Oh Yeah, That Makes It Just Peachy
Tuesday, July 25th, 2006 10:27am UTC
By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
[thumb:374:l:s=1:l=http://thunderlounge.com/articles/the-soapbox/][thumb:188:r:s=1:l=http://thunderlounge.com/articles/the-soapbox/]Well, someone at Joe Gibbs or Joe himself must have put a shot of reality into Mr. flip-flop here. Mark your calendars on this one folks, he actually took full responsibility for what happened Sunday with Clint Bowyer. However, when you read the press release, note the lack of an apology.
In the following press release Flippy takes the blame, says it was his fault. Um, yeah. Tell us something we don’t know. Let’s see… fist/finger out window, immediate left turn into Bowyer, Bowyer left to spin and put in an incredible amount of unnecessary danger. How could it not be Flippy’s fault?
Stewart preaches about bump drafting during Speedweeks, the bump drafts Kenseth “just a tick to hard” and wrecks him in the 500. He preaches about how if you’re not at the end of the race, if a car is decidedly faster there isn’t any reason to push the issue and you should just let em go for the time being. Yet he fails to follow his own advice at Loudon when Ryan Newman came up with 4 fresh ones. Stewart races him hard, and next thing you know creates a caution. Of course it was Newman’s fault. Never Flippy’s fault, save the exception of this press release which is shocking. Still, note the lack of an apology to Bowyer or his team for trashing his car, or to Edwards and his team for trashing his car and pretty much taking him out of any realistic Chase hopes. No apologies, just “I did it”. Even at least something for the guys who have to now fix the wreckage left in the wake of his temper tantrum.
He wants the respect in the garage, yet he fails to earn it with stunts like this. The guy really doesn’t grasp the concept that just because he has two certain pieces of hardware, doesn’t mean the oval revolves around him. Check out a really good article on this one.
He says that these guys are out here racing without a clue and even at its fullest have the other driver’s lives in their hands. Is that so? So it’s ok to slam into another competitor in this situation, leave his life possibly in danger and let him fend for himself amidst a pack of wolves running close to 200 MPH?
The Stewart fans can be heard whining on various message boards and blog comments all over. Mostly to the tune of “Stewart’s been wrecked 4 out of the last 6 races! If you don’t like it go watch golf!” I see. So it’s ok if you’ve been wiped out to just wipe out someone else, regardless of who it is, and put their life in danger? If that’s the case, look for Junior to wreck someone on a whim at Indy next week. Doesn’t matter who it is, Jr can just pick someone since he was wrecked in the previous race and just turn left right into them while shooting more birds than Elmer Fudd. See the irony in that?
Rubbin’ is racin’. Yes, we all know that. Drivers bump and grind, and sometimes mover other drivers out of the way with the ol’ chrome horn. It is the manner and circumstances in which it’s done that is the issue. What did Clint do to Flippy here than warranted this result? Got a little too close and made him barely brush the wall? Waaaahhhhh. If that were the case, there should be more guys getting put out like this in every race. It wasn’t like Bowyer took Stewart out the week before, and so Flippy decided to bump him up into the outer wall in a turn or spin him into the infield out of the way.
By the time a driver gets to this level of competition, they know how to spin someone out and make their point. Flippy made his point Sunday. If you make me mad, I’ll put you wherever I want, and if you get hurt so what. He’ll also let you know that you’re “#1″ in his eyes, and some innocent bystanders as well.
So while the blind followers that feel Flippy can do no wrong say it’s just racin’, the world that can see it from neutral ground can see it for what it truly was. A blatantly intentional act carried out with reckless abandon.
If a driver does you wrong, ok. There’s a time and a place where the situation will be reversed and justice can be served. Clint didn’t do anything wrong that deserved this kind of retribution. It’s no different than sentencing a man to death for stealing a loaf of bread. That’s how extreme the situation is. No, Clint wasn’t in fear of his life. However he could have been seriously injured as the other 33+ cars came whizzing by. Carl Edwards plowed into him, and Bowyer’s lucky there weren’t more.
In the end, Carl Edwards summed it up best.
Let me just say this: If it weren’t for respect of the sport and the people watching and his team and everything, he’d be out there bleeding right now. … How can a person make it this far in life being that much of a jerk? … He turned into Clint [Bowyer] and took both him and I out and probably made it just about impossible for us to make the Chase, and then when I pull up beside him and wave my hand like, ‘What was that about?’ he gives me the finger. I mean, what a jerk. … It’s amazing to me that someone can be that special.
Nascar needs a “Bad Boy” type to keep the personality world in check. However, they don’t need one that feels the need to pull these types of stunts. Tony needs Nascar, but he fails to see that Nascar doesn’t necessarily need him.
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Filed Under: Damn Good Points, Nascar, Nextel Cup, The Soapbox
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