Speed suing Red Bull

[AdamS]

According to a tweet by Scott Speed, "today should be the day my lawyer files this lawsuit against Red Bull...Had to tell my loyal twitter followers before they saw it online". In a later post he made clear that he is looking for a ride for next season, "Sure not easy to find something when u start looking in December but we workin on it! Ill keep ya posted. sure we will find something".(12-8-2010)
UPDATE: The former Formula One driver finished 30th in the standings in his second year in Sprint Cup and said he was notified by fax Nov. 24 that he would not be retained for 2011 by the team operated by the Austrian-based energy drink company. "I'm obviously stupid disappointed that I didn't even get a phone call, not a conversation, not anything from anyone from Austria," Speed said Wednesday in a phone interview. "They all showed up at Miami. None of them spoke a word to me. I got a fax." Speed has said he had a contract for 2011 declined to discuss details, saying he has spoken to a lawyer about his options. "I can't describe how upset I am just over the morality of it," Speed said. "I don't understand how you can treat people like this. Whatever. I know that's not how I treat people." Speed would not comment on the terms of his Red Bull contract because of advice from his attorney. "They thought it was OK to kick me to the curb and not try to do absolutely anything for me," Speed said. "They didn't want to pay me anything. They didn't want to help me get into any other kind of ride. Nothing. They were, 'OK, we're done with you. Thank you for seven-and-a-half years.' Speed wants to continue racing stock cars and would consider a competitive Nationwide or truck team.(Scene Daily)(12-8-2010)

:noway:

 

[taz1458]

Well, when your not good, and you constantly wreck cars, do you really expect any different? Seems like if you get released anymore you have to sue the person releasing you. bunch of BS if you ask me.

 

[ValvolineMan]

If they didn't give him any notice, he might just have a case.

 

[4WideRacing]

I'm not surprised.

 

[moppenheimer]

Red Bull is shady with their drivers in series across the world. This doesn't surprise me one bit.


His rookie season was actually pretty good for a rookie. Yeah, he wasn't great this year, but how much was him and how much was the state of RBR this season...

 

[Cheeze]

Taking notes from Robby I see...

 

[Carl Robinson]

I think his point in case soley stands on the fact that he just "got a fax" other than that. He has nothing on RBR i mean heck JJ Yeley got released via text message in 08 from the 96

 

[xpress77x]

I think his point in case soley stands on the fact that he just "got a fax" other than that. He has nothing on RBR i mean heck JJ Yeley got released via text message in 08 from the 96

He is suing them for breach of contract....in the sense that they fired him without cause. Most states where you are employed requires contracted employees to be warned of subpar performance in writing before being terminated for work performance. I personally do not care for Speed, but I think a couple years in good NWS equipment will serve him well to get back to the cup series. As many people on here who state he shouldn't be in NASCAR need to stop and think that the RBR has sub-par equipment....its like playing poker with no matching cards in a deck with nothing over 5 high. I bet even JJ couldn't give that equipment a better season...their stuff is crap.

 

[HMAC80]

Wasn't there a clause in his contract saying he had to be a top 15 driver or something? At least I recall reading that, I may be mistaken.

 

[Carl Robinson]

I belive so......

 

[Gwen Cole]

I think he has good reason to sue Red Bull. Speed was with Red Bull for many years, then they fire him to, in my opinion, make room for Kasey Kahne. He was loyal to them for many years, then they just get rid of him. That just doesn't seem right to me.

:noway::noway:

 

[MillsLayne]

I think he has good reason to sue Red Bull. Speed was with Red Bull for many years, then they fire him to, in my opinion, make room for Kasey Kahne. He was loyal to them for many years, then they just get rid of him. That just doesn't seem right to me.

:noway::noway:

It does suck what happened to Speed, but Red Bull didn't do anything illegal as far as I know. He had a performance clause in his contract and he didn't fulfill it, so they gave him the boot. For Kasey Kahne, probably, but that's the move they wanted to make with their team.

 

[Clutch]

People, morals and legalities are 2 very different things.

