Rivalry VS Stupidity
The dust has settled, the smell of rubber has dissipated, and the crushed sheet metal is ready for straightening. Another NASCAR weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway is in the record books, and once again, what a weekend it was. Bristol is always a big show for race fans. The short track packs in some 160,000 fans. It’s called the Thunderdome for a reason — it’s usually very loud once those 43 cars fire up their engines after hearing the famous words — Gentleman…start your engines!
Aside from the racing action, the fans set a new world record for the largest crowd to do the wave at a sporting event. The Guinness folks were on hand as the green flag dropped to signal the start for the fans to take part in the gigantic wave. Now that some 160,000 fans successfully kept the wave going all the way around the stands, the Guinness people have record the new world record. It might stand for quite some time too since very few sporting events draw such a big crowd.
Then, with the record in the books, it was time to drop the green flag for the drivers. With just three races left until the final Chase for the Championship starts, there’s a lot on the line for some drivers who are clinging to one of those top 12 spots to get into the Chase. Bristol always provides door to door, rubbin’s racing excitement. But, as usual, some of the rubbin’ was simply uncalled for. I addressed the situation in an earlier blog post called Do Unto Others Sunday morning.
Sparks flew after the race as Kyle Busch was once again mad, proving that he’s a sore loser, decided to use his car as a weapon. When the race was done, Busch decided to use his car as a weapon and rammed into the winner, Carl Edwards. Busch was called to the NASCAR hauler for his actions, and I hope penalties will follow.
Of course while Busch’s actions are totally irresponsible, some reporters are calling it a rivalry. As for me, I’d like to ask the question — Is this a rivalry or is this simple stupidity?
I’m not sure which is worse. Kyle Busch using his car as a weapon, or reporters calling this a rivalry between Busch and Edwards. Come to think of it, both lines of thoughts are very irresponsible. Busch should be ashamed of himself for his on-track actions. NASCAR should be ashamed of themselves for not cracking down on such on-track incidents. And finally, reporters should be ashamed of themselves for fanning the flames of stupidity, not rivalry.
First off, whenever someone uses their car as a weapon on the track, they need to be parked. What’s it going to take for NASCAR to finally figure out they need to clamp down on such actions. Could it be they’re more concerned about the almighty dollar instead of the safety of the competitors and fans? Do we need a fatality or some kind of serious injury before NASCAR wakes up on this? Only once have we seen NASCAR park someone for such an action and that was Kevin Harvick in the Truck Series. In some of the lower racing series drivers have been parked for similar antics. But for whatever reason, the so-called professionals in the elite racing series don’t face such penalties. Shouldn’t the standards be higher here?
Secondly, lets talk about irresponsible reporters. They’re adding fuel to the fire calling the whole incident between Busch and Edwards a rivalry. While there may indeed be a rivalry between the pair, the actions are uncalled for. Dale Earnhardt had many rivals. But, Earnhardt was not a sore loser, nor would he use his car like a weapon. Darrell Waltrip had many rivals. But, Waltrip earned his nickname, Jaws, because he liked to run off at the mouth taking shots at his on-track rivals verbally. Waltrip did not use his car as weapon.
The bottom line is this, what reporters are calling a rivalry is really stupidity.
Just my two cents,
Dr. Rus
