Rule No. 1 of customer service is to make sincere amends as quickly as possible to avoid alienating the paying public.
Then there's rule No. 2, established exclusively by Bruton Smith.
Act like an arrogant, insensitive boor.
Instead of doing the right thing and getting in front of the traffic debacle at Kentucky Speedway, Smith, president of the track and CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc., announced his track won't be offering refunds to tens of thousands of fans turned away, blamed traffic snarls on the city, country and state governments, and then, for good measure, took a highly insensitive — if not racist — swipe at South Florida, home to Homestead Miami Speedway.
Here's a testy exchange between Dustin Long of Landmark Media and Smith:
Long: "You've repeatedly referred to Homestead as North Cuba. You've said things like that. If you said things like that on Homestead, aren't you being hypocritical?''
Smith: "Tell us where it is located. Is it not really in North Cuba?''
Long: "It's in the United States.''
Smith: "Yes, but isn't it really in North Cuba? … Do you sing the Cuban national anthem in North Cuba (his reference to Homestead)?
Long: "No, they don't.''
Smith: "Well, they should.''
NASCAR officials would be wise to park Smith in their equivalent of the principal's office. He's an embarrassment to the brand.