Fan's Eye View ~ Would You Care For Some "Punch," Casey?
4/30/2014
Jim Fitzgerald
Good day, my Race Friends!
I hope this Wednesday finds you healthy, wealthy and wise. Or even at least just wealthy, if you can
only have one. Last Saturday, I was
watching the end of the race, and I heard there was some sort of after race
party. Marcos Ambrose, gracious host of
the party that he was, offered Casey Mears some punch. It was the “punch heard
‘round….Richmond.” If you were anywhere
near a boob tube on Saturday night or Sunday, you had to have seen it. Casey Mears and Marcos Ambrose had a bit of a
disagreement on the race track. Then, it
spilled over into the pit/garage area, and push came to shove, and shove came
to a Kangaroo Punch from Marcos “Thunder “From Down Under” Ambrose, when he took
down Casey “Shiftin’ Gears” Mears. Then, of course, Ambrose got nailed by an
intervening team member, people were pulled apart, insults were thrown, and the
parties retreated to their own personal spaces.
Crisis over, now we can go talk to the race winner, Joey Logano.
Now, friends, I’ve heard a few folks talking about this, for sure. As of this writing, penalties for the fighting, if any, have not been announced. If they are, I’ll probably come back and edit this, but maybe not, since you’ll know about it, too. Anyway, some folks are saying they are fine with the fighting; some are glad that it took place OUTSIDE of the car, and one even said she was impressed that they actually removed their helmets before getting into it. Most said that NASCAR should stay out of it, especially with “*Drivers* Have At It” rules in play. I agree with all of it. The car should never be used as a weapon! I’m glad the helmets were gone so we could see true reactions. Specifically, the “NASCAR should stay out of it” part is my favorite. If I hear about penalties levied against Mears, Ambrose, or any of the crew members, I am going to be rather disappointed.
Think about this: How many times have you seen on the television an advertisement for NASCAR and Joey Logano is flinging a water bottle at Tony Stewart, or Tony Stewart is flinging a helmet at Matt Kenseth, or Kenseth is being shoved by Jeff Gordon, or Gordon is shoving Jeff Burton, or Cale Yarborough is running his face into Bobby Allison’s fist? I’m pretty sure NASCAR is going to use some footage of Marcos Ambrose clocking Casey Mears in the head piece to promote a race or make a commercial at some point. It is exploitation, even though I am sure they will call it “leveraging.”
I’m going to take a page from my writing partner here at Race Fans Forever, PattyKay Lilley, and address Mike Helton, Brian France, and Robin Pemberton directly. Gents, if you pull out that golden rule, everyone’s favorite, 12-4-A, you’re going to have a lot of disappointed fans. Instead, why don’t you use this one as your Jiminy Cricket?
“Behavioral
infractions differ from technical infractions in that each is handled on a
case-by-case basis, viewed in context, with an understanding of the prominence
of the sport, the large fan support that the sport attracts, and also with an understanding
of the passions that the sport can evoke, as well as, the competitive nature of
most NASCAR members.”
“…an understanding of the passions that the sport can evoke as well as the competitive nature of most NASCAR members.”
NASCAR has an out, here, but for consistency’s sake, they will probably still fine and punish by probation those involved, or maybe it will be just because they can. “Actions detrimental,” indeed.
NASCAR should walk away from this one, I say. You must remember this, a punch is just a punch. This is what we used to get at Bristol, and has now disappeared from that track for the most part. NASCAR drivers aren’t fighting every week. We get, what, maybe three instances per year when folks have to be help apart from each other? Keep the rule in your pocket, O Great And Powerful Men Behind The Curtain. We can’t call it “detrimental” when it is used for years later to promote said damaged sport, can we? But yes, perhaps the sport is so damaged now that the needle is pegged and even media outlets which don’t know that we run counter-clockwise 94.5 percent of the year are showing NASCAR footage. Don’t discourage that.
I say we handle it like they do when they vie for the Stanley Cup. No, that is not Marcos Ambrose’s protective gear for his Wallabies. I’m talking about hockey. In the National Hockey League, when two players on opposing teams have a quarrel, the referees let them work it out amongst themselves, and help each other remove their sweaters, and there is no intrusion by other players on the teams. Once two fellers square off, it is on like Donkey Kong, and they continue to go at it until they either quit on their own, or one pugilist gets the better of the other and takes his opponent down to the ice. Once a player goes down, the fight is over. Then, at the end of the year, they all shake hands.
NASCAR, let them work it out, hug it out, or punch it out, but you stay out.
Feel free to leave comments below, and be sure to follow me @RaceFansJim on Twitter, because sometimes I give stuff away!