Don’t Forget – Drivers Are Not Supposed To Be Immune To Commentary, Too

From time to time we get opinion pieces
tut-tutting the time-honored practice of fans booing certain drivers. The most
recent comes from Liz
Allison at NOL.

In this season, several instances of
vicious conduct against drivers and other participants in the sport have
occurred. Liz notes fan death threats against Sterling Marlin over Daytona, she
notes death threats against Bill Simpson, and that NASCAR itself has taken a
beating this year. She notes the Fans Against Gordon shirts that are common at
racetracks and the hate mail that is inevitable with all celebrities.

The angle that Liz deplores most is when
drivers’ children see attacks on their fathers. "Insinuating that Sterling
should have lost his life instead of (Earnhardt) – Can you imagine if Sterling’s
children had seen that?"

Liz urges that fans support NASCAR and
their particular driver, but to pause when they author a nasty letter:
"send it to yourself and see how it feels because, believe it or not, these
drivers have feelings and so do their families."

All of this is true enough. What bothers
me about this angle is that it implies that drivers and others in the sport
should, in some sense, be immune from pointed criticisms.

"The drivers are human." Yes
they are. And being such does not, and should not, elevate them above
criticisms.

That Jeff Gordon is routinely booed is
well known – that there is justification aside from the usual
too-frequent-winner reason ought to be considered as well. That Gordon got to
stock car racing without having to struggle, got the best equipment in the sport
at the very start (and of course still does), that then and now he has been
General Motors’ designated champion to the detriment of other GM teams – all
should be grounds for criticism. That his driving over the years has been
punctuated by exceptionally foolish actions – such as lying about a blown tire
at Talladega after wiping out half the field – also ought to enter into
consideration.

What makes the attacks on Sterling Marlin
doubly troubling is they blame the wrong person for the Daytona crash – it
happened because Earnhardt was crowding up the field behind him so Michael
Waltrip and Dale Junior would not have any competition at the end. And Earnhardt
himself has been elevated to the Princess Di of sports – never mind that the
real person, as with the real person of Diana Spencer, bore little relation to
the deified image of present.

Of course NASCAR has taken a beating this
year, and the worst criticism of it is that it does not stand up for itself. It
should have hit back at its critics much harder and faster than it has.

I always get pilloried when I take drivers
to task over their reluctance to racing four abreast lap after lap. I do that
because these are the greatest racecar drivers in the world – they are MORE THAN
CAPABLE of racing like that. It is the same when I criticize their fire and
incentive – I don’t hate the drivers, I hate what they’ve become. They should be
more than willing to race all out for the win.

The real bottom line is this – race
drivers deserve criticism when warranted as much as NASCAR or whoever. The same
is true of NASCAR’s critics – people like Ed Hinton and company ought to be
subject to the same scrutiny they deliver to NASCAR, and they ought to be called
when they get something wrong.

Certainly, there is a need to lighten up.
There is no need, however, for immunity from criticism.