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StumblePublished Monday, April 6, 2009 | 3:53 p.m.
Updated Monday, April 6, 2009 | 10:42 p.m.
Prior to the beginning of Sunday’s race, Fox aired an opinion piece by Darrell Waltrip in which he lamented the lack of fire and passion in the sport today. Darrell wants to see drivers be more confrontational with one another and be unafraid to speak their minds.
Well, we all like to see drama and emotional honesty from the drivers, but I don’t think that will solve the problems this sport is currently facing. Making the races more competitive is what will fill the stands, put people in front of their TVs and create more interest in the sport.
I don’t think there’s less passion in the sport, but Darrell is right that there’s too much pressure on the drivers to be politically correct. The passion is still there to win and compete, but drivers are less likely to express themselves when image-conscious corporate sponsors expect a controlled, polite and professional spokesperson to be behind the wheel. And NASCAR drivers aren’t the rough-around-the-edges personalities they used to be when Darrell was winning races.
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Rick Hendrick recently made a public show of support for Tony Eury Jr. The boss was right to stand up for his people when they received heat from outside the company. But I don’t expect this support to be unending in a highly competitive environment where corporate sponsors expect results. Hendrick won’t remain patient forever, especially if scenes like the ones we saw this weekend in the pits continue. Eventually the bell will toll and even the most popular driver will have to start finding victory lane.
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Larry McReynolds had one of the best observations I’ve heard about the steady improvement Tony Stewart. is showing in the No. 14 car. He mentioned that all those years working for Joe Gibbs taught Tony an important lesson that could only be learned from someone like Gibbs. Hire the right people. Tony followed that advice and it’s one of the reasons, along with his great talent, that he is doing so well so early.
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Speaking of hiring the right people, I wonder what’s going through Roger Penske’s mind since he dressed down Kurt Busch over the radio at the Martinsville race? Fox played the audio of the conversation on Sunday in which Penske basically told Kurt that if he didn’t stop verbally abusing his crew he should get out of the car.
Whenever one of my children needs a little disciplining, I refer to these encounters as a defining moment. And a defining moment is what Kurt received from Penske.
I enjoyed the recent 'in race' audio between Kurt and Roger ("Dude"), but that's because I've already heard Kurt trashing his team as well as fellow competitors on previous radio transmissions so it humorous rather than shocking. Despite Kurt's past accomplishments behind the wheel, Roger would be wise to move on to a new driver. Maybe someone who isn't a poster child for anger management.
Na$car's statement that the fans are entitled to hear the teams' transmissions is in line with the FCC rules (sorry Na$car, there is a higher authority...). Scanners are indispensable track equipment for the fan as well as the team. But every Na$car fan who goes out to the track year after year knows this...
Drivers don't say sh** because it will cost them 25 driver's points (that was a blow to Junior when he was just mounting momentum).
NASCAR encouraged drivers to express themselves and then didn't like what they had to say. You can't have it both ways. Plus, with sponsors so hard to find, no one wants to upset the apple cart and lose a sponsor over words spoken during the heat of the moment.
Maybe DW should tell his goofy brother to show his real side, not the TV pitchman side.
And what is it with the Busch brothers berating their race teams? Looking for someone to blame? You win and lose as a team - just ask Johnson and Knaus.
What are "thougths"?
Darrell waltrip is right, nascar used to be fun to watch on tv or to go to a race was really cool, but now it,s all politically correct thanks to all the millon dollar corporate sponsors that watered down these sport trying to make it into something that it,s not. none of these big sponsors knows how hard it is and all the years that it takes to be a very good driver or crew chief or crew member, but yet they can tell them how to do there job, a job they don,t know anything about.
that's 170 posts, rocket_mouth!
I've never been a fan of a race teams conversations being open to the public. I think the team should be able to converse in private and not have to worry about language or content. Having said that, every team has to abide by the rules... and the current rule is that a teams' radio transmissions are open. Every driver is aware of this, and only has himself to blame if they sound like a jerk to their team.
Which brings me to Kyle Busch. Personally, aside from Tony Stewart, I think he's the only driver that races right now with the passion that Darrell Waltrip refers to. He doesn't care what he's driving, he just wants to win. But his attitude makes it really tough to get behind the kid. When he calls his pit crew "ladies" (prior to a pitstop!) and parks his car in disgust and jogs away from it, it really looks bad. As soon as he grows up just a little bit more, the guy could be silly good. But in the meantime, I would just once love to hear Steve Addington publicly rip into him for getting on his team on the radio or for an incident on the track. Until Kyle has the crap he spits out at people fired back at him he's going to continue to do it. Someone needs to stand up to him and put him in his place a little bit. He'll be better off for it. With his talent, he could be the next big thing in NASCAR. Would be shame if he didn't have any fans to share it with.
As long as teams have to worry about keeping up with the Hendrick's, the Gibbs', and the Roush's... they will always have to cater to corporate sponsors, which means minding your p's and q's. Back in the day (80's and 90's), Dale, Rusty, Mark, Alan, and even Darrell used to work on their own cars. Now with so much money involved and drivers being just drivers, it's made the face of the sport very plain-vanilla. Put a spending cap on it and even out the playing field, loosen up the rules to allow ingenuity back into it, and you'll have better racing and more colorful drivers. NASCAR is going the way of F1... he who has the money wins the races and has the most well-behaved drivers. Hardly what we want here.
Hey Harske, it sounds like you follow NASCAR pretty closely but you seemed to have missed a couple things. 1, Kyle Busch "could be silly good." I'd say he IS silly good. he's won 10 of the last 40 Cup races. 2, "He could be the next big thing in NASCAR." He already is. See above ... and the fact that he won 21 races in the three big series last year and already has 6 wins (out of a possible 16)in the three series this year.
Hey he's no saint and his personality rubs a lot of people the wrong way but so did Dale Earnhardt. He didn't care much what people thought and neither does Kyle. If I was a Junior fan I'd switch my allegiance to Kyle, who is more like Dale Sr. than Junior is.
kyle bush needs his head examed - especially when it doesnt go his way - might want to wear a bullet vest - how in the heck did he do a jiggle on the restart with who else but dale jr right next to him?? Dale jr was 1st and he was 2 laps down?? Think that was on purpose??? He needs to race and forget that no one likes him except my father and a hand full of people - ever see any kyle stuff at the track? Think they are selling it 1/2 price...... at lease dale jr can walk with his head straight and doesnt have to run off the track..................................daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa