Racers Who Love to Race: Stewart, Busch, Keselowski, Edwards

Today’s tragic news involving NASCAR driver Tony Stewart has brought up another racing topic that has bugged me for years.  The cause of my consternation?  Broadcasters and media analysts, including past racers, who criticize current Sprint Cup drivers for racing in other competitions, such as the Nationwide Series (the minor league, so to speak of NASCAR, and dirt track races on the Sprint racing circuit in vehicles other than stock cars.

Today, former racer Rusty Wallace again went on a crusade against drivers appearing in non-Cup events.  I didn’t write down what he said, but it’s nothing new.  He just disagrees with racers risking injuring and effort in other races that could distract them from the big picture in the Sprint Cup series.  Frankly, I’m tired of his assertions on the subject.  He’s not the only one who believes that way.  I just happen to disagree with the assertion.

Certainly, the bulk of Sprint Cup racers, including my favorite Jeff Gordon, dedicate themselves solely to the major league series.  It’s probably a good idea, especially for those who have a family.  It’s a long season and most of the their week is spent preparing for the big weekend race.  Like Gordon, who will occasionally appear at a special function including Stewart’s Eldora Speedway dirt track, these drivers may do one or two other races a season, but it’s hardly a regular thing.  Still, there are a handful of drivers who have such a passion for racing that they want to do as much of it as they can.  It isn’t distracting for them; it’s a pleasure, something they love, need, and crave.

Stewart is arguably the most known of these.  He lives to race.  He is now an owner-driver, too, and as mentioned, he runs the Eldora Speedway.  Even though he broke a leg at one of these circuit races last year that caused him to be a non-Chase factor last year, he recently returned to race that same event not long ago.  Stewart is single. He has the time and inclination to race to his heart’s content.

Kyle Busch is well known for competing in other events as well.  As with Stewart, I am not a Busch fan.  He is an arrogant, brash, self-absorbed-when-on-the-track individual.  Still, he is an awesome and skilled driver.  Marriage and being under the guidance of religious Joe Gibbs has reeled him in a bit, but that’s not really the point here.  A couple of seasons back, it was suggested Busch curb his non-Cup participation.  He did.  The result?  Well, I don’t have the stats, but certainly his Cup record that year was far from his best.  For him, racing more seems to make him better.  After that limited year,  he’s gone back to driving in the bulk of Nationwide races and several Camping World Truck races for which he owns a team.

Carl Edwards, one of my favorite drivers, used to race a bunch in other events.  He had the same suggestion made to him and, like Busch, he pulled back.  Unlike Busch, he’s remained focused just on Sprint Cup racing, but I’m not sure that was the right thing for him.  Now Edwards is married with kids, so his time is naturally more limited these days.  I can’t blame him at all for opting to use his non-Cup time to be with his family, but he actually could be more like Busch and be a better driver when he’s driving more.  I miss his Nationwide participation for sure.

Kasey Kahne is like Stewart in that he also drives in several races on the sprint circuit beyond the stock cars.  Others do, too, in varying degrees.  Brad Keselowski loves to race and though some are on his case to stop his Nationwide efforts, he has thus far ignored those cries.  He’s a bit of a rebel, a label that could probably be applied to Stewart and Busch as well.  Rebels and racing: reminds me of Dale Earnhardt and the original group that paved the way for today’s drivers.  Even Dale Earnhardt Jr. still drives in a select number of races other than the Cup series.

Leave these guys be.  Let them race.  It’s good for the sport to have some of these big names out there at local events, and if the passion is that strong in them, they will ultimately be better for it because they will be happier.  Regardless of the profession, being happy tends to result in better performance.

So, Rusty, give it a rest.

The Court of Public Opinion Moves Swiftly

I woke up to the news this morning that a horrific accident had occurred last night at a race in which a young driver, Kevin Ward Jr., was killed.  The loss of life has been eclipsed by the fact that NASCAR 3-time champion Tony Stewart (nicknamed ‘Smoke’) was driving the vehicle that hit and/or was hit by Ward.  The story and video can be found here.  It’s graphic and sad.

The court of public opinion is sounding wildly.  While there is plenty of public support for Stewart, who is skipping today’s NASCAR race in Watkins Glen, there are also numerous accusations of murder and questions about why he hasn’t been arrested.  It boggles the mind how quickly people leap to conclusions.

For the record, I am NOT a fan of Tony Stewart and never have been.  He is a hot head and whiner.  Very little is his fault  He’s had multiple run ins with my fave driver (Jeff Gordon, who was on the pole for today’s race).  Still, being passionate and self-righteous on the track does not equate to being a murderer.  Heck, all the racers can be quick tempered on the track.  Then they cool down and life goes on.

