NASCAR: Lilly Diabetes sponsorship move a disgraceful publicity stunt

Lilly Diabetes pulling their sponsorship from Conor Daly’s car in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Road America is nothing more than a disgraceful publicity stunt.

Part-time IndyCar driver Conor Daly was set to make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in this past Saturday’s Johnsonville 180 at Road America, and he was set to do so driving the #6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with sponsorship from Lilly Diabetes. This deal was confirmed back in May.

Daly did compete in the 45-lap race around the 14-turn, 4.048-mile (6.515-kilometer) Road America road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, a track at which he had previously made two IndyCar starts, but he did so without sponsorship from the diabetes care company.

Daly, who finished the race in 31st place after starting in 15th, had his sponsorship pulled by Lilly Diabetes the day before the race.

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The company cited claims made by longtime Indianapolis Colts announcer Bob Lamey that a racial slur used by Conor Daly’s father Derek in an interview with him over 35 years ago was the reason for his sudden retirement last Sunday as their grounds for making this decision.

Derek Daly was cut from his longtime role as a WISH-TV racing analyst as a result of Lamey’s claims, which he discussed. He stated that they were inaccurate in that what was perceived as a racial slur was not a racial slur, as Daly was referring to himself and the remarks were taken completely out of context. He also stated that they were made in an interview with a different reporter, not Lamey.

You can read more about what Daly had to say about the matter in this RACER article as well as what Willy T. Ribbs, an African-American Trans Am, CART, IndyCar and NASCAR driver who was discriminated against when he drove during the 1980s and 1990s, had to say in Daly’s defense.

Here is what Lilly Diabetes said about pulling their sponsorship from Conor Daly’s #6 Ford in a statement, according to RACER.

"“Our sponsorship in Saturday’s race is intended to raise awareness of treatment options and resources for people living with diabetes. Unfortunately, the comments that surfaced this week by Derek Daly distract from this focus, so we have made the decision that Lilly Diabetes will no longer run the No. 6 at Road America this weekend. We remain committed to our mission of supporting people with diabetes.”"

Lilly Diabetes claim that they “remain committed to our mission of supporting people with diabetes”. However, that could not be further from the truth given the fact that they effectively left Conor Daly, who races with Type 1 diabetes, out to dry — for something totally unrelated to any of his actions.

Given what Derek Daly’s comments were and how he described the context of the situation during which he made them, it is more than not that what he said was truly not meant as a racial slur.

However, in the case of his son’s Xfinity Series ride, that should really be immaterial. Derek Daly and Conor Daly are two different people. Lilly Diabetes and anyone who can’t grasp that concept…well, some things are better left unsaid.

Lilly Diabetes effectively punished Derek Daly’s 26-year-old son for comments that Derek made almost a full decade before his son was born.

Referring to their focus of raising awareness of treatment options and resources for people living with diabetes, Lilly Diabetes claim that “the comments that surfaced this week by Derek Daly distract from this focus, so we have made the decision that Lilly Diabetes will no longer run the No. 6 at Road America this weekend”.

WHAT WORLD ARE THEY LIVING IN?

The only “distraction” that even semi-affected them and their sponsorship of Conor Daly’s #6 Ford was brought upon by their own decision to hold Conor Daly accountable for his father’s questionable remarks that he made more than three and a half decades ago via a pathetic display of virtue signaling.

They chose to make a big spectacle out of claims against Derek Daly for no reason other than to make themselves look “cool” and “trendy” in this day and age where everything offends everybody, and if it doesn’t, you must be doing life wrong.

The reaction of an overwhelming majority of the population upon hearing news about someone saying a bad word three and a half decades is not “Oh my gosh, boycott the company that sponsors that person’s son!” I am not going out on a limb in any way, shape or form by saying that this is especially not the case in the NASCAR world.

In other words, this “distraction” was used by the company as a publicity stunt to appease whatever part of their base they believe prioritizes companies that act as “social justice warriors” as opposed to companies that truly stand by their so-called focus.

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Lilly Diabetes knew exactly what they were doing, and what they were doing stems far beyond what we are supposed to believe is a moral obligation to remove themselves as a sponsor of a race car driven by the son of someone who may or may not have made inappropriate remarks 35 years ago. It was a publicity stunt from start to finish, and a disgraceful one at that — nothing more, nothing less.

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