Nick Hogan caught speeding just a couple weeks before the accident

It seems not long after the horrific accident that left his best friend in a vegetative state, Nick [Bollea] Hogan, 17, was online bragging about his big sponsor, Poloroid, and the future of his racing career. This sparked outrage amongst people who feel he may have been street racing and/or he got off easy since his list of traffic infractions [speeding] is long.

Poloroid has since dropped Hogan as we reported last week, but they are not the only ones. ConnieTalk.com says that many of his sponsors have given him the boot. But what about the ones who haven’t? What do they have to say?

And what about the results of his drug and alcohol test? His accident was months ago, where are they?

There are a lot of questions in this case and it seems a lot of people are being quiet about it. ConnieTalk.com did this fabulous piece and answers many of the questions.

Read about it after the jump!

ConnieTalk.com:

As far as his sponsors go, over half of them (four out of seven) have bowed out. On his racing website, HoganDrift.com, he lists his sponsors as “Polaroid, BF Goodrich (sic), Sparco, Mac Tools, K-Sport, and Meguiars” (the seventh sponsor, Team Mopar/Nuforms, already bumped Hogan). We have contacted each of the other six sponsors to see if they are still financing Nick’s race car, and here are their responses - three more of them confirmed washing their hands of Nick:

The BFGoodrich Customer Relations Department told us, “While BFGoodrich Tires is a supporting sponsor of the Formula Drift series, it bears no direct relationship with Nick Bollea (aka) Hogan. Team Mopar/NuFormz prepared the car that Bollea drove at D1 events and had the relationship with Bollea, which expired in April 2007.”

They added, “BFGoodrich Tires is a performance brand and we will continue to support several teams who compete in the sport of drifting, including Team Mopar/NuFormz. BFGoodrich is committed to responsible driving habits and will continue to take the rules and regulations of the Formula Drift Series very seriously. We neither encourage nor condone illegal racing on public streets, highways, or roads.”

Meguiar’s, Inc. told ConnieTalk.com, “Meguiar’s is no longer affiliated with Nick Hogan or his team.” They added that Nick was never truly financially sponsored by Meguiar’s: he “may have received a few free products to clean his car and a couple [of] stickers.”

Polaroid also bowed out, with Cheryl Mau, VP of Marketing for Polaroid, stating, “We have signed a deal for the 2007, not for 2008. We do not have a signed sponsorship agreement with Nick Hogan for the 2008 race season,” dismissing claims by Nick Hogan just days before on his MySpace page claiming, “I picked up a new sponsor…POLAROID!” He was saying that Polaroid was sponsoring him for the 2008 racing season, when in fact, they are not.

The only one that seemed unsure of whether or not they will sponsor Bollea in the future was Ksport Suspension Company. They told ConnieTalk.com exclusively, “Our sponsorship agreement for hogandrift has ended for the 2007 race season. We have yet to review or discuss any sponsorships for the 2008 race season.”

Sparco and MacTools did not answer our inquiries.

As TMZ reported, Nick was making a public appearance at the big SEMA car show in Las Vegas this Thursday; he has been out at various racing events since the accident.

Hogan has a quite a history. He was once stopped by Florida highway patrol twice in one day (in September 2006): the first time for driving 100 mph, and was issued a warning; the second for driving 115 mph, which he was issued a $305 citation for. But no points to his record. Per court records, the ticket was settled without a points infraction to his driver’s license.

Shortly before his August accident, Hogan bragged in Rides Magazine that he talked his way out of a ticket three times, when driving from Miami to Clearwater, thanks to his newfound celebrity status through the VH1 Hogan Knows Best series.

“The guy let me off,” he said. “He’s like, ‘Hey, I know who you are. Just keep going, ya know.’”

In the issue, which was published in September 2007, he was photographed with four of the Hogans’ nine super-vehicles, including the yellow Toyota Supra. The feature was called “Young and Relentless.” He said he likes to hit Florida’s streets, “get on the bridge and smash the gas.”

He described the yellow Supra and a yellow Viper as “pussy magnets,” saying that when girls see his yellow cars, “panties start dropping off.” And that was when he was 16.

Amongst all the warnings and allowances, he received four other speeding tickets in the last year, according to Florida state driving records. Last September, he was cited for driving 105 mph in a 70 mph zone in Collier County. In February, 57 mph in a 30 mph zone in Dade County. In April, 106 mph in a 70 mph zone in Osceola County. On August 10th, for 82 mph in a 45 mph construction zone with workers present.

