Under the Hood - Villore racing news network
Calec Foreto callously dumps rookie Jin Mei driver during Adonis Foundation 600 - Racing or racism?
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Villore IV - Impetus Superspeedway
October 1st YC 125
Villore stock car racer Calec Foreto of the #0 Quafe Zero car has been his most statistically dominant season yet as he increases his points gap over the competition to 168 points after his win on October 1st’s Adonis Foundation 600 at the Impetus Superspeedway on Villore IV. The aspiring champion has fallen under fire from race fans and fellow drivers after uncharacteristically causing a rookie driver making their debut appearance to spin out and cause a potentially life-threatening hazard for other drivers on the track.
Driver of the unsponsored #37 car, Lei Hu - Splashed onto the stock car scene seemingly overnight just in time to make qualifying on September 30th. Reports indicate Lei Hu’s team “Tiger Raceworks” arrived on raceday “With a car, half a pit-crew, stacks of used tyres, and a trailer that was twenty years behind the technological standards”. Most curiously, headed as the team’s Crew Chief is none other than 6-time stock car champion Stent Kuham who has unceremoniously come out of a nineteen year retirement from the sport. Lei Hu has made one of the most peculiar debuts in the sport being the first Jin-Mei driver in the last fifty years to qualify for a stock car race on Villore. Even more curious is Lei Hu arriving onto the Villore stock car race scene after making an even more bizarre departure from the touring race series in the Ysiette constellation.
Starting 45th out of 51, Lei Hu would stand out from the race pack in orange and black livery with no sponsors and only the driver’s number. By lap 268 out of 300, Lei Hu had clawed his way to a 40th place position and was on pace to finish their first race with a respectable result if it wasn’t until they encountered the race leader, Calec Foreto. Already on lap 269 Calec was on the approach to pass Lei Hu and put them under a lap. Calec appeared to be drafting behind Lei Hu to slingshot around, but instead rubbed up alongside Lei Hu’s car from the outside and spins them out while coasting into Turn 4. Lei would regain control, but have his car angled like a wall in the middle of the road. Driver of the #98 TranSteller Shipping car - Festen Mipton - chasing after Calec from 2nd place - Narrowly swerves their car out of the way to avoid T-boning Lei Hu on the driver side of their car. Lei Hu would rejoin the race after safely removing himself off the track and using escape roads to merge back onto the raceway and have to settle with a 46th place finish.
Calec’s actions are being regarded as unsportsmanlike, cruel, and even being labeled as racist by fans and select drivers. Most notably Lei Hu himself with the interview he gave to pit lane reporters
[Reporter]
“Lei Hu, what can you tell us about what happened between you and Calec Foreto?”[Lei Hu]
“What happened between us was… Very frustrating to say the least. I got everything I could out of this car to scrap together that 45th place winning qualifying time… Pushed it even harder to make it to 40th place. Next thing I know I have the race leader drafting behind me trying to make a pass, I stay focused on my line and I see him come alongside me from the outside and he taps into my car and spins me out… I almost have a collision with the other drivers following behind him, one that could’ve threatened my life. And to make matters worse i lost positions from that and had to finish lower than what I qualified as… That’s what happened between us.”[Reporter]
“So you would say Calec intentionally spun you out and it was no kind of race incident?”[Lei Hu]
“Yeah, I think it was intentional. He had nothing to gain by doing that, My car was obviously slower than his and I wasn’t about to go any slower, I stayed on my inside line to stay on pace and figured he’d draft around me… That’s not what he did.”[Reporter]
“If he had nothing to gain by doing that, then what would you say the motive behind it was?”[Lei Hu]
“Honestly I think it’s because of who I am and where I’m from. I have met nothing but vile and arrogant people in this sport he treat me like garbage. I have been mocked for my Jin-Mei heritage and even called slurs for it by staff and drivers here at the track this weekend.”[Reporter]
“Has Calec Foreto called you a slur? What was the word used?”[Lei Hu]
“I will not under any circumstances aid in the propagation of such words. The language here is bigoted and disgusting and I want it forgotten by mankind as soon as possible. It’s troubling to have to listen to people talk to this way to me! I’m even getting this same language from my quote-unquote “Colleagues” occasionally and it’s just… Shameless. That’s the best way i can say it, shameless… As for Calac Foreto calling me anything? No - I hadn’t even spoken to him personally… That said, I think his actions today speaks far loud than words… It’s ridiculous out here.”
In Calec Foreto’s interview, Calec denies there was any racial prejudice on his part and his actions were stricly a means to an end and that he had “No choice” but to spin the debuting rookie to pass him
[Reporter]
“What do you have to say on the comments that your actions on track today were racially motivated against Lei Hu for being of Jin-Mei ethnicity”[Calec Foreto]
“Absolutely ludicrous, what happened out there was nothing personal, I was just in the lead and I had Mipton closing the gap behind me. I had a slower car holding up the inside line and costing me time. Time that I couldn’t afford to lose if I was hoping to win the race. If he wasn’t going to get out of my way, I had to get him out of my way and - Hey! - I got him out of my way. Unlike him I have sponsors that are paying me to keep that car in the front and I will do whatever I gotta to ensure my car stays upfront and Quafe stays happy! I had no choice!”[Reporter]
“Critics say you could had easily passed him from the outside down the back speedway.”[Calec Foreto]
“Critics say a lot of things, and I’m saying this is what I had to do in the heat of the moment to ensure I keep the lead. Anyone else would’ve done the same.”[Reporter]
“What about the track hazard you created in spinning Lei Hu out and Mipton nearly T-Boning him as he enters turn 4.”[Calec Foreto]
“Nature of the sport, I think safety measures today are foolproof, I trust Lei would’ve been fine should Mipton hit him. I don’t think we should be padding ourselves up like this and not embracing the leeway they let us have in driving a bit rougher out there.”[Reporter]
“So do you not think your sponsors will take issue with anything you’ve done or said today?”[Calec Foreto]
“No Comment.”
