Tony Stewart: Actions Detrimental

I thought I was calmed down from the incident that caused my last Tony Stewart rant. I made the mistake of leaving my car radio on for a few minutes when the Tony Stewart show started on Sirius. Ten minutes later, I turned it off in disgust, as Tony began an anti-Gilliland lecture that was nothing but irrational and a pointed attack.

Then, while struggling to return to sleep (after a wrong number caller on my phone), I turned on the radio in the wee hours of dawn. Once again, there was the replay of Tony's vitriol. I listened as I drifted in and out of sleep.

Tony can't and won't let this go. He truly believes that he was totally in the right. His name-calling on the show tells me that he intends to try and crucify David, using his fans. He declared that after the incident, he was on the way to 'go find him (David)' and that Tony's handlers had to hold him back, reminding Tony that he was still on probation.

A caller asked him "If you know you have issues with him, why did you get so close to him?" Tony admitted he probably should not have been that close to him on the track, but would not admit why he was that close. (I am guessing it was an intimidation attempt.)

Today, while listening to David Poole and Mike Bagley on The Morning Drive on Sirius, the callers have overwhelmingly been against Tony's actions and Tony's conversations. One caller brought up something that illustrates Tony's lack of control.

Tony admitted at the beginning of the show last night that he was late to the show. (He apparently is late for almost everything.) And due to his lateness, he was driving, by his own admission, at 130 mph to get home in time to be on the air.

This is not the first time that Tony has bragged of excessive speed on the roadway. While (again) running late for the broadcast from Las Vegas, he bragged he was speeding at 100+ mph on the I15, a local highway that is 5 lanes of congestion and has serious accidents daily, with fatalities at least every month. We don't need an 'idiot' like Tony driving stupidly and putting innocents in danger.

Tony also complained he lost his hat and his sunglasses from his speeding last night. His comments about his sunglasses could well cause his personal services sponsor to read him the riot act. He laughed that the glasses only cost about 5 bucks to make, but they were sell for over $100 bucks. I am sure Oakley loves that cavalier attitude.

Tony continues to exhibit a distinct lack of control. If things do not go the way he thinks they should, he has a tantrum. If he seriously is concerned that David is a bad driver, he could take the time to talk with David, in a non-aggressive manner and HELP him. At this point the other drivers on the track are going to have to be cautious whenever they see Tony near the 38, because they know that Tony likes his little revenge games.

And thank you to Ricky Rudd for defending his team mate.

AS FAR AS DAVID GILLILAND GOES, TONY STEWART SUGGESTED LAST WEEK AFTER THEIR PRACTICE INCIDENT THAT HE MIGHT NEED MORE TIME IN THE MINOR LEAGUES. DO YOU THINK DAVID BELONGS IN NEXTEL CUP?
“I think he definitely belongs and let me kind of clear up something here. Tony is Tony. What else can you say? You can’t question his driver ability. Everybody knows he’s one of the best if not the best out there, but he kind of has a habit of running his mouth at the wrong time. David got blamed for that wreck, but that wasn’t David’s fault. No one ever came around and asked anybody else what happened, but the videotaped clearly shows what happened and Tony screwed up. He just misjudged his distance and ran into the back of David. David doesn’t really have a presence out here. He can’t fight that battle, but I can tell you one thing, that was not David Gilliland’s fault the other day. But the media seemed to jump on it and wrote it the way Tony spoke it, but, anyway, that being said, David definitely belongs in Cup racing. He has all the talents and he adapts quicker than anybody I’ve ever seen when we go to a strange race track. He’s right up to speed immediately. Our program and our team is not where it needs to be yet. They’ve been working very hard trying to get there and they’re making progress, but I think before you can make a judgment on David, the whole thing has to come together. Our speedway program is second to none. Our Daytona [International Speedway] and Talladega [Superspeedway] stuff, there’s not a team out there that has better speedway stuff, and if you look at it that way—and that’s the only really fair chance David’s had this year—and he’s been very competitive in all those races. He’s run extremely well.”

I do get tired of hearing that 'Tony is Tony' excuse, though. It is like excusing the school bully for beating up on kids for lunch change. It is a shame that we have a two time Champion acting this way. I can't help but wonder how Dale, SR would have handled this. Surely, not this way!