A few days ago, I blogged a scathing commentary about David Gilliland losing his seat for a few races this year. While this was the most prominent of my printed feelings, I also sent a private email to TRG CEO, Kevin Buckler. Many members of David Gilliland's fans wrote to various principles of TRG, all expressing our shock and displeasure over the actions of the team.
I am going to give major credit to Kevin Buckler, as he and his wife Debra have been responding, one by one, to all of our emails. As he pointed out, there are not many team owners who would do that.
I agree. Kevin's responses are very unusual among team owners. But, TRG and David's fans, aka Gilly's Gang, have had a special relationship this year. We embraced Kevin as part of our family. We had some very special communications with members of his organization coming to our forum, and talking about some of the inner scenes. Indeed, one of our members became an associate sponsor of the #71 car.
In his email, Kevin gave some background information of the decision, which I don't feel privileged to reveal. Much of what he said, though, was already mentioned on his interview on Friday's Sirius NASCAR show, Trading Paint. He expressed that he has a family, employees,and a very large group of investors that he needs to keep paramount in his decisions. He considers David to be a likable friend, and hopes to have him back in the car for about three more races.
We had a discussion about how the fans blindly lashed out at his decision. I took quite a bit of time to think about that, and responded with some thoughts about how we as fans DO react blindly. After all, we can only react to what we see and hear, as we are not privy to the background information.
Our sport is really an anathema for the idols and the fans. We seem to have much more access to our stars than many other sports fans. Our driver autograph signings are usually free. Some drivers, with extreme popularity, have such a vocal group of fans that they can often help sway the decisions of team owners. (Tony Eury, Jr at Hendrick, for example!)
Yet, really, what do we know about the drivers and the others who make this sport work? We rarely hear details about their personal lives, and what we do know is just brushed across the surface. Press Releases are cleaned and sanitized to prevent negative comments. Few drivers want to create negative vibes with fans, and therefor watch everything they say carefully. Sponsors will send their drivers through carefully crafted media-training sessions. Most sponsors also have a brand manager at the driver's side to keep anything negative from falling on the brand.
Because of that, we do react blindly to situations that involve our favorite drivers. It is the only way we CAN react, because we don't have access to the intricacies of how these decisions are made. Nor should we, yet we will still react.
We will follow our driver from team to team. We will defend that driver and the team with the best of our abilities. We trust that the media releases we hear are true. We will line up hours ahead of time to get a chance to meet our driver. We embrace team owners, since they have the excellent taste to hire our driver. And when we perceive something is not right, and it is a negative for our idol, we will 'blindly lash out.'
This is called being a fan.
Bobby Labonte's fans have experienced some pretty big ups and downs. They were upset with Yates, and thrilled with TRG. Gilly's fans are upset with TRG, and thrilled with Wood Brothers, Joe Gibbs, and Robby Gordon. Erik Darnell's fans are just plain thrilled! But each of those drivers does have a fan base, and the fans ultimately are the ones who make the loudest noise! And with the internet, Twitter, blogging and Facebook, fans have even more noise than ever before.
And if any of the above mentioned teams have problems? The fans will blame the team, the owner, the crew chief, the car, the tires, the weather....anything but our driver. I for one, hate to think of the fans 'blindly lashing out' if Labonte has to do a start and park!
I would like to thank Kevin Buckler for taking the time to respond to me and to the other fans of Gilliland. While we are not cured of our hurt, the wound has a makeshift bandage. Many of us are feeling better. For now!
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Blind Faith or Being a NASCAR Fan?
Thursday, August 13, 2009
When Driver and Fans meet! Gilliland Chats with Gilly's Gang!
Many fans of NASCAR drivers crave the chance to meet their driver. They spend hours in line waiting for autographs, they will spend huge amounts of money for fan events, and will find the most strategic locations at the track to catch a glimpse of their idol. For many fans, they rarely get a chance to see past the corporate-babble that comes from race time interviews. But sometimes, drivers remember who their fans are, and want to interact with them!
Something pretty special happened at DavidGilliland.com on Wednesday evening. David made room in his schedule, and agreed to spend an hour with his fans in a chat room! A full chat room saw David busy typing for an hour, responding to 45 of the 65+ fan-submitted questions!
