July 1, 2007
By Kim Roberson

Kim Roberson

Have you ever paid attention to the reactions that some race fans have to decisions made pertaining to race teams? Sometimes, it boggles my mind how personally some people take the judgments.

Take for example the penalties handed down for the HMS teams and Ted Musgrave this week. I wrote last weekend about the fact that if NASCAR had any consistency, they would penalize the No. 24 and No. 48 teams at least the same way the punished the No. 8 team six weeks ago. Sure enough, that is exactly what they did. (I give NASCAR credit for that…somewhere I think I actually expected that they might be more lax in the punishment). I was a little more surprised with Musgrave’s penalty, considering his incident happened on the track, and was no more than what Kurt Bush did to Tony Stewart on pit road a few weeks back.

You would think folks would be happy with the consistency in punishment and banishment of Steve Letarte and Chad Knaus. Right?

Apparently not.

I am amazed at the number of complaints I have heard this week all but calling for the tar and feathering of the crew chiefs involved. You would think Chad and Steve had run over Dale Junior on their way to the inspection line with the kind of punishments being called for by some. --(spelling not corrected)--

“Cheater Knaus should be banned for life!” claimed one person I heard on the radio this week. One blogger stated since the infraction happened in California the “three strikes and your out” clause should be upheld, and Knaus should be fired. Other comments on the web included “I can't believe that he is still a NASCAR crew chief!!! What are they thinking???”

And then there was this random comment:

“I love it when jealous rednecks and Dale Sr. fans have nothing better to call Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson gay, when obviously they are not.

Oh, yeah, by the way, Dale Sr. is dead, and Dale Jr. is not Sr. He is his own man, and hopefully will go far for his talent, not his last name.

Oh, yeah...Dale Sr. may have never'cheated', but he raced dirty...”

Some folks never miss the chance to dredge up historical issues.

On the other hand, I think it was Jerry Bonkowski who said earlier this week that if Chad gets caught cheating one more time, Robin Pemberton was going to be out of a job because Chad was going to be appointed the new Vice President of Competition for NASCAR. After all, before Chad there was Robin, and Robin is held as the king of all cheater crew chiefs, right?

I think some folks need to take a step back and take a look at the big picture. They seem to take the efforts made by Knaus and Letarte as a personal attack. Actually, it seems to me any time a driver or crew chief is in hot water folks see it as an attack against the fans. When Michael Waltrip was found with whatever it was in his engine earlier this year, folks wanted him tossed out of NASCAR. Kurt Busch runs into Tony Stewart on pit road, and he was “trying to kill someone”. Tony Stewart hits someone on the track and “he is a menace and should be tossed out of NASCAR”.

I will admit, there are times in the heat of the moment where I will yell at the TV “What are you thinking?” -- however after a few hours I try to look at the big picture and realize that nine times out of ten, it was just a racing incident. The drivers are out there working hard to do their job, and in the process, keep us entertained. It is hot in the cars, there is a lot of pressure to do well, and it isn’t exactly a friendly environment. Heck, I have a hard time holding my temper commuting to work on I-66, and that is a four lane interstate…I can’t imagine staying calm and focused in a pack going 3 times as fast. It doesn’t help that no matter what you do, a section of the population will want to string you up for it.

Drivers, crew chiefs and team members are human, as are we all. The next time you want to throw a can, or on insult, or wish to tar and feather, take a moment to look at the big picture. Sure, they might frustrate you, might make your Sundays miserable. But in the big picture of your day-to-day life, do they really have so much of an affect on you that they can make it worth the effort you make to rant and rave and hold the grudge that most folks seem to be able to hold on to over the course of a week?

Sure, it is fun to have a little rivalry, and to say you don’t like one driver just because they give your driver a run for their money. But the intense hatred some folks have for a driver or crew chief…is it really worth it? Do they really have the ability to affect you so harshly, so personally? Think of all the other things you could focus that energy on instead. Mowing the lawn; playing with the kids; fixing the house; going for a walk with your significant other.

Life is too short to get this angry over NASCAR. It is a sport, and one I love. However, in the big picture, it is just a sport, and not one we have a reason to feel personally affronted when a crew chief or driver makes a boneheaded move. The driver or crew chief wasn’t thinking of YOU when they made their decision. So you shouldn’t take it as an attack on you when they lose their mind and do something stupid.

In closing this week, I want to pay tribute to my friend Krys, who I lost this week. She was a die-hard Jimmie Johnson fan, and I am saddened I didn’t have the chance to banter with her this week about the penalties. I quoted her last week saying she hoped the penalties were consistent with what NASCAR handed down for the No. 8 team, and they were. But before I had a chance to chat her up about them further….she was gone.

Life is short. Don’t waste it being bitter over things you cannot change. Enjoy the race for the race, the competition, the thrill. Don’t let what you can’t control ruin it for you.

Rest softly Krys. Jimmie may not know it, but he has someone to watch over him now. And every time I watch him on the track, I shall think of you, whether I am cheering him on or not.

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.