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Why the NASCAR Fight Syndrome Needs to Be Treated

NASCAR is just about the highest form of motor sports in the U.S.  I know that some of you will disagree with this but hear me out or forever hold your peace.  Think about it this way – Formula 1 has only had a few Americans compete in it over the past 60-some-odd years.  NASCAR is the American version of Formula 1.

There have been some gigantic fights in NASCAR over the years, but the one that really kicked it off was Bobby and Donnie Allison getting into a fistfight with Cale Yarborough in 1979 at Daytona.  There have been some other big fights, notably the Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin pit crew fight a few years back.  The most recent just happened to be a series of fights between Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, and Matt Kenseth.

Is NASCAR still NASCAR or is it WWE?  Look at the picture and decide for yourself.  Here’s the lowdown on what happened.

A restart with 63 laps to go sent Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth bashing eachother for the lead.  Keselowski thought Kenseth was pushing him and didn’t leave a line toward the wall for Kenseth, who was, in fact, trying to pass him.  Kenseth was forced into the wall and bounced into Keselowski, damaging both cars.  While that’s not uncommon in NASCAR, what happened next was.

A restart with six laps to go gave Kenseth, who was a lap down due to his damage, a free pass, which means that he was no longer a lap down.  You’re thinking score for Kenseth, right?  Not exactly.  On his way around the track, he somehow managed to “accidentally” drive around Keselowski’s nose (not his facial nose – his car’s!), damaging the car.

On the restart with two laps to go, Keselowski bashed Denny Hamlin in turn 1.  Hamlin felt Keselowski’s push, and was enraged when he fell to 11th because of this.  Keselowski lost his momentum (and his Top 10 spot), and fell to 16th place due to the now-extensive damage to his car.

You’re probably thinking, “Okay, that’s normal.”  What happened next was more than abnormal.

After the race, Hamlin jammed on his brakes directly in front of Keselowski to show his immense displeasure.  As a result of this, Keselowski floored the gas and tried to spin Hamlin.  It didn’t work.  He simply went right around Hamlin, clipping Hamlin’s rear bumper in the process.

Keselowski then proceeded to drive into pit row as he chased down Kenseth, who was unbuckling his safety belts (a common practice among drivers after a race as they come near their pit box).  He T-boned Kenseth, and then inadvertently hit the rear bumper of Tony Stewart.  Stewart, who wasn’t going that fast, stopped his car, jammed it in reverse, and rammed into the front end of Keselowski’s car, destroying the front end.  Keselowski, who was frantically trying to get away from Stewart, backed into Danica Patrick’s car.

Keselowski then untangled his car from the small pileup and drove past everybody and went into his garage.   Hamlin followed him, making contact as Keselowski made his way into the garage, and stuck both cars together.  Keselowski floored the gas in reverse so he could get away, leaving a massive, smoky burnout mark in the garage.  He then drove across some equipment of the team’s that was laying on the ground to get to his car hauler.

The now-furious Hamlin climbed out of his now-stopped car first, and started storming towards Keselowski’s baby-blue Ford, which just so happened to be parked right in front of his black Toyota.  A Hamlin crew member led him away from the cars and handed him a towel to dry his face off.  However, as Keselowski climbed out of his car, Hamlin walked over to Keselowski’s car and threw the sweaty towel at Keselowski, hitting him in the helmet.  Hamlin then ran over to the stunned Keselowski and put him in a bear hug and started to wildly shake him.  After a few moments of scuffling among drivers and crews, Keselowski walked to his hauler.

Let’s not forget about Matt Kenseth.  Kenseth wanted blood.  He followed Keselowski and attacked him from behind as Keselowski was about to enter his hauler trailer.  Crew members of Kenseth intervened after Kenseth put Keselowski in a headlock.  Keselowski’s crew chief, Paul Wolfe, put Kenseth in a chokehold and started to drag him away.  Kenseth crew members immediately separated the two brawling drivers.  During this encounter, Keselowski said, “You hit me under yellow.  You hit me under yellow.  You hit me under yellow.”

Here’s what Kenseth had to say about the incident.  “(Keselowski) was doing something with Denny.  The race had ended, and he’s running into cars on the cool-down lap.  I mean, the race is over, and he comes down pit row and drives into the side of me.  That’s inexcusable.  He’s a champion, and he’s supposed to know better.”

