PRUDHOMME'S PRESS CONFERENCE GAFFE
On Monday evening, following the NHRA U.S. Nationals, public relations manager Skip Allum 
released
the following statement from team owner Don “The Snake” Prudhomme,
which is reproduced here in part. Not included are Prudhomme’s comments
regarding his team’s performance at Indy, as that’s not relevant to the
remainder of the statement, which appears to
reference CompetitionPlus.com’s coverage of his original Saturday press
announcement during which he announced that his team was seeking either
an investment partner or buyer in light of the end of his sponsorship
from U.S. Smokeless.
On Monday evening, following the NHRA U.S. Nationals, public relations manager Skip Allum released the following statement from team owner Don “The Snake” Prudhomme, which is reproduced here in part. Not included are Prudhomme’s comments regarding his team’s performance at Indy, as that’s not relevant to the remainder of the statement, which appears to
reference CompetitionPlus.com’s coverage of his original Saturday press announcement during which he announced that his team was seeking either an investment partner or buyer in light of the end of his sponsorship from U.S. Smokeless.
Here is today’s statement:
CLARIFICATION
At the onset of Don Prudhomme Racing’s Saturday press announcement, Don Prudhomme received a phone call from Gary Darcy, NHRA Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing. Those members of the news media in attendance overheard portions of Prudhomme’s conversation with Darcy, which have since been misinterpreted, taken out of context and reported on unfavorably on at least one internet website.
Following is a quote from Don Prudhomme to clarify this misunderstanding;
“I have made many friends during my 47 years of participation in NHRA events and one of the strongest friendships I have is with Gary Darcy.
He has been one of the NHRA’s greatest assets during his time with the organization and on several occasions has helped not only myself, but other teams as well,” said Prudhomme.
“I am bothered to learn there are those that have misinterpreted this casual conversation and have now positioned it as such that I have any issue or grievances with Gary, or anyone at NHRA for that matter. I have and always will be a strong supporter of the NHRA. I have given my life
to this sport and it troubles me to have my reputation with the sanctioning body put into question as it has been wrongly reported. I have spoken with Gary to clear up this misunderstanding and in addition would also ask any members of the media that have reported on this topic to issue retractions and publish these comments in their entirety.”
That is the full extent of the statement, not including, as noted above, Prudhomme’s comments regarding his team's performance at Indy.
To clarify Competitionplus.com's earlier reporting on this matter, the press conference was clearly well underway at the time Prudhomme decided to interrupt his own opening statement to accept a phone call from Mr. Darcy. Mr. Allum had already completed reading a prepared statement and had handed over the podium to Prudhomme, and he had begun speaking. It was his decision to accept the phone call, and at no time did he in any way indicate that the call was too important to ignore. Had that been the case he would have excused himself from the podium, or even stepped
out of the room to continue his conversation with Darcy. He did not do that. We reported factually, and word-for-word, Prudhomme’s side of the conversation, along with his closing comments regarding his feelings about Mr. Darcy’s ability to arrange sponsorships. Mr. Prudhomme is
responsible for his own words and actions.
Competitionplus.com stands by our story. We have reviewed the audio from the press conference in question, with the pertinent section, unedited and unexpurgated, linked below and believe you the reader can make up your own mind as to what was said.
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