Post-chat, fans were raving over the experience. "Tonight's chat was the best ever!" "Tonight was the best I have felt about NASCAR all year! THANKS DAVID FOR BEING OUR DRIVER!" "I am just amazed at what a terrific guy David is. What a breath of fresh air to have someone who is so appreciative of his fans. That was just the coolest chat ever -- and I am so grateful that David took the time out of his schedule to do that with us."
Gilliland's fans, self-proclaimed as Gilly's Gang, earlier this year banded together to donate enough money for a set of tires, amassing the needed amount in less than 48 hours. As a reward, Kevin Buckler of TRG Motorsports, used the rear deck to sport a fan-designed sticker for the car for a race. Gilly's Gang showed up in force for several races this year, peppering the background of the SpeedTV broadcasts with Gilly related signs. David also sends periodic messages to his fans via his message board, and is very aware that every race has a race chat in progress, with fans watching every step of David's cars on the track!
The chat provided enough information for a few days worth of blogs, but here are some of the highlights!
David talked about his current season. He had nothing but raves for his crew chief Slugger Labbe! "Slugger has a ton of experience. He is a great guy, and we get along well. He is very competitive just like me. We want to do well. I think he is a great crew chief." David was asked a few questions about the Start and Park situation that has been occurring with TRG Motorsports. "Start and Parking SUCKS (excuse my French) I would never do it full time. Remember, we do it to race, 1 or 2 start and parks so we can race. (It is) the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I am a very competitive person" When asked "David, I saw how fast the car was at Dover in practice. Is there ever a time when the owners might say 'Man, we are fast, we better go ahead and race?'" David responded "I think everyone needs to know that everyone at TRG works day and night to be able to race every week. We go to the track with the cars ready to race. Whether we get to or not comes down to if we have the money. (But) there is a possibility that it could happen."
Fans tried to pin David down on his future. He responded to questions about the rumor of being in a 4th Joe Gibbs Racing car for three races with "(I'm) working very hard on lots of things. But that would be awesome though, wouldn't it?" He also said that if he gets something with Gibbs, it would be one of the most competitive rides, as they are on top of their game. When pressed about next year, he stated his goals for 2010 were to be in a competitive car where he has a chance to win.
David continued to answer questions for the rest of the hour, visiting with family and friends alike, many of those friends coming from his early racing days.
In a future blog, I will reveal more information about this driver, one who tells us he appreciates his fans as much as they appreciate their driver.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
M&M's, Pedigree, and Weapons of Mass Disgust, Oh My!
Richmond International Raceway - a race track that inspires drivers to claim it is the penultimate racing experience. Fans claim the same, and I must say I would be included in that claim. I visited RIR 4 years ago, and reminisce fondly on the whole experience.
The fans attending the race on May 3rd received a more exciting show than the value of their tickets implied. This race will compare to the most memorable races in the annals of NASCAR history, only because of the quirkiest of events.
First, Kudos to my favorite driver, David Gilliland! While Freecreditreport.com has extended their agreement with Yates, it is widely speculated that the car decorations are 'gratis' until the next big-time sponsor can be found. "Gratis or not, I am grateful for the logo's and I will be wearing purple and black as long as the FCR pirate hat continues to adorn the quarter panels.
David had a marvelous run, starting from the 40's (when will the Yates cars start qualifying better?) and ran as high as 14th. Sadly, he was involved in the lap 230 fiasco that sent several cars to the garage. David's car was one of three that never returned to the track. His team mate, Travis Kvapil, finished 16th, and is now 19th in driver points with David sitting 20th. Not bad for two teams that are sorely underfunded! I am sure there are some big dollar sponsors out there who want some exposure! At any rate, this driver will continue to show the promise that came from his Cinderella-like win in the Busch series a few years ago.
Denny Hamlin certainly appeared to be the class of the field. Every restart had the hometown hero charging away from the pack, and he seemed to be unstoppable. Disaster struck for the 11 team when a tire was going down, and Denny stopped the car on the track, forcing a caution. Parked two laps by NASCAR for the infraction, he would certainly have gone down as many laps, if not more, with a green flag stop or a tire blow-out.
Denny's forced caution set the scene for one of the most talked about events of the last two days. Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. were racing side by side, when a 'racing deal' caused Jr. to spin, backing into the outside wall. The anger from the fans was evident in single digit gestures, booing, and the traditional "Jr got dumped" rain of beer cans, aka Weapons of Mass Disgust.
