Welcome to the brand new Trading Paint! mailbag. Long viewed as the most popular feature on Yahoo’s NASCAR page, we have given new life and a new home to what was a big fan favorite.
For those of you that were wondering what happened to both Trading Paint and myself, the simple answer is I was laid-off by Yahoo on Dec. 31, 2008. When I went, Trading Paint also went, unfortunately.
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It still hurts greatly that Yahoo got rid of the first sport-specific writer it ever hired, someone who was there from the beginning when Yahoo Sports wasn’t even a blip on the radar screen of the sports world, and who in 4 ½ years helped build it into the No. 1 most popular sports site in the world, and the No. 2 most popular NASCAR destination – read more often than NASCAR content on sites like ESPN.com, FoxSports.com, CBSSports.com, etc.
I don’t blame the folks in Yahoo Sports for what happened to me. They treated me great in my time there and I remain friends with almost everyone there.
But I do hold in great contempt the narrow-minded, shortsighted individuals higher up on the corporate ladder that felt NASCAR just wasn’t important enough to maintain regular at-track coverage – not taking our loyal readership base into consideration whatsoever. It amazes me how other sports at Yahoo can have three or four or more full-time writers, but that it couldn’t sustain even one full-time NASCAR writer.
I also can proudly say that it was our unique brand of NASCAR coverage that brought in millions of readers and, just as importantly, millions of advertising dollars into corporate coffers, only to be laid-off with no severance or any real recognition for what I helped build.
Since so many of you have written in asking me for details of my departure, all I can say is I won’t mention how I offered to take a 50 percent pay cut (and eliminate benefits) to keep my job. I also won’t mention how Yahoo had no conscience releasing me just over two months after my wife was severely injured in an accident at work that has left her permanently crippled. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, indeed!
And I also won’t mention how I came back after almost dying from a near-fatal prescribed drug interaction last March on my wife and daughter’s birthday, or how my fellow NASCAR writer came back from a valiant battle with cancer – also to be laid-off, as well.
I guess so much for loyalty and being a “valued” member of the Yahoo family – an oxymoron if I ever heard it. It’s not a surprise that so many good people have left the company recently – many, like me, not by choice.
Needless to say, since myself and the other full-time NASCAR writer were laid-off, Yahoo’s NASCAR readership has taken a huge dive downward. I hope the corporate bean-counters are happy with the money they’ve “saved,” at the expense of losing so many of their regular readers – not to mention valued and deep-pocketed sponsors.
I would love to see a massive online petition from readers to Yahoo’s new CEO seeking to bring me back, but something tells me she’s like most of the other corporate bigwigs there: she’s not a NASCAR fan.
Okay, now that that’s finally off my chest, let’s get ready to trade some paint for the first time in 2009. Ideally, I hope to have a new mailbag every week – but excuse me if I occasionally get delayed while STILL trying to find a new job in this terrible economic and employment climate.
I apologize it’s taken longer than I thought to pull this first mailbag together, but you know the old saying: the first time is always the toughest. It’ll be much smoother sailing from here on out, I promise. I apologize for the length of this edition of TP, but after all, there’s three months of correspondence to catch up on. As always, my answers are in italics. Catch us again next week for the next installment of TP.
Oh, one more thing: to be considered for future mailbags, please send your e-mail with your FULL NAME and city and state you reside in to Motorsportwriter@MSN.com.
As Darrell Waltrip says, strap yourselves in, pull those belts tight one more time and let’s go racin’, boys. Boogity, boogity boogity!
Hi, Jerry. I do not read Yahoo Sports any longer since you left because you were the only thing of interest. I left NASCAR several years ago since I am from the old school and lost all interest when the “good old boy era died.” I am writing because I went through a period of unemployment after being fairly successful in my line of work but found out at almost 60 years old, it is not the same as when you are much younger. After several jobs in which there was little or no challenges to use my experience and knowledge, I decided to do something I wanted to do for over 25 years: develop some specialty products for the industry I loved (construction equipment) and quit feeling sorry for myself and start my own company. That was in 2002 and today, my wife and I are working for ourselves and enjoying life more even though we work harder and longer than ever before. If I can do it, anyone can that has the passion and desire to use their God-given talents. You have both and I wish you the best! You may not feel this way now but you are going to find out that the best thing that ever happened to you was having Yahoo lay you off.
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