Kennendale Speedway Park Promoter James Lopez issued an apology after his flagman walked off the job in the middle of a race after a dispute over a black flag.
On Saturday, July 25th, track officials black flagged I Stock driver Demetrius Carter. However, Carter appealed to Lopez, who was in the infield and seemingly communicated to him to return to the racing surface. Track officials then black flagged him again. He then returned to Lopez, who sent him back out again. At this point the track’s flagman Kevin Fry packed up his flags and left.
Fry spoke about it to the Hammer Down Racing Report, “When he stopped under me and I gave him that last black flag, I said, ‘James, I’m not going to go green until he gets off this race track.’ And then that’s when he says, ‘Who’s talking?’ And I said, ‘I’m Kevin the flagman up in the flag stand.’ He’s like, ‘Well, I’m James. I’m the promoter. And I said give him his spot back.’ And I said, ‘James, I’m not going green until he gets off the race track.’ And that’s when he said, ‘Well, I guess you need to get off the flag stand then.’ So I said, ‘Okay, dueces.'”
As for what initially drew the black flag, Fry revealed that there was contact earlier in the race between Mike Nichols and Austin Carter, but they continued to race and it did not appear to be an issue. However, Fry revealed that Demetrius Carter, the father of Austin Carter, decided to take it upon himself “to hit the 63 (Mike Nichols) under caution on the back straightaway. And I saw that 100%. And then the Race Director said the same thing. He saw it too. So we were going to black flag him and DQ him for the race for hitting underneath the caution. That’s been our rule all year long.”
Lopez issued a statement to the track’s Facebook page apologizing for the incident and indicating he would no longer interfere with Race Director Rick Stearnes’ decisions moving forward.
He wrote, “First off, I want to apologize to the fans, the drivers and the officials for the incident that occurred last Saturday night at Kennendale Speedway Park. No matter what sports you are involved in, whether it’s football, baseball, hockey, soccer or racing, you have players, coaches, managers, referees, umpires and officials, but at the end of the day, someone has to be held accountable and take responsibility for what goes on. In each event at Kennendale Speedway Park that responsibility sits squarely on my shoulders. I put my heart and soul into KSP along with Jana, Jay & Bo, along with many other employees. We always want what’s best for the race track, fans & drivers.”
“Last Saturday we had a major breakdown in the communication process between the tower and myself in the infield. I have a responsibility to the fans and drivers to accept that breakdown. I won’t put blame on any official, owner or driver. I’ll accept all those responsibilities. I brought Rick Stearnes in to be my race director. I gave him authority to make decisions and during the incident I failed to communicate better with him in the tower and make the decision to let the car in question continue to race. I accept that error and take the blame in order to prevent this breakdown from happening again,” he continued.
“Moving forward, Rick will make all the final decisions on black flags, disqualifications, lineups and oversee the racing program each night. If you have questions or concerns, you can still come and see me and we will try to work out any issues that may arise,” he declared.
He then reiterated his apology, “Again, I want to apologize for last weekend’s issue. The blame lies solely on me. Thank you to all of our fans and racers that have supported KSP over the years. We want use this as a building block to continue to make Kennendale Speedway Park one of the leaders in dirt track racing in the state of Texas.”
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