A Sunday afternoon spent browsing the internet shows there are three sharply divided camps on the Jr. vs Kyle subject.
- Group one is made up mostly of media, and a few fans who 'have no dog in that hunt.' The opinion's seem to agree that a racing deal happened. The members of this group are pretty sure that Kyle did not intend for it to happen, and should not be penalized by the Jr. Nation.
- Group two is the "I hate Jr and will now love Kyle" faction. Any driver that is involved in a battle with the scion of the man called Senior is automatically moved to the top of their list! They dismiss 17 Cup wins as a fluke in their sureness that Jr. is over-rated.
- And the third group is the one that will cause this event to never, ever be forgotten. Fans of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will not forgive this one easily. Already nicknamed Vile Kyle on more than one message forum, an arrogant attitude will force this driver to endure boo's and catcalls during driver intros for years in the future.
Kyle's attitude reared it's head in the Richmond Nationwide race on Friday. A post-race scuffle with Steven Wallace caused Kyle to mouth some pretty self-damning statements. Kyle is showing the world his attitude with statements such as
...he's probably not even driving Ritchie Wauter's Super Late Models anymore either.and
We've got a lot of things that go on, but this is just a little piece of the pie. I race in the Sprint Cup Series...The most amusing quote though, was
"That's Rusty Wallace's kid so I'm not sure you're going to be able to talk to him much and get through his head...One cannot help but reflect "Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle!"
One also wonders if Mars got more than they expected. With the announced intent to acquire Wrigley, they may well have two of the most despised drivers on the NASCAR series driving cars under their banner. Oh my! Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya as 'mates! Who would have thought!
And oh, by the way....congratulations to Clint Bowyer, the forgotten winner!
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Monthly Miscellanea from the Marbles
Actions Have Consequences:
The internet has been rife with commentary about Tony Stewart and his various altercations with other drivers. So many times, we hear from Tony that 'it was someone else's fault', or that 'someone does not know how to give and take', or that 'it was not intentional.' One wonders how often he told his buddy Kevin Harvick that it was indeed intentional. Kevin is still not happy with Tony, and as of this writing, had not answered Tony's phone calls. One can only claim innocence for so long, before even the best of friends start questioning the motives.
In fact, this is the second 'friend' Tony has had an issue with. Denny Hamlin was not running to fall back into Tony's good graces, and indeed Coach Gibbs had to be called in to break up the battle.
Tony should understand that espousing the philosophy of 'give and take' requires some giving before the taking. When one is handing out the BS, one should expect that the people who know you the best to recognize the BS when it is directed at them.
Tony Stewart, the day after:
A few fan boards have reported that Tony Stewart, on the Monday after his Indy/Brickyard win, was trying to prepare for his Sirius show. There were some technical difficulties, and he and Matt Yokum supposedly were talking while assuming they were having a private conversation. The microphones were 'hot', and Tony was said to have commented on how 'effing' hungover he was, and that he was peeved he had to attend his fan picnic that day. Since I quit listening to him several weeks ago, I cannot verify this. I did try to tune in to the beginning of the replay on Tuesday, but they were replaying a "Best of..." show. That in itself is unusual, as I was told that "Best of..." Show was specifically for the off week. I will say, there was some hysterical stuff going on with a Carl Edwards interview and the happenings at a bowling alley in South Carolina! (THAT was Tony at his best!)
Merger Mania
The DEI/Ginn deal is still having far reaching repercussions. Marty Snider interviewed Dale Earnhardt JR, and replayed a portion of that interview on Sirius this week. Dale Jr commented that 300 employees in Mooresville would be out of jobs. Some boards are reporting that Claire B. Lang's XM show claims the layoffs have started. There are some serious issues reported about Ginn's level of debt. One hopes that DEI used Due Diligence to research the debt load.
Ironically, some of the 'net flak has been targeted at 'leader' of TEI as being the person who is the evil boss screwing the workers. And yet, if TEI...oops..DEI had not had the merger, there would be a whole race shop shut down. This way, some of the workers do get to keep their jobs.
Yates/Newman/and whoever else....
Newman! *sigh* Hey, has Robert Redford ever wanted to be a sponsor? I am heading to a race this fall just to hopefully stalk Paul Newman! Stalking Redford would make it a perfect day for me!