Stewart is in a no-win situation.  For every person criticizing the decision to sit out the Sprint Cup race, there is someone ready to criticize had he raced.  He would have been called callous and worse.  No matter what decision he made, the court of public opinion was and is out there, waiting to condemn.

The video is frightening.  Stewart always races to win.  The accident in which Ward’s vehicle was taken out is what everyone calls just a racing incident.  It happens all the time.  Like Stewart and others have stupidly done in races throughout time, an angry Ward exited his vehicle and walked down mid-track with cars driving by him, seeking out Stewart.  There was contact.  What the video available to date doesn’t show is what happened on the other side of the car, the side where Ward was.  We do see a swerve.  Some in the court of public opinion are calling that murder.  The question is, though, what happened that was not in the camera view?  These are not heavy stock cars.  Did Ward in his anger reach out and then get caught on the car or something similar?  I don’t know.  We can’t see that side of the car.

What I do know is that people are quick to judge.  Stewart likes to win but to think he would intentionally hit a driver standing away from that driver’s vehicle seems, pardon the expression, but overkill.  I have a difficult time believing he would hit a human being, well aware of what could happen.

The court of public opinion is going strong.  Stewart is trending on Twitter for reasons I’m sure he wouldn’t want to be.  His quest for a fourth championship is essentially over for 2014.  The fallout is bound to continue for years, regardless of the investigation’s conclusion.  No matter what happens there, Stewart is always going to be called a murderer by some.

Meanwhile, 19 laps into the road coarse race, Jeff Gordon continues to lead the way with 42 drivers behind him.  Among those is Regan Smith, today piloting the 14 car with driver’s name of ‘Smoke’ on the door.

Million Dollar Executives? C’mon, Give College Graduates a Shot!

Illustration credited to 2000 Herblock Cartoon, copyright by The Herb Block Foundation

Seriously, I am so sick and tired of stories like this one, that of a fired Yahoo hot shot taking home millions in severance even though he only worked there a little over a year.  It reminds me of the CEO hiring and firing that is like that of baseball managers and football coaches.  Work for Team A, get fired, go to work for Team B, get fired, and then work for Team C, and so often the salary just gets higher and higher.

Company executives are wooed with gigantic perks to go along with the big bucks.  It’s reached the level of insanity and it’s time to stop the bleeding.

Decades back, baseball’s Charlie Finley was known to be one very stingy owner.  He fought against his players getting ridiculous raises.  He watched, though, as things spun out of control.  Sadly, it was his own failure to meet a contractual obligation with pitcher Jim Hunter that really launched baseball’s free agency into the hemisphere and started a progression of million-dollar salaries.  The sport has not been the same since.  Finley may have been stingy, but my view of him has softened a great deal over the years.  While he ruined my favorite baseball team by refusing to pay what was becoming reasonable salaries of the day, he also visualized where it would lead, to a world where players like Mark McGwire and Jose Conseco never really appreciated the sport, not the way like Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Joe Rudi, and other veteran Oakland A’s players did before them.  Instead, they just wanted to be pampered, take steroids, and bring home those greenbacks.  It’s sad.

Charlie Finley with the 1974 Oakland A’s (clockwise from the top): Rollie Fingers, Joe Rudi, Vida Blue, Gene Tenace, Bert Campaneris, Jim Catfish Hunter, Sal Bando, and Reggie Jackson (Neil Leifer/SI)

I find myself more and more thinking that corporations should just hire the business school graduates.  Give the new kid a shot and for just a few hundred thousand dollars a year.  Any graduate would jump at that.  No perks.  They don’t need the private jet like Anthem’s CEO does, for example.  They don’t need a home supplied for them like some university presidents do.  Just pay them what is, to them at that point, a wonderful salary and see what they come up with.  I don’t think they’ll do poorly at all.

In NASCAR, commentators often remark about the rookie drivers when they do something amazing.  Darrell Waltrip will make a comment to the effect of, “Don’t they know they can’t do that?” only they do it, successfully.  Why?  They’re hungry for the win, and they don’t know  yet that they aren’t supposed to be able to run high on Turn 3 or go three-wide on Turn 4.  All they know is that they want to win, and so they go for it, and sometimes, they succeed.

Corporations need to start giving the real new blood, the college kids or maybe the out-of-work executive who will just love being employed again a chance and in the process, save millions of dollars.

The business world is out of control with these salaries and severance packages.  The sad part is that it is ultimately consumers, you and me, paying for it, via higher priced consumables and services.

Get a grip.  Give the kids a chance.  Really, how much worse can it get over the disasters that have come out of some companies in recent years?  Think about it!  Support the youth of America.  I’m betting on the college graduates, that they would give it their all and often win in the game of executive wars.