully reyuhlly bayuhd luukh

I’m looking forward to next weekend -- Ahm luukin’ fowwaad ta neyuhxt weykeyuhd…

Emporia – Empowreeuh

Charlotte – Shawlawuht

Best Buy – Bess’Baauh

Stanley – Stayuhnlayuh

Siemens - Seemiins

Dodge - Daawuhgh

Coca Cola – Caouwkuh Couwluh

Allstate – Allstaayuh

Nascar – Naascah

Gillette Evernham Motorsports – G’lett Evernhayuhm Mowtuhspowuhts

Elliott & Hermie Sadler Foundation – Elleeyut ayun’ Huhrmee Saaluh Fowuhdayshun

VLP - Victorhy Layuhn Playuhs Cluuhb

Poker - Powkuh

Sheridan Ridge – Sheruhdun Rayuhdge

Woods – wuuds

Springs – sprayuhngs

Shocks – shaawuhks

Car of Tomorrow – cah uh tomawwuh

Bump stop – buhhump staawuhp

Spring rubber – sprayuhng ruhhbuhh

Track bar - Traak bawuh

Wedge – Weyuhdge

tight - tyuht

Loose - Loowuhs

Center off - Cennuh owuhff

10-4 -- Teyuhn-fowuh

Wheel chatter - Wheeuhl chayttuh

Forward bite - Fowaad biite

Wheel hop – whayle haawuhp

Or if worse comes to worse, maybe the 19 team can just start listening to Jimi. Rodney you really can hear him!

FedEx, Best Buy and AT&T, oh my!

Quick, what do these three companies have in common? Easy answer is that they all sponsor a Cup team. More difficult answer is that they are all are involved in multi million dollar judgments against their companies.

AT&T just recently agreed to a settlement that could result in over 10 million dollars returned to costumers and will also will pay 2.5 million dollars to the State of Florida and contribute $500,000 to a ‘safe internet’ customer protection group. All total, in Florida alone, the bill to AT&T could be as high as 13 million dollars. While not a complete primary sponsorship for a Cup season, it is about 2/3 of one. Problem is, that this judgment is only for one state, there could also be 49 states to go. We all know that AT&T wants to continue their Nascar sponsorship despite agreeing in principle to leave and not compete with the title sponsor, but if more of this type of settlement is required in the future, there may not be the dollars to hand over to a Cup team.

Best Buy was handed a 54 million dollar tort claim for misplacing a customer’s laptop that was under a Best Buy extended warranty and as being serviced. On the surface, 54 million dollars might seem extreme, however the Best Buy customer in question was very thorough in her documentation of the many contacts, and customer service reps she spoke with over a course of just a few months after purchasing the laptop. Best Buy not only gave her the run around, but flat out lied to her about this situation.

Once Best Buy finally admitted that the lap top was never serviced but missing, Best Buy offered her a $900 in-store gift certificate for a defected laptop she paid over $1,100 just three months before. Not to mention the lost personal data and software she had purchase. (At Best Buy) t was not until she contact the Attorney General’s Office in Washington D.C. that Best Buy offered the full purchase price plus a $500 in-store gift certificate, but the person in question had enough.

She had originally asked Best Buy for $2,100 but always was denied. It was not until she filed the 54 million dollar suit that Best Buy agreed to her original offer, however Best Buy has another problem. Her personal information and even tax returns were stored on the laptop’s hard drive and Best Buy had violated Washington security breach notification laws by not telling her about the potential identity loss. To date, Best Buy still has not followed federal law and notified her. 54 million dollars might sound high, but then again that is about 2 ½ seasons of primary Cup sponsorship.

But probably the Cup sponsor that maybe hit the must in the pocketbooks is the recent IRS judgment against Federal Express of 319 million dollars. That’s right, 319 million clams! Turns out that FEDEX has been wrongfully claiming that their FEDEX Ground drivers were independent contractors and because of that, federal withholding taxes were not the responsibility of FEDEX. The IRS doesn’t agree. But the catch is that this 319 million is JUST FOR 2002! The IRS is also investigating from 2003 to 2006, probing if workers were wrongly classified in order for FEDEX to gain tax benefits. To make matters worse for FEDEX, FEDEX is involved in 24 different state lawsuits that are investigating the same issue, so the company could be on the hook for even more taxes and penalties across the country on its classification of drivers as contractors rather than full employees. Adding to its woes, FedEx also received a grand jury subpoena from the Department of Justice for documents, investigating possible price-fixing among airfreight forwarders.

So the next time a Cup sponsorship ‘pulls out’ of Nascar, it may not be because of the failure of drivers like Jeff Burton, Denny Hamlin, Elliott Sadler, or the team, or even the common theme that ‘Nascar is in a downward trend’, it may have more to do with the financial position of the company and their own legal problems.