Other than a gorgeous Senior Citizen, what other benefit does the Y/H/N/L deal create? I can see that Yates can use the engineering. And now, they may need the sponsor support. But what does the N/H/L part of the deal get? One hears that a certain grandson of a certain 'first name of IRL' may be the biggest beneficiary!
Sponsor Merry-Go-Round!
M&M/Mars is receiving almost as much buzz as Budweiser. Ironically, both of these icons are swarming around Ray Evernham! Go figure! Evernham is having the crappiest of seasons, and yet the sponsors are knocking on his doors!
There are many, many Sadler fans that may have to eat their words, as well as some M&Ms. They were so quick to holler "I will never eat M&Ms again! " Wow, enjoy some Crow with those candy covered chocolates? Does Crow melt in the hand? Hmmmmm!
One has to wonder what in the world is going on with the Powers That Be at Mars. Their former driver has broken not one but two contracts. This same driver received many complaints in the last year as not being known to treat his fans especially well. (Expired Tylenol was the only noteworthy item in an expensive Fan Club Pack.) The other driver under consideration has been noticed by me in a previous blog, and now members of the media, as having little grace under pressure. His negative comments about other drivers have soured some of his fans, even if he can move his butt enticingly in commecials.
Other message boards wonder why a family owned company would even pursue a team whose owner 1) admitted to having a personal relationship with an employee and 2) verbally and publicly threw one of his employees under the bus for job performance. One wonders about potentially far-reaching splatter from impending lawsuits from the Wronged Girlfriend or the Jilted Engineer. It would not be the first law-suit experienced by Ray. Any publicity from such a lawsuit could splatter right back onto the sponsor.
There are many that would take great joy in seeing the current bearer of the M to end up ahead of the previous bearer. If Ray does not get his group of drivers together, it could happen. In the meantime, David Gilliland is slowly but surely building a fan base. He is also still in inferior equipment, and yet slowly but surely gaining on his scores. He is even being noticed by some 'Hot Sheet' and other gambling odds sites as a prospect!
Can he ever...?
Can Kyle Busch ever get through a race without controversy? He plays the "I am a bigger man and can apologize" card, and then he peeved Jeff Burton. The good thing is, Jeff is a behind-the-scenes type of guy, when it comes to driver relationships. Kyle's saving grace is that he can driver the wheels, and the decals, off of his cars.
NASCAR broadcasts:
TV: So far, after one Cup race, and a half season of Busch races, I am not impressed with ESPN. The 'draft track' was silly. Tim Brewer had some great tools at his disposal, but was thrown under the bus over the placement of Jimmie Johnson's fuel pump. There were a lot of commercials, but then, when the $$ are thrown out there, you have to expect that. I am not yet ready to go Pay Per View.
Trackpass gives me the 'fill-in coverage' I need. Radio scanners and Race view give me at least 85% of the picture, even when my driver is up front for a bit, and ESPN forgets to talk about him. Uh oh! I just realized, that I am paying, in essence, a pay-per-view to get the coverage I need!!!! Hmmm!
Best Broadcast Bang for the Buck: Sirius Radio channel 128
- The day starts off with the Misfits, aka The Morning Drive...Marty Snider and David Poole. Their discussions quite often jump into the argument stage, but always make you think!
- The Driver's Seat, with John Kernan as host, is fabulous! John is so knowledgeable and comforting to listen to, and has such good rapport with Buddy Baker (love love LOVE Buddy's stories!)and also Ricky Craven, John Andretti, and a cast of thousands!
- Sirius Speedway has the most longevity of the group, and has the most fun! Regular reports from Juan Pablo Montoya, Ray Evernham, and Brendan Gaughan give me targets of tuning. I will listen to each of them each week! Dave Moody and team have me giggling hysterically at least 5 times in each broadcast! This group has a knack of bringing out the real driver in their interviews!
Speaking of gambling....what is going on with the drivers enticing fans into gambling or poker sites? How long can the fans really expect the drivers to really show up! What kind of profit do the drivers receive? Hmmmmmm!
We will wait with anticipation to see what the next month brings! In the meantime....Happy Racing!
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Tony Stewart, Again and Again!
The July race at Daytona has traditionally been a 4th of July extravaganza, complete with wonderful fireworks as the winner enters Victory Lane. This year, there were fireworks of a different nature starting in turn 4 of the 15th lap.
