Darker side of NASCAR Nextel Cup

In another sign that NASCAR is not only a mainstream sport, but is becoming a dominant U.S. sport, Time Magazine has profiled points leader Tony Stewart, affectionately known to race fans and competitors as “Smoke”. Surprisingly, Time didn’t handle Stewart, a self-righteous ass, with kid gloves.

---

… Here's what Mr. Mellow had to say after a recent race about fellow NASCAR driver Greg Biffle: "That guy is an idiot ... right now if he came over here I'm afraid I'd have to strangle him." Stewart had just finished a close second to Jeff Gordon, ahead of Jimmie Johnson, on the half-mile, bumper-to-bumper, fun-house oval at Martinsville, Va. Biffle, about to get lapped on a restart, had played chicken with him, nearly causing a crash. The fact is, Stewart's mouth doesn't have a brake. He is incapable of being anything but candid. The last time something like that happened, he crossed the finish line, then tried to spear a rival with his car as if the guy were a postrace hors d'oeuvre. "Tony wears it on his sleeve," says NBC's NASCAR expert and fellow driver Wally Dallenbach, who applauds Stewart's passion. "We have enough robots in this business."

---

I’m with Dallenbach. There are too many robots in NASCAR. I have the 1979 Daytona 500 on tape, which concluded with a fist fight in the infield. The brother of one of the pugilists stopped his car, hopped out, and joined the fray.

In many sports this kind of behavior is considered taboo. The NBA’s response to a season filled with inglorious events like the basketbrawl, was to issue a bling-less dress code. A whole generation of 7-foot-tall mutants will now dress in clothes they’ve never worn before.

In hockey, on the other hand, a good brawl is considered a main attraction (1). When I hear an announcer reading off a team roster before the first puck drops, I get the feeling I’m hearing Michael Buffer read the evening’s fight card. The tale of the tape, so to speak.

NASCAR used to be that way, but it has become vanilla as it has grown in popularity, and that’s sad. Guys like Smoke are the spice to an increasingly bland entrée.

Another driver in the same angry, smack-talk league as Smoke is Robby Gordon. After an on-track tangle with mild-mannered Michael Waltrip a few weeks ago, Gordon looked into the NBC camera and said that while everyone considers Waltrip a nice guy, he is really “a piece of shit.”

Now that’s racin’.

Tony Stewart
Robby Gordon
NASCAR Nextel Cup

(1) The Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission found that "fighting is an integral part of the game of hockey" (go here for more)