How many of you out there are sick and disgusted at the Fox broadcasters TELLING you what YOU saw, putting their spin on it, and defying anyone to disagree with them? Once again, after a harrowing wreck at Talladega on the last lap of the race, the 3 Stooges of the booth, Jeff Hammond, Larry McReynolds and good old Darrell "Jaws" Waltrip quickly jumped to the defense of Brad Keselowski, who wrecked leader Carl Edwards on the way to the checkered flag. It was clear that Keselowski got into Edwards left rear and caused the wreck, claiming that he had no 'choice' because Edwards was blocking him.
Can you imagine if Dale Earnhardt Senior had done the same thing? Do you think the Fox Stooges would have defended Dale???? No, there is no doubt they would have crucified his driving and intentionally wrecking the leader. So, why is this 'OK' now--because Keselowski was driving a Hendrick powered car? That's pretty well the bottom line. NASCAR vieweship, ticket sales, merchandise sales and about any other sales have plummeted--partly because of the economy, but as much if not more because the multi-billionaires running the sport have chased the long-time fans away with manipulation, greed and allowing multi-teams such as Rick Hendrick racing to run rampant even while insisting the Jack Roush's and other former multi-teams cut the number of cars they field. Now it's getting hard for even a venerated team like Earnhardt Ganassi to fund the #8 car, which was parked a couple of weeks ago due to lack of sponsoprship. Never fear, Rick Hendrick's tainted money will keep his own stable running, even as it also apparently keeps several satellite teams (such as Keselowski's) running partly as R&D teams for Hendrick. Oooops....we're not supposed to know about that stuff.
Keselowski's 'win' should have been stripped from him. It's certainly nothing to be proud of. And, if the Native American curse is indeed still active at Talledega, who knows? He might well join Bobby Hillin and a few others as drivers whose only NASCAR win came at the venerated raceway. That would be poetic justice indeed. Particularly since his car was sponsored by the Miccosuke Indian Casinos....
Carl Edwards was classy, as usual, in the post-race interview, declining to point fingers at Keselowski. The fans who watched the race's end -- and NOT the Fox announcers -- saw what happened, and it wasn't as they tried to portray it. Keselowski wrecked Edwards. Well, NASCAR is thriving on greed, so what's new?
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Why Does NASCAR Have it in for Kyle Busch?
In NASCAR, it's who you are that apparently determines how you will be treated. If you're a Rick Hendrick racing driver, you can get away with punting the opponents, speeding down pit road, and various other infractions. If you're a talented, intelligent driver who threatens the status quo--then look out. We saw for a few years how Tony Stewart was treated by NASCAR, particularly when he spoke up for himself or spoke out about the (lack of) quality of Goodyear tires. For the past couple of years, Kyle Busch has become the victim of NASCAR's tactics. Witness last weekend's race at Bristol where a tire got away from one of Busch's crewmembers. The NASCAR official who was 'Johnny on the spot' there could have stopped the tire from crossing outside of the pit. We've seen NASCAR officials stop tires for the 24 and 48 teams in the past and no infractions were given. But, since this was Kyle Busch, instead, a penalty was called which effectively took Kyle out of the running to win the race.
In today's rain-delayed Truck Series race at Martinsville, under caution with only a few laps to go, Kyle made a move to skim his truck's back fender along the pit wall in order to try and keep the fender from rubbing the tire. Outside of the fact that this was an extremely smart move, the Truck Commentators, particulary Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip, immediately pointed out to the viewers--and the NASCAR folks monitoring the broadcast--that Kyle had crossed the commit line to pit road, despite the fact that there was no intention on pitting. After mentioning this three more times, NASCAR penalized Busch for this 'infraction.' It's hardly the first time we have seen the announcers affect the outcome of a race and point out infractions to the NASCAR officials--it's just quite interesting that they only do this in particular instances. One can be quite sure they see many other infractions take place--they're just selective as to who they talk about.
The bottom line is that there is a lot of concern about Kyle Busch because he is quite probably the most talented racer we have seen on a track in a long time. And, Kyle is a racer, not just a driver or sheet-metal jockey. Kyle has 'made his bones' as a determined, competitive, smart and fast-thinking racer and a lot of people just can't stand the fact that he is so talented. Kyle dislikes being compared to other superstars of the sport, but he has easily proven himself to be the closest thing to a Dale Earnhardt, Sr., since Dale's tragic death. For those of us who like to see a racer actually race, instead of 'driving around in circles,' Kyle is a refreshing change to the style of the current batch of drivers and jockeys.
NASCAR should pay heed to this and stop trying to penalize Busch everytime he turns around. The current blend of vanilla bland drivers is certainly not keeping fans interested in the sport. Whatever is left of 'Junior Nation' is not showing itself in a sea of green. Hendrick Motorsports has only proven that money can buy championships and races--and the nauseating promotion of Rick Hendrick by FOX and Speed 'analysts' over the past couple of years only shows that they really don't believe that the real fans are familiar with Hendrick's felony bribery conviction during the Honda scandals of the early 1990's. Some of us don't put criminals and felons up on a pedestal--and NA$CAR seems to have conveniently forgotten that fact--or maybe they've just been paid to overlook it.
In today's rain-delayed Truck Series race at Martinsville, under caution with only a few laps to go, Kyle made a move to skim his truck's back fender along the pit wall in order to try and keep the fender from rubbing the tire. Outside of the fact that this was an extremely smart move, the Truck Commentators, particulary Phil Parsons and Michael Waltrip, immediately pointed out to the viewers--and the NASCAR folks monitoring the broadcast--that Kyle had crossed the commit line to pit road, despite the fact that there was no intention on pitting. After mentioning this three more times, NASCAR penalized Busch for this 'infraction.' It's hardly the first time we have seen the announcers affect the outcome of a race and point out infractions to the NASCAR officials--it's just quite interesting that they only do this in particular instances. One can be quite sure they see many other infractions take place--they're just selective as to who they talk about.
The bottom line is that there is a lot of concern about Kyle Busch because he is quite probably the most talented racer we have seen on a track in a long time. And, Kyle is a racer, not just a driver or sheet-metal jockey. Kyle has 'made his bones' as a determined, competitive, smart and fast-thinking racer and a lot of people just can't stand the fact that he is so talented. Kyle dislikes being compared to other superstars of the sport, but he has easily proven himself to be the closest thing to a Dale Earnhardt, Sr., since Dale's tragic death. For those of us who like to see a racer actually race, instead of 'driving around in circles,' Kyle is a refreshing change to the style of the current batch of drivers and jockeys.
NASCAR should pay heed to this and stop trying to penalize Busch everytime he turns around. The current blend of vanilla bland drivers is certainly not keeping fans interested in the sport. Whatever is left of 'Junior Nation' is not showing itself in a sea of green. Hendrick Motorsports has only proven that money can buy championships and races--and the nauseating promotion of Rick Hendrick by FOX and Speed 'analysts' over the past couple of years only shows that they really don't believe that the real fans are familiar with Hendrick's felony bribery conviction during the Honda scandals of the early 1990's. Some of us don't put criminals and felons up on a pedestal--and NA$CAR seems to have conveniently forgotten that fact--or maybe they've just been paid to overlook it.
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