Carolina Crate Modified Tour responds to Franklin County brawl

The Carolina Crate Modified Series will not issue fines or suspensions to Burt Myers and crew for the scuffle that took place on May 24 at Franklin County Speedway.

In a statement penned by series operators Keith and Wendi Graham, responsibility was placed on the track officials that interjected themselves into the scoring dispute between series officials and the Myers team. The statement said the series has never experienced a situation where ‘events spiraled out of our control’ until Franklin County.

Burt Myers and crew brawl with officials at Franklin County

Slate Myers, the 15-year-old son of legendary southern Tour Type racer Burt, was involved in a spin and there were questions about where the driver was supposed to blend back in — either at the tail end of the lead lap or at the rear of the field.

The elder Myers was adamant that it was supposed to be tail end of the lead lap and only wanted that matter reviewed, which the Grahams says they did.

“On our end, we made a scoring decision after triple checking on track positions after the call,” read the statement. “Upon review of that situation, the FloRacing broadcast verifies the final event on our end from 4 hours and 51 minutes to 4 hours and 53 minutes as we told the team at that point of our final decision, making it clear to the driver, spotter and crew members through race control and through our officials on the ground …

“They did not line up correctly and were then black flagged from the race as we (said) we would do.”

On the ensuing restart, there was an unrelated caution and the race was stopped, where a track official walked onto the track and leaned into the car driven by Slate Myers. Burt Myers said that official was poking the young driver with the stop and go sign while cussing him out.

The series statement disavowed the actions of the track official.

“We had not instructed or condoned that interaction and it was a decision made solely by the official in question either on his own accord or by instruction of the track. We had not asked for the field to be frozen nor had asked for that interaction. That interaction effectively ended our control of the race though we made a concerted effort to try and regain it.”

That’s when Burt Myers threw his headset at the rogue track official, igniting a brawl that saw the race end six laps short of its scheduled distance.

In his own social media post, Myers apologized for the optics but said he was doing what any father would do with his son saying he was being cursed at and prodded from inside the race car.

Burt Myers details his side of Franklin County incident

As a result, no major penalties will be levied against the Myers. They are however on probation through the remainder of the season.

“Let it be known that we will NOT tolerate actions unbecoming of this tour by either our organization or by the teams that compete in it. The sport deserves more than that. The fans of the sport deserve much more than that.

“Going forward, understand that we will keep a diligent eye and will not hesitate to take appropriate actions regarding the Carolina Pro Late Model and Carolina Crate Modified Series.

“It is imperative that our teams and our fans are able to compete or enjoy that competition in a safe manner and environment. We once against want to apologize to the fans our great sport, and promise to continue to work toward being as big an asset to the sport as we can manage.”