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Editorial - August 2003 |
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Stop the brawling at NASCAR races |
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Published August 22, 2003 |
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Is NASCAR racing going to turn into a brawl sport like we often see at hockey games? Maybe, five years from now, we will see two or three fist fights after every race. They will be on the menu at every racing event. That’s what’s going to happen if NASCAR is content with a wrist-slapping penalty when one driver punches out another competitor after a race. It was much worse than unsportsmanlike conduct this past Sunday at Bristol Motor speedway in Michigan. Winston Cup driver Kurt Busch apparently side-bumped competitor Jimmy Spencer during the NASCAR event.. After the race, Spencer went straight to Busch’s pit. There was a heated exchange and Spencer threw a punch at Busch while he was still strapped in his car. Busch was reportedly seen with a bloodied, possibly broken, nose. We’ve heard the other side of this story, how Busch was chatting with his crew on a radio about purposely trying to “flatten” Spencer’s fender. Busch certainly bares some of the blame in this fiasco The National Stock Car Commission suspended Spencer for a couple of days — resulting in his missing just one race. He was also fined $25,000, not a lot in this big dollar industry. And, he was placed on probation for the rest of the season. What the penalty really says is this: It’s all right to punch out another driver if you’re willing to skip a race and pay the fine. To NASCAR, the unspoken message is that an after-race brawl is perfectly acceptable. But the problem is that nobody seems to view this behavior as a serious problem. In fact, the feuding between Spencer and Busch has been going on for some time now. It shouldn’t have. NASCAR drivers should not be acting like a bunch of macho wrestlers following some redneck code about settling scores. But that’s the course the commission is setting if it tolerates a punching fest after every race. Stock car racing has deep roots in the South, especially in rural communities where it is a loved tradition. Today it has reached an all time high in popularity, and is a favorite pastime for a huge audience. It should be about great drivers, not petty brawls.
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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News |
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