Denny Hamlin was leading, and team mate, Tony Stewart, ran into the rear of Denny. Both cars wrecked, and caused secondary wrecks involving Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Reed Sorenson. The melee was startling enough, but what happened in the garage later is where the fireworks show really started.
The media was waiting for Tony, and they got exactly what they wanted! Dave Rodman, of NASCAR.com reported Tony's tirade against Denny.
"The No. 11 just stopped for no reason, right in the middle of Turn 4," Stewart said. "I'm sure he was getting tight because for three laps in a row we were catching him through the center and the exit of the corner.While the above statement was hauntingly similar to Tony's comments about David Gilliland at Michigan, Tony decides to add fuel to the fire by stating:
"All of a sudden he just stops on the exit of [Turn] 4 in front of 42 cars and I guess expects all of us to drive around him. I don't know. It's tore up two really good racecars."
Stewart said Hamlin had "tried to crash us on Friday in practice and didn't get it done so he finished it off [Saturday]."
Now, it is eerily similar to what Tony has said about other drivers, including Gilliland.
Rodman even reports:
Stewart's frustration was doubly evident, as, when his crew told him over the radio that Hamlin's No. 11 crew was going to help push Stewart's car toward the garage, he said "don't let them touch this [expletive] thing."Tony takes it a step further when holding court with a camera crew from ESPN's Nascar Now.
We got one team mate here that is a superstar and he wants to be his own one man band and he is about to succeed at it.It is obvious that something is bothering Tony to the point of pain. Is it that he is the only driver in the top ten to not have a win? Is it possible that his team mate, Denny, won before Tony won? Is it possible that Tony has surrounded himself by folks who reinforce his bad behavior and in fact, encourage it? Is it possible that the 'fix' of moving back to Indiana was only a band-aid? It could be any, all or some of that, or none of it.
What we do know is Hamlin took the high road.
"If he wants to blame it on me I'll be the bigger man -- I'll take responsibility for it. He's been around this sport longer than I have and he probably knows more than I do, so I'll just take it for what it's worth."Coach Gibbs tried to defend the actions of his drivers.
"The two guys are very competitive, we're running up front and we've got real good cars and that's something that can happen," Gibbs said after visiting the garage with his son, team president J.D. Gibbs. "That's really what happened -- it's just one of those unfortunate things.However, Rodman writes that Gibbs had not seen the incident, nor had he heard Tony's comments.
"Both guys are going as hard as they can and I think both of these guys are real competitive. I think they're good teammates and I think it's just something that happened [Saturday night]."
As I review much of the reporting about the incident, I am struck that some of the media are not as much on Tony's side as in the past. One wonders if the "Tony is Tony" attitude is wearing thin on the media, much like it is wearing thin on fans.
Some fans still staunchly defend their driver. Many emails remind me that he has a big heart, and gives generously to all around him. I will concede that the Good Tony is indeed good. It is just that the Evil Tony is so rotten.
Frankly, I would love to have one month were his grade-school antics are not the highlight of the news. However, Tony continues to make a target of himself. One wonders how long it will be before Home Depot steps in and sanctions him again.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Aric Almirola: When is a Win not a Win?
Saturday night at the Busch Race, in Milwaukee! It should be a fun time with good racing. But, just like the race at Infineon, and like the Truck race the night before, this race is also fraught with controversy.
Denny Hamlin originally was not going to run this race. However, Rockwell Automation is based in Milwaukee, and according to various reports Rockwell wanted their star to make the trek from California to Wisconsin, in hopes of a win. As a reminder, the day started out poorly for our hero, Denny. He overslept, and missed part of first practice. He had to skedaddle to catch a plane, one that for some reason has to be refueled twice during the trip.
Denny's helicopter could not land on the heliopad, and he asked for permission to land at the track, and was refused. (Rightly, I might add!) He finally lands, declares he will respect Aric Almirola's efforts and won't get in the car.
By lap 60, that had changed. Denny was in the car, and Aric was out. Denny went on to win the race, but there was a great deal of discomfort in Victory Lane.
At this point, all of the finger pointing says that the sponsor, Rockwell Automation, made the decision to pull Aric out of the car. It could well have been Gibbs making the decision to placate the sponsor. We know both the driver or the crew chief claimed to have not been a part of the decision making process.
What a shame for Aric! He was in great equipment, he won the pole, and he was running top 3 at the time. AND, he would not have had to fight from a lap back. We will never know what he could have done. And he gets his a win that he did not 'earn.' It is easy to not find pride in that kind of win.
