July 22, 2010
By Doug Demmons
You have to hand it to NASCAR. They are consistently inconsistent.
Barely six months after saying they were taking the handcuffs off the drivers and trusting them to police themselves, the handcuffs went right back on.
After proclaiming the era of "Boys, have at it," the new phrase is "Boys, sort of have at it."
The impetus, of course, was the wreck at the end of Saturday night’s Nationwide Series race at Gateway International Raceway. That’s the one in which Carl Edwards got bent out of shape because Brad Keselowski tried to put the bump and run on his old pal Carl on the last lap.
Carl wasn’t amused. He transformed into a linebacker as he came out of the final turn and treated Keselowski like a receiver coming across the middle of the field.
Of course, Edwards had every reason to believe that NASCAR officials would do the same thing they did when he sent Keselowski flying at Atlanta — nothing more than make-believe probation.
But NASCAR didn’t do that. This time they docked him 60 points (equal to the number of points Edwards gained on points leader Keselowski by winning the race) and fined him $25,000.
So much for "Boys, have at it."
NASCAR doesn’t see it that way, of course.
Robin Pemberton, the NASCAR official who coined the phrase, said it is still alive and well and that Edwards just crossed the line. He also pointed out that both drivers were warned back in March at Atlanta.
And that’s perfectly fine. Nobody wants to see a driver get killed or seriously injured because of a feud.
But NASCAR wants to have it both ways — drivers reined in for their own good and the good of the sport and the public image of wide-open racing by hard-nosed drivers.
When NASCAR proclaimed "Boys have at it" they were probably thinking of the infamous Daytona fight between Cale Yarborough and the Allison brothers. Things just didn’t work out that way.
It’s actually amazing it took this long for it to come to a head.
What will also be amazing is if anyone takes "Boys, have at it" seriously again.
Doug Demmons is a writer and editor for the Birmingham News ~ he writes daily and weekly auto racing columns ranging from NASCAR to open wheel to Formula One, local tracks and more... you can read Doug's columns online at Blog of Tommorow
Follow Doug on Twitter: @dougdemmons
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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