Jalan5000A's

NASCAR COMMENTARY

NASCAR Commentary and Observations from Jalan5000A, Founder of the AD NASCAR Family Community on America Online

COOL IT

There is no questioning that automobile racing is an aggressive sport. The very nature of this occupation demands an intense, competitive drive. Rules, crafted by NASCAR over the years, have sufficiently deterred the level of on-track contact and over-aggressive driving fairly well. And compared with the NASCAR of twenty years ago, today's stock car racing is tame.

But this loss of self-control, temper, and common sense the past few weeks in both the Craftsman Truck Series and BGN, is getting out of control. I mean, some of the antics I've seen lately looks like something choreographed by the WWF. Some of these dudes need to OD on some chill-pills.  

It started earlier this year in the BGN Garage at Rockingham. Phil Parsons' crew chief gave Blaise Alexander a knuckle sandwich as Parsons looked on. Both Parsons and his goon-squad were fined.

At Pikes Peak, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., his crew chief Tony Eury got into a fracas with Tony Stewart's crew chief, Bryant Frazier. It happened in the garage, thank God, and out of sight of the general public. But, it was still a bad place to have a fight. The press was there. The younger Earnhardt was fined $5000 for his participation in the free-for-all.

Most recently, the normally docile Jeff Purvis, snapped while motoring about the South Boston Speedway. Livid over an on-track skirmish with Mark Green, the Alabama native followed him into the pits, whereupon Purvis committed the most callous, careless, and contemptuous move I have seen since the time Davey Allison punted Darrell Waltrip out of turn four at Bristol in 1990. Purvis bumped Green's car as it was pulling into it's stall on pit road. Had he hit harder, the car could have hit some crewman and caused some very serious injuries. Purvis' conniption fit continued as he exited the car, and attacked anything wearing a uniform in Green's pit. A four race suspension and a $10,000 fine gave Purvis a good reason to take a months vacation.

Finally, Ron Hornaday needed a Phenobarbital Enema this past weekend during the truck race at IRP. Hornaday was forced to munch on some concrete by Jack Sprague in the closing stages of the race, eliminating Hornaday's chance to keep the points lead. Hornaday didn't appreciate the taste of this cuisine, exited his truck as it was parked for repairs on pit road, and pulled a ‘Jeff Purvis' on Sprague's crew. Fortunately, Hornaday, and his intended victim were restrained, and a volatile situation was diffused. For a minute there, I thought Diamond Dallas Page and Dennis Rodman were going to appear on-camera.

It puzzles me why respectable people like race car drivers would lower themselves to the conduct standards of baseball and hockey players. It puzzles me that for one fleeting second, these people wouldn't think twice before climbing from their cars looking for a rumble.

What's next? Bouncers in the Pits?

Look....... this is 1998, not 1958. Brawls in the pits and garages are a part of NASCAR's past, and certainly have no place in it's future. If you guys want to duke it out, go back to your hotels and settle it behind closed doors instead of contaminating the sport with these acts of violence and aggression.

Cool it, guys. .

See you at the Top,

Jalan5000A

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