Denny drove a good race, and we cannot take that away from him.
Whether the decision was made by JD Gibbs, Coach Gibbs or the sponsor, Rockwell got their win, but at what cost? If they indeed insisted that Denny get in the car, then they may need to revise their Standards of Ethics.
Somehow or other, I don't think Aric Almirola will believe the truth of those Ethics statements. It looks like the one about 'fairness' did not apply tonight. If I were an employee of Rockwell, I would be embarassed, no matter WHO made the decision.Who We Are
You Expect High Standards
You expect your partners and suppliers to adhere to high ethical standards. Working with Rockwell Automation means you are engaging a partner that considers honesty, fairness, quality and responsiveness as guiding principles; and integrity an underlying value in every business transaction.
Our commitment to responsible business practices is absolute. Our employees, officers and directors behave with integrity in all interactions with customers, partners, shareholders, consumers, and governments, and comply with the mandates of our extensive ethics program and conflicts of interest statement.
****************************
I just wanted to add one more thought, that I already posted as a response on another blog:
And this cannot be good for NASCAR's diversity effort, either. A Cuban-American gets pulled from the car so that an All-American, Apple-Pie Southerner can get the win.
Edited 06/24/07 at 9:50 AM
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Tony Stewart: Champ or Chump
Tony Stewart is proving to me that he is a Chump, not a Champ. He had another on-track altercation with David Gilliland during Happy Hour practice at the Michigan venue. David had old tires, Tony had fresh tires. Tony managed to run up on David's rear, and David became loose and then Tony made contact with David.
First off, I watched the NCTS and the Cup racing at Michigan, and I marveled at the wide track, and views of three and four wide racing. You cannot convince me that Tony was forced to get that close to David, when they were the only ones at that point of the track. Tony was being an arse and trying to spook David.
Second, have you ever seen such a tantrum? Glares, Snarls, Stomping his way to the NASCAR hauler, and Slamming of sliding door at the hauler. Oh my! How fearsome! The only things missing were the holding of breath until blue in face, and the flailing of arms and legs while on the ground, and don't forget shrieking at the top of the lungs. I mean really, Tony, if you insisit on having a tantrum, I am sure there are several three or four year old children who can give lessons.
Third, David had one short interview about the situation. Tony wailed to any and everyone about it, and in fact held court on it with a posse of reporters. He declared that David had apologized, but that it wasn't enough.
Tony, after his last issue with David, used his radio show to declare that he and David had talked, but that he did not believe David was sincere. I have no doubt that Tony was still bearing a grudge. How ironic that David does not have a venue in which to rail against instances like this.
Tony claims that drivers should run a full Busch series first. Tony, you should have also. I am sure that at least one more year may have given you some more maturity before stepping up into the big leagues. In fact, you may have even had a win in the NBS, something David had, and you didn't before running in Cup.
You mentioned Kasey Kahne being wrecked by David at Vegas. No sir, Kasey wrecked himelf. He got loose, and spun. David never touched him. Yet, both you and Kasey show a distinct lack of class by claiming David must not be that good after all.
NASCAR.com had a headline that declare GILLILAND WRECKS STEWART. How interesting is that, as all of the damage to Tony's car was on the right front, ahead of the midline. David had damage on left rear. Who ran into who? And then, today we watched corporate shills on Race Day claim it was all David's fault, and that it was David's responsibility to apologize. (BTW, Mr. Excitement, he already had!) It is ironic though, that Jimmy and Kenny both were sitting there on a Home Depot stage, and surrounded by Home Depot hard hats. Jimmy Spencer used to speak up, now in the last few years, he only speaks what the sponsors want. At least the boys in the booth at the time of the incident, Kyle Petty in particular, declared that it was a case of old vs new tires. Mr. Spencer, I trust Kyle far more than I do you!
Finally, Tony....look inward. Since you have been racing in Cup, you have had issues with Gilliland, JPM, David Ragan, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Mike Bliss, Robby Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Brian Vickers, Rusty Wallace, Terry Labonte, Scott Wimmer, Greg Biffle, John Andretti, Ryan Newman, Kenny Scharder, Bobby Labonte, Kenny Irwin, 2 Photographers, 1 Reporter, Several NASCAR officials
and who the heck else? At this rate, by the time you quit NASCAR, there will be no one left for you to harass.