If it's true and Speed had a clause that stipulated a top 15 points finish, then he didn't fulfil his contract and was thus liable to contract termination if that's what was provided for in the document.

If there are none of these things, and he was unfairly dismissed, he may very well have a case.

 

[DPawlak]

He trying to get some cash out of RED BULL because he knows he'll be sitting on his couch next season instead of behind the wheel of a car every Sunday next season.

 

[MattSRD28]

 

[Mike24]

While he did have a performance clause, we don't know the exact specifics of what it was all about, other than the top 15 criterion. There may have been other things in that deal that were breached...otherwise he wouldn't be suing them. This does not seem like something he would do if he didn't have a real case...he is waaay too easy going of a person to get tied up in this sort of thing. He kept saying he would have a ride next year, even knowing he would not fulfill the performance clause...so I really think that there was something else in that contract that was misplayed by Red Bull.

I believe he also may be doing this out of bitterness, because RBR, his home for 7.5 years, dropped him unceremoniously.



I like Speed. I want him to succeed, because NASCAR needs a personality like his to shake things up from the normal corporate bland image. I really hope he finds something. He's talented, but hasn't had much of anything around him in two years at the Cup level to really develop. Given a solid NWide ride and some veteran help, he would be title worthy in that series next year, and go Cup again in 2012.


Good luck, Scott.

 

[Fisha695]

Scott is basically suing on what I've dubbed "The Elliot Sadler Grounds".

Scott & RedBull knew he wasn't gonna be on the team next year well before this season ended, because there was well simply no way for him to meet his performance clause. However while he was under contract he was prohibited from looking for another ride. So the reason he is suing is that he feels they intentionally waited to tell him that he would not be back next season until it was too late for him to find a good quality ride when infact they could have told him back in like August. Which is basically what Elliot Sadler sued for.

However there is a difference, in Scotts contract it said "If at the end of the season you are not in X place in points we can fire you", whereas in Sadlers he had another year left and they essentially bought him out but he didn't want to be bought out.

Scotts entire lawsuit is really based on a Moral argument not any sort of legal one like Sadlers was as RedBull was 100% legally right to do what they did.

I do find it funny though, Scott is the one that got AJ fired, Scott & AJ from the time they were young & in karts did not see eye-to-eye for the longest time, when Scott came over he told RedBull the only way he'll race in Cup is if AJ is not his teammate.

RedBull owes Scott nothing though, if anything he owes them as they went out of their way (the actual RedBull company not the NASCAR team) to pay for his Doctor Appointments/Treatments/Medicine for Ulcerative Colitis dating back to when he first join the company in his F3 days right on up through his NASCAR days.

 

[undedavenger]

Look, the bottom line is, legally you can can anyone for anything in this country. There were no personal considerations involved, only business decisions. He was not discriminated against. He basically sucked all year. Right now, with money so tight, a team cannot hang onto a lousy driver out of some sense of loyalty. He sucked, so he got booted. (Not that Kasey did much better this year)

An employer is not your friend, no matter how many years you have been with them. They will always be more concerned with their bottom line that they are in keeping you.

This is the rule in every other job, why would it be different in NASCAR?

 

[Fisha695]

Here is something I want to know.

If they (RedBull) go back through Scotts Twitter/Facebook/etc and look for any mention of "Hey do you think you have a Truck/Car I could drive next year" that was posted before he was actually released could RedBull actually sue him for Breach of Contract?

I mean in that case I'm sure Scotts defense would be "I tweeted that in a joking manner" or something like that, but could something like that be used as evidence for Breech of Contract by looking for a ride before he was legally allowed to?

 

[Mike24]

^He has never said anything like that on Twitter...

He's one of the 6-7 drivers I follow on Twitter...and I get every tweet, so no...

I still don't get all of the hating on Scott...he's not a very polarizing figure. Just a guy in a bum situation, that we know nothing of the specifics. Everyone is just assuming he is suing over morality...when we just don't know everything that was in the contract and promised to him.

One of his latest tweets was in response to something like this when he said. and I am paraphrasing... "Do you really think I'd waste money on a lawyer if I didn't think I didn't have a case?"