After composing himself inside of his hauler for a few minutes, Keselowski gave a few words to USAToday.  “When we restarted fifth with no right front on it, we fell all the way back to 16th and ruined our day.  That gave us a big Chase hurt, which is unfortunate.  Then, for some reason, after the race the 11 (Hamlin) stopped in front of me and tried to pick a fight.  I don’t know what that was all about, and he swung and hit at my car, so I figured if we’re going to play car wars under yellow and after the race, I’ll join too.  Those guys can dish it out, but they can’t take it.  I gave it back to them and now they want to fight, so I don’t know what’s up with that.”

What Keselowski should have done would have been to take the high road and forget about it.  Why give attention to angry people like that?  Just let it roll off and forget about it.

Hamlin called Keselowski “Out of control.  He’s desperate, obviously, and it’s either four or five of us are wrong or he’s wrong because he’s pissed off everyone…that was unfortunate.  Matt was nearly out of his car, and he just plowed into Matt and then ran into Tony and then went into the garage and cleared out transmissions and did burnouts in the garage.  Just acting like a dumb*** instead of a champion.”  Hamlin also added Keselowski “Will probably try to wreck everyone” at Talladega next week.  “He’ll just be out of control like normal.  We’ll do what we’ll have to do to get in, and that’s the big picture.”

NASCAR’s vice president of competition, Robin Pemberton, said the sanctioning body had called Keselowski into the hauler.  “We asked Brad to come in and talk to us a little bit and get his take on what went on in the closing laps of the race and the post-race incidents, so we’ve got that and we’ll talk to some other people,” he said, adding Joe Gibbs Racing mechanic Jesse Sanders was also called to the hauler for his role in the altercation.

Kenseth was angry about what Keselowski did to him on pit row (for good reason).  “I don’t know if he was mad at me,” Kenseth said. “I had my HANS (safety device) off and my seat belts off and everything. He clobbered me at 50 mph. … If you want to talk about it as a man, try to do that, but to try and wreck someone on the racetrack, come down pit road with other cars and people standing around with seat belts off and drive in the side of me.”

Keselowski’s crew chief, Paul Wolfe, blamed Hamlin for the entire incident.  “I think Denny started the whole thing after the checkered flag,” he said. “Started pushing Brad around, and at some point we’ve got to stand our ground and not let that happen. From there, I guess some people got frustrated and the fight broke out.” ​

Kevin Harvick, the winner of the hotly-contested race showed that maybe NASCAR’s new Chase for the Sprint Cup Series Championship format had added pressure to the races, and that every moment matters.  When asked if NASCAR might send hefty penalties to the drivers involved, he replied, “You’re crazy; they love it.”

NASCAR announced today that both Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski were both being penalized for their actions following the race.

Keselowski has been fined $50,000, and been placed on probation from driving for the next four races for violating the following penalties:

Section 12-1:  Actions detrimental to stock car racing.

Section 12-4.9:  Behavioral penalty – involved in post-race incidents

Stewart has been fined $25,000, and has been placed on probation from driving for the next four races for violating the same penalties.  I disagree with NASCAR giving a penalty to Tony Stewart.  In my eyes, Stewart did nothing more than what most drivers do – back into their car as a warning.  Yes, he did ruin the front end of Keselowski’s car, which there was no need for at all.  He would have been better off leaving it alone and going on to his pit.  I feel that NASCAR was unfair in their penalty assignment, and should have given a penalty to Matt Kenseth.  Kenseth’s actions, as well as the rest of the drivers involved, were highly unprofessional and childlike.  His actions were foolish and will most certainly hurt him in the future.  I feel that Keselowski’s fine and probation are completely deserved, and he needs to seek treatment for this.  I understand that drivers in NASCAR are highly impulsive, but playing bumper cars with big-boy toys that can kill people is unacceptable and foolhardy.  All of these drivers need to have more than a slap on the wrist and a fight among themselves.  They need to talk it out to each other in a civil manner a couple of days after the incident, and I hope that we will see apologies from all drivers involved in this blemish on NASCAR in the near future.

Here’s the entire video of what happened.

 

 

zoomvroom Car Culture, The History of Autos

Amazing Photos From IROC Racing!

“Spanning the globe to bring you a constant variety of sports; the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. The human drama of athletic competition … This is ABC’s Wide World of Sports.”  Legendary ABC Sports broadcaster Jim McKay spoke those words every Saturday afternoon for 37 years, from 1961-1998, when ESPN became the premier sports broadcasting channel.  Those words of Jim McKay were heard in millions of American homes.