Tony, you have TWO Championships. You have a chance to become a leader who can help new drivers, rather than one who verbally and physically attacks them. I am sure you are looking for respect, but at this rate, I don't see that ever happening. Right now, you are no Champ, but you are one helluva Chump.
Click to see video of incident
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Dear Tony Stewart,
Dear Tony,
I have liked you since the beginning of my NASCAR fandom. I admired your fire and your passion. I managed for years to shrug off your issues as being a sign of passion. However, the last few weeks have pushed me past the line of Tony Apologists, right into the line of Disgusted with Tony.
It is very easy for a two-time NASCAR Champion to get too big for his britches. Three years ago, I waited in line for you to show up for an appearance in Vegas. You were an hour late. I waited again the following year. You were 45 minutes late. You complained about feeling like you were in a fish bowl, at Daytona and Vegas, because fans were staring at you through the glass. You seem to enjoy it more when you don't have to interact with fans. Come to think of it, you don't enjoy interacting with reporters, either. Beware, Tony, as both of those groups can make you or break you.
You have had your hide tanned by Mr. Helton, and from what I read, Mr. Gibbs is next in line with the paddle in hand. According to Jenne Fryer, Mike Helton refuses to even talk about how he feels about you now. Mike was a poker bud of yours.
You recently dissed the sport of NASCAR, the one that pays for your living. You got spanked for it, then went right out on the track for the Busch race, and you were promptly a factor in two crashes.
One of those crashes was because you had contact with the car of David Gilliland. When David was questioned afterwards, and indeed was PRESSURED about your part of it, he steadfastly refused to say anything negative about you. Take a look, Tony:
- DAVID GILLILAND – No. 25 freecreditreport.com Ford Fusion (Finished 37th) – “Our freecreditreport.com Ford Fusion was running real good today, but, I don’t know. There was a little bit of contact there and sent me spinning. It’s too bad we ended our day soon, but we had a good car. It felt really good to run up front there.” YOUR THOUGHTS ON TONY’S DRIVING OUT THERE TODAY? “It’s a little rough, but, I mean, if it was the last lap you could swallow it a little easier. It’s just Talladega. You’re running close and bump-drafting and everything else. You’re real close. It’s just kind of the nature of the beast, especially here, so it’s just one of those deals I guess.” YOU HEAR ABOUT THE YOUNGER DRIVERS KNOWING WHEN TO RACE AND HERE YOU HAVE A VETERAN GETTING INTO THE BACK OF YOU. “Yeah, a little bit. But I think the track gives everybody so much confidence that it gets them into trouble, but it’s just too bad. Like I said, our freecreditreport.com Ford Fusion was real good today and it just felt good running up front there. I wish we could have finished up there.”
I am no longer apologizing for your "heated emotions' excuse. I am no longer buying into your 'woe is me' attitude. I am no longer going to believe a word you say.
And one more thing, Tony, you claimed that David was getting back at you for taking him out after the Busch race. That implies two things:
- You took him out deliberately.
- You expected that action from him, because YOU would have reacted that way. You assumed that he did it because that would have been your response.
Oh, and Tony...the reason why you got jacked up by David at the end, was because you drove right down in front of him. You were not driving a straight line on the track, your straight line was going off of the wall down to the bottom. You went right in front of him. Man up, Tony, and take some of the blame on yourself.
In the meantime, I am cutting my Tony Stewart Fan Club card into pieces. My Sirius radio, which is turned on 24/7 to the NASCAR channel, will be turned off for two hours on Tuesdays from now on. I will drive out of my way, go past Home Depot straight to your competitor. I will check in my house for any sponsor's products whose badges you have worn in the last year, and clean them out. Coca-Cola out, Hello Pepsi products. Old Spice will never be in this house again. Did your comments about David Gilliland cause this? Yes, because it was the last straw heaped on the back of a very heavily laden camel. At this point, an apology from you is about as valuable as a counterfeit dollar bill.
Just remember this Tony, not all of the boo's you received at the track come from JR fans. Many come from former fans who no longer believe in you.
For being such a good driver, you certainly are looking more and more like the southbound end of a northbound mule. And a pompous mule, at that.
Very Sincerely,
One extremely peeved SNAFAM
Tony, the decal says it all!
“If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.” Abraham Lincoln.
