There’s always been an old phrase in NASCAR — “Rubbin’s Racin’.” However in recent years the phrase has pretty much changed to — “If you’re in my way, I don’t know how to pass cleanly, so I’ll just move you out of the way by hitting you.” Of course such a mindset causes tempers to fly, and costs owners millions of dollars as cars fly out of control, hit walls, and result in, at times, major crashes.
Veteran driver Mark Martin said it best when he suggested the younger drivers who wreck their cars by bashing them into other people should be handed a wrench to fix the cars they’ve wrecked. But alas, that won’t happen simply because many of the so-called Young Guns don’t have a clue how to hold a wrench, let alone fix their own car.
But, it’s not just the Young Guns who do the moving. It’s even more sad when past champions, such as Jeff Gordon who should know better, do the same thing, and then justify their actions. Earlier in the year Gordon hit the rear end of Matt Kenseth’s car, sending him into the wall. At the time, there were only a few laps left in the race, Kenseth was running first, with Gordon running second. As Gordon climbed out of his car he justified his actions saying — “Hey, I feel sorry for Matt that I put him into the wall, but it was for the win man! I wanted the win badly, so I hit him and pushed him out of the way.” In other words, Gordon intentionally wrecked another car, just so he could win.
Another past champion guilty of the same actions, or even worse, is Tony Stewart. At a race this year he got mad at someone because he thought they were racing him too hard. Tony pointed at the other driver through his window, then blatantly turned left right into the other car, wrecking him, and others around him, who had nothing to do with what was going on. Again, Stewart climbs out of his car and says — “These young guys need to learn a lesson on how to drive.” Hey, wait a minute — Who’s the one that turned left and caused a crash?! It wasnt’ the young driver, it was the past champion veteran driver who should have known better.
Now lets fast forward to the recent Bristol race. Matt Kenseth won, but instead of declaring him just the winner, the headlines read — “Kenseth Shows The Proper Way To Make A Pass For The Win — Cleanly”.
Kenseth won, and even overcame a penalty for speeding on pit road earlier in the race which sent him to the back of the pack, to come back and win the race, cleanly. With 15 laps to go he didn’t hit Kevin Harvick, he didn’t “rattle his cage”, nor did he move him out of the way. Instead, Kenseth tried the bottom of the track, which didn’t work, then made a move to pass Harvick on the outside lane for the win. When the pass was complete instead of Harvick screaming foul, he said over his radio — “Wow! Good move!” Instead of reports describing a major wreck, or filled with excuses and apologies for sending someone into the wall, the articles about the race say — “Kenseth needed just two laps to overtake Harvick on an aggressive — but clean — pass that should set the example on the correct way to get by another driver.”
The author of Hebrews tells us we’re “surrounded by a crowd of witnesses cheering us on to move forward” in our lives, doing the best we can. The cheers are to do the right thing, and remain clean as we make our way through life. In the world of racing, just like in our everyday life, there are people watching, both cheering us on to do the right thing, and also watching to see how we do it.
Which headline do you want? He caused a wreck and made excuses — or — He showed how it should be done, cleanly.