ABC Sports was particularly fond of showing motorsports.  Every Saturday afternoon, millions of American children (and adults!) were treated to 90 minutes of non-mainstream motorsports like NASCAR, NHRA, demolition derbies, surfing, and even the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show.  While I’ve never seen the Joie Chitwood Thrill Show, it must have been good enough to be shown on one of the very few TV channels on the air at the time.  This is when IROC racing entered the motorsports scene in the early 1970’s.  It ran for a good 15 years or so, reaching it’s peak around 1980.  There was no other place where you could watch NASCAR legends like Richard Petty and Bobby Allison duke it out with F1 legends like Emerson Fittipaldi and Denis Hulme.  Throw in Mario Andretti, and you were bound to sit back and watch one hell of a ride.

The late Chris Economaki was always commentating on some form of motorsports, and his talent showed during the pre-race commentary of IROC V.  IROC V was the 5th IROC season, and the year was 1978.

While most younger Camaro enthusiasts will think that IROC was simply an option package developed for the Camaro starting in 1985, there’s more to the story.  The story behind IROC goes all the way back to 1973 with Roger Penske, Les Richter, and Mike Phelps (no relation to the swimmer of the same name!) all had the amazing idea to put 12 of the world’s greatest race car drivers in identical cars to compete on road courses and NASCAR superspeedways alike in a four-race series.  Richter was cautious enough to say that the IROC series might not determine who the best driver was, “but we sure go a long way towards that goal.”

The first IROC season was the 1974 season, and it kicked off on October 27, 1973.  It consisted of 4 events with all racing done in identically-prepared Porsche 911 RSR’s.  For the 1975 season, Chevrolet came on board, and the Chevrolet Camaro was the car of choice.

Here are some pictures that have only recently been released to the public.  Enjoy.

  • Bobby Allison leads the field in what looks like IROC IV or something like that.  He has a rear-view mirror filled of Mario Andretti and an unknown driver in the black Camaro.

  • The late Chris Economaki was synonymous with auto racing, and here he is doing what he always did best: pre-race commentary on the grid during IROC V, which was the 1978 season.

  • IndyCar, Formula One, and NASCAR winner Mario Andretti leads the way at Daytona. Mario was a regular invitee in the early years of the IROC series and took the championship in 1979.

  • Three-time Indy 500 winner and 1975 IROC champ Bobby Unser gets a little nudge from four-time Indy champ and two-time IROC champion A.J. Foyt.

  • Bobby Unser returns the favor to A.J. Foyt

  • Mario Andretti gets a mirror full of Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, Alan Jones, Tom Sneva, and Neil Bonnett.

  • I’m not sure how, but my best guess is that a tire or some large piece of debris from another car made it’s way to Formula One racer Ronnie Peterson’s windshield during IROC II. It looks like the right side of the front spoiler and grille got hit as well.

  • Al Unser comes up on Bobby Allison at Riverside International Raceway in what looks to be IROC II or III.

  • Richard Petty and A.J. Foyt negotiate the “S” turns at Riverside. Petty was known as The King of NASCAR, but an IROC championship eluded him. His best finish was 5th at IROC V.

  • Richard Petty, A.J. Foyt, and Brian Redman battle for position at Riverside during IROC III’s 1976 season. Foyt took home the championship later that year.

  • Johnny Rutherford goes a little too wide at Riverside.

  • Bobby Allison looks to escape unscathed during IROC VII in 1980. The same cannot be said for Darrell Waltrip and Mario Andretti.  Ouch.

  • Being who the racers are in this group, this looks like IROC XIII in 1989. You have A.J. Foyt, Scott Pruett, Dale Earnhardt, and up top is IROC XV champion Rusty Wallace.

  • Rubbin’s racin,’ and this witness mark on Earnhardt’s Camaro proves that these guys are just as competitive in the IROC world as they are in their native NASCAR country.

  • Two CART and two NASCAR guys. This is from IROC VIII. The one and only year (1984) Cale Yarborough took the series title.

  • Here are two NASCAR guys in familiar territory. Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt had many battles in their regular “company cars,” and this IROC race was no different.

  • Here is another great matchup between CART/F1 racer Emerson Fittipaldi and NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt. This looks to be IROC VIII, in which Earnhardt finished Ninth and Fittipaldi came in Eleventh for the season.

  • Go time!

  • It’s hard to get used to Dale Earnhardt in anything other than a black car, but in 1989 he raced (at least once) this white Camaro. As a side note, this was the final year of the Camaro in IROC racing. In 1990 the switch was made to the Dodge Daytona.  Scott Pruett is leading the field in the No. 8 Camaro, Dale Earnhardt is 2nd in the No. 7 Camaro, Al or Bobby Unser Jr. is 3rd in the No. 10 Camaro, and Rusty Wallace is 4th in the No. 12 Camaro.

