Continued Daytona 500 coverage
Unlike so many race fans, I am not really big on Dale Earnhardt Jr. It isn’t what has he done lately, it is what has he done to justify all the attention he receives, other than bearing the name of a NASCAR legend? There are many more talented drivers in the garage than Jr. and they deserve some of the attention that this Hendricks driver receives.
I actually would have respected the man if he had simply said “I made a mistake and deeply regret it. I will apologize to all the other drivers and try to work through this.” Instead he blamed Brian Vickers for racing with him, and was irked with NASCAR for penalizing him. I wish Dick Berggren would have had the courage to state “Dale, there were 43 other cars in the field, meaning there were over 200 pit stops during the race. No one else had the problems you did.” However, asking tough questions of NASCAR’s favorite son is not how TV personalities keep a lucrative gig.
I would have respected Darrell Waltrip for stating “Jr. needs to be taken out back of the woodshed,” instead of his giving Jr. the benefit of the doubt. Again, notice the last sentence of the paragraph above.
And I would have fallen out of my chair had NASCAR actually penalized its wunderkind. As replays of Sunday’s “big one” were shown, the first words out of my mouth were “$5 NASCAR doesn’t have the balls to penalize him.” The race would have ended right then, because the rest of the day would have been spend cleaning seat cushions, beer cans, and pop bottles off the track.
Fifteen years ago, heck, ten years ago, I would not miss a NASCAR race on TV. Now it is all I can do to watch a few laps. Races like Pocono, Dover, and New Hampshire will see me watching something else, or maybe reading a book. Watching paint dry would be more entertaining than those races. Having Kevin Costner in a NASCAR commercial does not make those track or the cookie-cutter 1 ½ mile tracks anything close to a “Field of Dreams.” I keep thinking falling ratings may turn things around, but obviously not.
Apparently I am not the only person who thinks that yesterday’s handling of the Earnhardt incident was WWE like. I received some emails this morning with a few links this morning. You might want to check them out:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/124641-dale-earnhardt-jr-fan-favorite-or-nascar-favorite
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/motorracing/orl-bianchi16021609feb16,0,4822159.column
Will NASCAR become the new WWE?
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