NASCAR Vice President expands sport’s reach with key global motorsports role

NASCAR announced Tuesday that the sport’s Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Council Gary Crotty has been elected to the Federation Internationale De L’Automobile (FIA) courts. The FIA is familiar to motorsports fans as the  the licensing and sanctioning body of Formula One, World Rally Championship, World Endurance Championship, World Touring Car Cup, World Rallycross Championship, Formula E and various other forms of racing.

Crotty is one of 36 judges appointed to the FIA and could either be appointed to the International Court of Appeal or the International Court of Appeal for a four-year term. It’s a big move for NASCAR in the international world of motorsports, with him being the first NASCAR representative to the FIA court system.

The sport does not follow FIA regulations, but is a member of the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States (ACCUS), which is the liaison of the FIA to American motorsports. Crotty applied after being approached by ACCUS president George Silbermann, who calls him “an honest and steadfast leader,” and was confirmed to the post last month. He has a passion for motorsports as a whole, but will provide NASCAR’s view on a global stage.

He calls this “one of the true highlights of my career,” which has spanned two decades with NASCAR, where he handled assets, TV contracts, and sponsorship deals. He credits experience working remotely with preparing him for the role, especially true when his job starts out with a seminar that begins at 3 am for him. “A bit of a time difference between us and Paris,” he says, “so that’ll be interesting.”

His appointment comes at a very public time for the FIA court system, as Mercedes only recently withdrew its appeal of the results of the F1 World Championship. Crotty said he’s glad he won’t have to deal with that controversy his first day on the job: “I kind of wiped my brow that that wasn’t right on our plate.”

Greg Engle