Just When It Couldn’t Get Nastier At Richmond…
Ironically, the Craftsman Truck 200 at Richmond underscored the two big
stories of the weekend. The first was the last-lap melee that involved ten
trucks and injured Bobby Hamilton. Hamilton will miss at least three races and
Greg Biffle took over the Petree Racing #55 for the weekend, getting into the
field on a provisional.
Biffle had a less than pleasant night on Friday in the Capital City 250,
running second for a long time but then getting swamped at the end. Of course he
had nothing for Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose win was the most embarrassingly easy
by a driver in some years. That race, though, also had some vicious hits, none
worse than Derrike Cope’s stuck-throttle slam in the second turn – a hit so hard
it tore the roof supports in the front of the car off – and none wilder than the
fiery melee involving Ashton Lewis and Jack Sprague; a mini-melee erupted
between their crews afterward, most likely because Lewis quite obviously had the
corner and Sprague didn’t give a damn about that fact – must be the #24 on his
car that made him do it.
Biffle’s Saturday night in the Andy Petree #55 Chevrolet was a wild contrast
– Biffle spun, then rallied back to lead, then crashed with Roush teammate Kurt
Busch – welcome to Winston Cup, Greg.
But it all shows that these cars, as absurdly fast as they are, can and do
slam walls exceptionally hard on short tracks. Hamilton’s melee also showed
again the absurdity of the whole "we gotta separate the cars" nonsense
come Talladega in October – no Talladega crash can compare to the nastiness of
Hamilton’s big one at Richmond, nastiness aggravated by the extra momentum of
the Trucks by being separated.
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The other big story of the weekend was Tony Stewart, whose boorish behavior
got the best of him at New Hampshire (flipping off to the crowd) and at Indy
(his scuffle with a photographer after the 400). Now an incident reported at
Bristol has led to an investigation by the Sullivan (TN) Sheriff’s Department –
a woman with a proper pit credential has filed a claim that she was shoved by
Tony Stewart following the Volunteer 5001
– an incident Stewart briefly addressed on Saturday. 2
Joe Gibbs Racing spokesman Mike Arning was among six people interviewed and
Sullivan (TN) County Sheriff Wayne Anderson said one of his departments deputies
witnessed the incident, and determined to investigate later since the pit area
was so crowded. There is a "good possibility"3
based on available information that a Sullivan County Grand Jury could be
involved.
While other drivers were privately expressing fear that they could be falsely
accused of altercations in garages after races – particularly night races, where
viewing is more difficult4
– this particular incident appears to be solely a Tony Stewart situation.
Stewart admitted his job was put in jeopardy at Indy, and it may be in even
greater jeopardy if this incident goes as far as it can. If the accusation turns
out to be true – and so far all we have is a sheriff’s department investigation
and a Mike Mulhern interview with several unnamed witnesses5
– then more pointed questions need to be asked about the Rushville Rocket and
whether there is a fundamental flaw in his being.
That questions need to be asked about his fitness to be in this sport is
doubly troubling because he has shown on the track some of the finest panache in
racing – "You’re part of the reason why 100,000 people are here," Dale
Jarrett said in the Richmond drivers meeting before the race – winning three
USAC short track titles in the same season, winning the IRL title in 1997 and
several races, winning 15 Winston Cup races, and now winning in the Trucks.
But also disturbing is the apparent confirmation of a fundamental change in
the sport – that today’s drivers want little to no interaction with fans. The
incident with Stewart is surprisingly being treated as an issue justifying
restricting fan access to the garage – except that by all accounts as of this
writing the incident involves a driver acting roughly toward a fan, not the
other way around.
Accessibility is one of the biggest reasons for the explosive growth in the
sport’s popularity, and to restrict such access is an insult to fans as well as
to those drivers who have been better than great with fans. That woman didn’t
ask to get shoved by Tony Stewart, and it doesn’t mater how inconvenienced
drivers are by dealing with fans – that’s why you’re at this level guys, so shut
up and get on with it.
And even that wasn’t all.
