Originally posted on July 30, 2006 on Foxsports.com
Nascar broke out of its southern roots during the 1979 Daytona 500. Fate aligned several things that day: A severe blizzard that kept most of the East Coast indoors, the lack of anything else on TV, and the volatile tempers of Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough. A late race crash betwen Donnie & Cale led to a fist fight on the cool down lap between Bobby & Cale - all televised to the general public. An instant classic in more ways than one.
Nascar by no means has had the corner on the fighting market. Fist fights have broken out at motorsports events since the beginnings of the sport. There are even instances of "road rage" going back to the early races run by the people who could afford it then - the royal classes in Europe.
The sport has not come very far from that fateful Daytona 500. Today at the Champ Car World Series race at San Jose, Paul Tracy and Alex Tagliani duked it out after Tracy crashed into Tagliani. The fight will be the only reason most local stations sport's desk mention the race. Think I'm kidding - try to find out who wins the next race on your local station. Heck, try to find out when the next CCWS race is...
Last week, in Nascar Nextel Cup, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, and Carl Edwards got into a shoving match on the track. During the race and afterwards, Edwards had harsh words for Stewart. Dale Jr's audio from the race seems to indicate that Edwards had told Stewart a few weeks ago that he was going to "kick his a@#" if he (Stewart) ever "did that again." Stewart had some not so pleasant comments about Edwards in May 2005 over his radio, so this appears to be something that has been simmering along for quite awhile. Regardless, it will definitely up viewership for the next race - at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon have an ongoing feud. In fact, Kenseth has paybacks owed to Kurt Busch (Bristol), Gordon (Chicago), David Stremme (Chicago), and Tony Stewart (Daytona). But who is keeping track?
A word of advice for Kenseth would be to avoid Gordon at the airport - last year Gordon reportedly slugged Mike Bliss for a perceived on-track error on Bliss's part. Maybe it's the quiet ones you have to look out for...
The upper echelons of racing is not the only place the high stakes of winning grate on the nerves of the participants. In early July, in a USAC sprint car race, Eric Gordon and Bobby Santos III crashed in the fourth corner of the last lap. Gordon had led the majority of the race, but the crash propelled Santos's tank across the finish line first. However, Santos hopped out of his car and punched the still-strapped in Gordon with his fist. The fans present booed. But you'd better believe they were anxious to see the next race between these too. Officials were more concerned nothing happen again and spoke with both participants. The rematch wasn't as exciting. But these grudges don't die easy either...
In racing, the drivers have a few options when they get crashed out- they can use the car as a weapon, they can use their fists, they can use their mouth or they can do nothing (maybe until later). We've seen examples of each of these - remember Kurt Busch vs. Jimmy Spencer, Kyle Busch vs. Casey Mears, Stewart vs. Kenny Irwin Jr, Dale Earnhardt vs. Terry Labonte, Earnhardt vs. Waltip, Harvick vs. Nemecheck, and so on.
The next five races in Nextel Cup are very important. The drivers in positions #3 through #12 are so close in points that every point is vital to making the Chase. And given that, I don't think a few fist fights are out of the question...
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