  • Tavis Highlander drew up this IROC fifth-gen a few years ago, and he gave a little taste of what the series’ cars might have looked like if the series was still going today.  You’ve gotta admit that this car looks seriously evil.  I like the NASCAR wheels.  Somebody needs to build this car.
    That’s all of the never-before-released pictures.  Tell me which picture is your favorite.  I like all of them.  The digital drawing is cool, but it needs the name of a driver to be on the windshield, but I like it just the way it is.
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The Crash That Changed NASCAR Forever

At Talladega International Superspeedway in 1973, Bobby Isaac heard voices telling him to pull over.  It wasn’t his crew chief, it wasn’t his spotter, but he said that it was a supernatural voice.  Nothing at all was wrong with his car.  But, he got spooked by the voices and quit racing on the spot.  He pulled into pit row, turned the car off, got out, and never set foot in a race car again.

Odd things happen at Talladega all the time.  Fans and drivers joke around casually about the “Talladega Jinx.”  The Jinx itself is standard issue – every track has it in some form or another.  People say that Talladega was once a Native American burial ground and the spirits haunt the track to this day.  As silly as those stories may seem, Talladega has been a haven for mishaps since Day 1.  Larry Smith lost his life there because of a minor-yet-deadly accident.  Davey Allison lost his life there in a helicopter crash.  Side-view mirrors have killed drivers there.  There have been so many infield accidents that I can’t even count how many there are.

But, it was Bobby Allison’s near-fatal crash there in a Grand National-series Buick LeSabre in 1987 that changed NASCAR superspeedway racing forever.  There were no murderous mirrors or supernatural voices.  Instead, a blown tire at 200+ mph sent Allison’s number 22 Buick LeSabre stock car into the air.

The result was sickening.  His car was moving with such momentum that it literally vaporized the catch fence and sprayed the crowd with debris.  Thankfully, two well-placed and tightly-wound cables kept most of the car from landing in the crowd.  The only serious injury was a spectator who lost an eye – sad but not deadly.  Bobby Allison continued to race after the crash at Talladega until the next year, when a career-ending crash at Pocono Speedway in 1988 caused him to hang his helmet up for good.  However, Jinx conspiracy theorists will happily point out to you that his family didn’t escape the Talladega Jinx until 1993, when Bobby’s eldest son, Davey Allison, lost his life in a helicopter crash there, just 11 months after Bobby’s youngest son, Clifford, perished in a massive crash at Michigan International Superspeedway.

In Bobby Allison’s crash, speed was what nearly killed him.  Just a day prior to the race, Junior Johnson, a notoriously reckless driver back in his day, voiced his concerns to NASCAR officials.  They should have listened to him.  Junior Johnson is still one of the most respected figures in NASCAR public circles.  NASCAR executives put on the headphones to ignore the thundering engine of Junior Johnson.  Why?  Because Bill Elliott had just put his car in first place at a screaming 212.8 mph.  Big numbers look good in newspapers.  To put that into perspective, the fastest speed at the Indy 500 the next week was 216.6 mph.  Indy cars are light, small, and maneuverable.  Stock cars are like automotive battleships.  When Bobby Allison hit the fence, NASCAR officials could have faced an accident that could have played out like the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans disaster.  Crazy speeds or not, something had to be done quickly.

To reduce top speeds, the stopgap measure was to implement smaller carburetors.  Teams hated it, not only speed-wise, but because it also hindered the car’s performance in many other ways.  It took a full season to reach an agreement, but when the green flag dropped at the 1988 Daytona 500, each car in the field had a restrictor plate bolted to the intake manifold.  The restrictor plate is still mandatory at superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega, as it greatly restricts the airflow going into the engine.  The result is a significant reduction in top speed.  A restrictor plate is simply a piece of metal with four holes in the center for the air to go through.

Restrictor plates didn’t cure the jinx.  Crowd injuries at Talladega are still far too common.  In that case, why install a restrictor plate at all?  Until his death, NASCAR CEO Bill France, Jr. always said that the restrictor plates were bolted on to improve the show.  To this day, it’s hard to find something more spectacular than NASCAR.  The restrictor plate greatly reduces the airflow going into the engine, so, if there is an accident, the car will not be traveling over 200 mph.  Superspeedways are the only NASCAR tracks that allow the cars to get up to speeds like that.  Plus, there’s no denying the spectator appeal of “The Big One,” the gigantic crashes at restrictor plate events that fans have come to expect and see as for-granted.

Is the Talladega Jinx real?  Um, no.  There’s no supernatural entity plotting over what will happen next at Talladega.  But, the Jinx is well-planted into the minds of drivers and fans.  Either way, restrictor plates are still for this world for a while – superstition or not.