After the Capital City 400 Ricky Rudd’s relationship with Robert Yates Racing
suffered yet another ugly blow in a fistfight with one of his crewmen, a fight
caught and aired by SPEED Channel – belaboring the obvious, "a punch was
thrown in the direction of Ricky, and a water bottle was thrown in return,"
said spokesman Steve Post6.
One early report said that blood may have even spilled in the incident, though
the video footage doesn’t seem to bear this out. Regardless, the figurative
spilling of blood is bad enough.
It all detracts from an unusually rough race where crashes, while not as bad
as those the previous two days, nonetheless played havoc with the running order,
left Sterling Marlin dead last, and left Matt Kenseth with two rallies from
lap-costing flat tires for his fourth win of the season. The surface was an
issue again as a number of cars took off by themselves, but Kenseth said,
"The race track was in great shape," and he was able to run high
before anyone else.
Jeff Gordon’s blown engine soon after Marlin’s wreck caused the grandstand to
erupt and helped leave the point race within some 120 from first to fifth
entering New Hampshire – where Ward Burton may be a favorite from his win in
July and his strong run at Richmond.
The sentimental favorite may be Kyle Petty, who fought back from a lap down
and clawed to as high as 14th before late splash-&-goes left him 17th. Kyle
settled some matters before the Richmond race with the 2003 switch of Georgia
Pacific sponsorship to his team; combined with the hiring of Grand National sophomore
Jamie McMurry to Ganassi/SABCO’s Havoline-sponsored third team, it likely means
that John Andretti will stay in the #43, while the #44 will run as many races as
possible pending acquisition of sponsorship.
The hunt for sponsors has become a rather disturbing game, with a surprising
number of teams in need of backing – Petty’s #44, Andy Petree’s team (Square D’s
status is a bit of a question mark), and Nelson-Bowers’ #36; there is also the
status of drivers like Joe Nemechek and Bobby Hamilton, presently rideless after
2002 who would be a good fit for a team. That these teams are working like hell
to get sponsors that should already be knocking on their doors can be attributed
to the absurd costs of the sport.
Not to be outdone, while fights, more fights, and wrecks galore at Richmond,
Chicagoland produced a stunning final 21 laps in its IRL 300-miler. Al Unser Jr.
is as different from Tony Stewart as one can find – his demeanor is much calmer,
his temper is very rarely seen, and he was man enough to admit he had a problem
and to get help before it was too late.
It seems to have worked, as Unser fought it out wide open with Sam Hornish in
some of the most exciting 21 laps ever seen in the still-young racing league.
The top ten were two-by-two like a Talladega shootout and Hornish, with the
championship on the line, won in a photo-finish. Hornish took the point lead as
a result, and he is defending champion of the IRL’s final race of the year, at
Texas.
All eyes will be on Hornish and Helio Castroneves as the Panther-Penske
showdown that has lasted for the entire season reaches a fitting climax. Given
Hornish’s superiority over the Penske cars on open-throttle super tracks like
Texas, Hornish appears a lock for the championship.
The race may be a different story, despite Hornish’s power all season. Unser
Jr. looks rejuvenated and wants a win at a track where he came within inches of
one. A.J. Foyt’s team has struggled all season despite a rousing win at Kansas
and Airton Dare was also in that stunner of a finish in June. Eddie Cheever –
perhaps on the verge of filing a lawsuit against ex-driver Tomas Scheckter –
finished fifth at Chicagoland and wants a win to salvage his personal season and
also to give his team two wins going into 2003 – always a good negotiating tool
for getting a good engine deal.
Some fans still ask how the IRL consistently puts on better races than
NASCAR. There are four reasons – wider tires, more downforce, a stronger draft
(though there admittedly is a need to beef up the strength of the draft), and
drivers who keep their mouths shut, respect one another more (it helps that IRL
enforces a no-blocking rule), and race.
To solve its aero-push and competitive problems, NASCAR needs to avoid the
discredited retrograde route taken with its low-downforce testing and take a
page from IRL, a page it can find in its own recent past as far as aero
anchorage goes as well as a page it can find in its Modified Tour.