For the traffic citation he received on Aug. 10, Bollea has entered a plea of “nolo contendere,” or “no contest.” Judge William Overton adjudicated him guilty and ordered a fine of $1,000, the maximum fine for the offense (speeding in a work zone).

In addition, Bollea was ordered to complete a 12-hour Driver Improvement Course within 90 days. On the failure to wear seatbelt charge, he was found guilty and fined $73.50. He didn’t appear in court - he entered the plea in writing.

Photographs surfaced and were published by Fox 13 in Tampa Bay of Nick Hogan streetracing again on August 25th.

And again on August 26th, 2007, he took his illegal streetracing too far: he crashed Hulk Hogan’s yellow Toyota Supra sports car, which jumped a raised median and smashed into a palm tree.

Hogan sustained a few non-life-threatening injuries: a broken arm, some cracked ribs, neck and knee “damage.” He was discharged one day later. But he’s out and about like a spring chicken these days.

On October 16th, the Clearwater, Florida Police Department released a minimal police report, which did state that although the roads were wet, Hogan “disregarded other traffic control.” He was speeding, police say , although they haven’t released just how fast.

Clearwater P.D. Spokesman Wayne Shelor called it a “high rate” of speed. He also said the wreck forced police to shut down mile-long Court Street, the main east-west road through central Clearwater, for hours as the accident was investigated, because it was “a spectacular wreck.”

Hogan’s passenger, 22-year old active duty Marine John Graziano, who had recently returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq where he narrowly escaped an IED attack, is not so lucky. Among other injuries suffered, the crash broke Graziano’s skull at the base, according to a report from court-appointed doctors and nurses, and months later is still in a “comatose state” and “totally incapacitated.” He can respond to pain stimulus and cough.

Members of the Hogan family, including Nick and Brooke, have said that John’s condition is improving. In September, Nick said that John will make a full, but slow, recovery. And although the Graziano family is holding out hope for just that, doctors just don’t agree.

Nick Hogan is a kid who was given too much too fast. And with law enforcement officials in Clearwater documented to have Nick off the hook on previous occasions, and Linda and Terry Bollea/Hogan continuing to let Nick take off in these souped-up rides and participate in racing, who’s to stop him? How is he supposed to learn?

Though no lawsuit has been threatened, Terry Bollea (Hulk Hogan) recently transferred his trademarks to a corporate umbrella Limited Liability Company called ‘Hogan Holdings Limited.’ Trademarks transferred were Hulk Hogan, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Hulkster, Hogan Knows Grillin, Hulkamania.com, Hulkapedia.com, and Paul the Giant Wight (used in boxing contests). (Thanks to EsmereldaSays for submitting that info!)

Clearwater, Florida Police said they were waiting to see the results of a drug and alcohol test administered to Bollea after the accident. That was on October 16th. The accident happened, as we mentioned, on August 26th.

Several witnesses have claimed Nick Hogan was street racing the night of the accident (although Terry Hogan has said that witnesses at the scene deny it). Danny Jacobs, the driver of a silver Dodge Viper was allegedly racing Hogan moments before he crashed the Supra. Graziano’s mother, in contact with Danny, as well as eyewitnesses, acknowledge this to be true.

Local resident Rabih Cheaib was one of the first eyewitnesses to speak to reporters after the incident, and told The Times he saw the silver Viper return to the scene after Nick’s Supra crashed.

“We [saw] a similar car that was racing the silver [Dodge] Viper we’d seen, so it was weird when we recognized it was Hulk’s son’s Supra,” Cheaib told Tampa Bay’s WTSP-TV. He also recognized Danny Jacobs when he came back to the scene after Hogan jumped the median and crashed.

Another eyewitness, Larry Johnson, told WTSP, “We just saw two cars fly by. It looked like they were definitely racing…definitely taking off very fast.”

Police have been mum about it. TMZ said “police sources” told them the case should be wrapped up by the first week of November, and they will have a decision as to whether or not to press charges.

Excuse me, if I did all of that, you’d better believe they would be pressing charges. All of the evidence points to reckless endangerment by Nick Bollea. If any other 17-year old noncelebrity did this, they’d be tried as an adult and sentenced. And whatever a nonbiased judge decides, so be it. We are all supposed to be equal under the law. And obviously, Nick has not received proper parental or authoritative discipline thusfar.

So much for Hogan knows best.

Though the accident has reportedly led to a rift between the Hogan/Bollea and Graziano families, the Graziano’s are keeping pretty quiet, deny the rift rumors, and are just praying and hoping.