Driver of the #98 TranSteller Shipping car, Festen Mipton - keenly watched the exchange between Lei and Calec as the competing 2nd place driver in the race and is firmly of the belief that Calec went out of his way to target to the Jin-Mei driver and needlessly spin them out and risking multiple driver’s life in the process.
[Reporter]
“You were chasing after Calec in second place and graze past Lei’s car in the middle of turn 4, what can you tell us about the situation?”[Festen Mipton]
“What I can tell you is that I’m honestly confused about what that was all about… I was watching Calec like a hawk and saw a hundred different chances to swing around Lei and carry on with the race. It made no sense, he had nothing to gain doing that. It was in poor taste, incredibly unsportsmanlike and… Just awful. You hate to see that kind of stuff be it a rookie or several year running veteran. It ain’t right, it ain’t good racing."[Reporter]
“Do you agree with the accusations that Calec Foreto is acting from a place of racial prejudice?”[Festen Mipton]
“I know Calec, I wouldn’t besmirch his name and legacy saying what he did was out of place of simple minded racist bigotry for Lei Hu’s ethnicity. I will use the word again, what Calec did was unsportsmanlike. I don’t believe him when he complains that Lei was hogging up his line, Calec can adapt and get around people like that at the drop of a hat. It was petty and if I had to blame anything it would have to be the Quafe money.”[Reporter]
“Quafe money?”[Festen Mipton]
“Yes, Quafe money. Ever since Warpspeed Racing got the sponsorship money to put out three individual Quafe cars - They’ve been flushed with cash and just start acting stupid! That’s always been the case in this sport when a team starts getting that Quafe sponsorship money. They start acting stupid, they start doing stuff they don’t need to do to survive for another race weekend. Calec did something stupid today, but let’s not forget what their teammates had been doing all season! Have we already forgotten what the (#100) Diet Quafe car did during the Credon 500? Or the (#29) Quafe green apple during the Tribute to the Federation 400? There’s a trend here and it points back to people being stupid with Quafe’s money… Sadly I think Calec has been the stupidest of them all! You haven’t even asked about it yet, but If I didn’t veer left like I did coming to Turn 4 - I would’ve likely killed a man today… And that’s something I would’ve had to live with. And for what?”
A driver uninvolved with the inflammatory drama approached pit-lane reporters to give their own take on events. Amarr born elder statesman of the stock car racing world, Adeet Moltoro driving the #30 FedMart car
[Reporter]
“Do you have some opinions to offer on the questionable actions of Calec Foreto during the race?”[Adeet Moltoro]
“Well I personally love Calec with all my heart, but it’s plain and simple that what he did was uncalled for and just beneath him… Would I call what he did an act of racism? Honestly I couldn’t tell you. I listened to the Interview Lei Hu just gave and the harsh truth is that he’s not wrong about the language the boys out here will resort to. Lot of us just shrug it off and pretend it doesn’t exist, but there absolutely some truly disgusting and closed minded things that get uttered between the boys when the cameras aren’t rolling…”[Reporter]
"Can you give us some examples of drivers speaking like this?’[Adeet Moltoro]
“I will not expose anyone like this in any kind of interview. I don’t think that’s the productive way of solving this issue. I’m just sliding by Lei Hu and saying his claims aren’t unfounded and that internally we all need to look at ourselves in the mirror, and sort this childish stuff out ourselves. It’s bad for the sport, all we’re doing is creating a hostile sport and in YC 125? Coming up on YC 126? It’s time for us to grow up and start holding people’s ethnic backgrounds against them… You know, I would argue it’s just because these boys don’t know any better, right? I drove on this same track with their daddies years back when I was just a rookie and I knew how they talked, how they perceived people different from them… Their kids grew up and started racing and just copied how their daddies spoke! It’s like nothing changed and change is what this sport always needs.”[Reporter]
“So just for clarification. You are confirming there is a trend of racism plaguing the stock car racing scene?”[Adeet Moltoro]
“Yeah, there is and enough is enough with trying to brush it aside and pretend it’s not real. If I gotta be the one to lend Lei Hu credibility in his claims, so be it I’ll happily side with him. That kid has potential on the track and I’d hate to see him removed from the sport because some knuckleheads can’t put his ethnicity past him… You know, all of God’s children are equally beautiful, and when you’re on that track? The only thing you’ll see is a car and a number on it. And that’s all that should matter when the green flag drops… If we can’t do that, then things need to change.”
Quafe Company and Warspeed Racing management have declined to comment.