Surely by now, Y'all are aware of the tragic
accident that resulted in 20yr old Kevin Ward Jr's death last
Saturday night at Canandaigua
Motorsports Park in Upstate New York, where Tony 'SMOKE
Stewart was moonlighting in a Sprint Car race.
Having not witnessed the crash, or having
heard of I-T until the following evening when perusing my Newsline for
The Blind newspaper service, nor wishing to attempt hunting down the possible
remaining Youtube videos on said incident, I feel a bit loathe to comment upon the
matter, especially since all I can truly do is react a la the countless
"Monday morning Armchair Quarterbacks," eh?
Being deeply engrossed in a timeless classic seafaring
adventure written by Jack London, I'd
originally planned on skipping my usual Sunday night's faire 'O Speed Freaks,
but upon hearing the devastating news, quickly turned on thy 'lil transistor
radio, since duh Freaks are now available on a scratchy, distant FOX Everett,
WA radio station - which the stat icky reception plus endless debate over
'SMOKE's involvement in said death led me to switch off some 20mins later 'N
resume listening to my CD 'Audiobook rendition of the 1904 adventure classic The Sea-Wolf
instead; but I digress...
Thus, having originally tuned-in some twenty-plus
minutes late, I was greeted by Crash
Gladys's voice sounding like she was either inside a cavernous lava tube or 'Ol
fashioned telephone booth, with distinct tininess - with the 'Statman
alongside, as I was happy to hear her at least ask the obvious Questione to
Stat'; Do you think "Boyz' have at
IT!" Had anything to do with this tragic occurrence?
As this WWF Wrasslin', Racin' is Rubbin'
mentality has long been one of my major turn-offs towards NASCAR, which I affectionately denote as 'RASSCAR...
Not to mention the numerous altercations upon
Pitlane, the Garages and else wear, having led me to give Clint Bowyer; Y'all
know the Dude who's arms gotz really tired when trying to artificially insert
his Mikey 'Aw Shucks! Waltrip team-mate into last year's chase many nicknames,
most presently being 'Fisticuffs.
From the sublime of Robby
"DirtMann" Gourdoun' (Gordon) being the original helmet tosser, or
tossing his headrest on-track to cause a yellow-flag, 'SMOKE's numerous on 'N
off-track altercations, leading to his numerous ubiquitous seeking of
"Anger management" seminars, to Kevin Harvick's mock intimidations,
escalating to using his racecar as a
weapon - a maneuver which was most obscenely performed by Kyle Busch's ramming
of a fellow Camping World PickemUp Trucks race competitor! To the wackiness of
Nelson Piquet Jnr's Hi Karate escapade, it seems overly evident that NASCAR has
taken its Wild West Cowboy approach simply too far!
Yet, presumably NO Motorsports series is immune
from this callous, wantonness behavior, as why does 'Ol 'SuperTex's image
immediately spring to mind when thinking about said attitude that appears to be
way too rampant in NASCAR the past
several years, or perhaps forever?
Since although I immediately think of A.J.
Foyt giving the "Flying Dutchman" (Arie Luyendyk) a
"shiner" when stealing his winner's trophy, or beating the crap outta an offending laptop
upon his racecar running dry. Or poundin' thee SHIT outta an offending Pop-off valve's manifold with a Craftsman ratchet,
nonetheless, all of these colourful episodes happened relatively out of harm's
way...
Yet, part of what solidified my worship of
'lil Al (Unser Jr.) as then one of my favourite (CART) IndyCar racing drivers -
was when he stepped out onto Mother Speedway's tarmac and gave 'EMMO (Emerson
Fittipaldi) a double thumbs-up salute upon having crashed when going
wheel-to-wheel with the Brazilian for the eventual drinking of milk in victory
lane at Indianapolis, albeit Unser Jr. did so somewhat protected by the safety
vehicle...
Hence, as history surely denotes, this verb
'O bravado has been timeless in all forms of life including the world of
motorsports, as surely the Gladiator
style of Beating 'N Banging is a huge part of 'RASSCAR's allure with modern day
fans, as it's taken as part of the sport's tradition, a la Racin' is Rubbin', Halleluiah!
Thus, can individual racing tracks prevent
drivers from disembarking from their stricken race vehicle and STUPIDLY
walking upon the track's asphalt as
other vehicles scream by at high rates of speed in a perilous situation?
Was Tony Stewart trying to send an
upstart competitor a message? Or what
about the other competitor who managed to narrowly avoid hitting Ward Jr.
on-track... Or did his black racing attire along with the supposedly dimly lit
racetrack contribute to this horrific accident?
As why does the accidental death of Armando Teran,,
who was struck by an errant safety vehicle going the wrong way down Indy's
Pitlane during the ugliness of the 1973 Indy 500 spring to mind when thinking
of this incident? Regardless of its being of a totally different nature,
nevertheless resulting in another unwarranted death.
As motor racing's evolved over the decades,
with such safety innovations as the HANS device and SAFER barrier to name just
a few, isn't it high time that racing's sanctioning bodies worldwide instituted
some basic rules banning this dangerous and needless death defying form of
bravery...
As I'm not arguing for insensitive neutering
of individualism, etc, especially since I appreciate nothing better than an
"F-BOMBS R-US!" That slips thru the nebulous PC media filters, or a
driver gesticulating wildly the "Your Number 1 salute!" Or heavens
forbid, a driver speaking his mind, etc.
It's just that it
seems to me that the Wild West Gunslinger mentality was overcome by law 'N
order so to speak, and it's high time to end this useless form of Machismo
which can ultimately lead to a competitor's unnecessary death!
A Death Highlights Sports History of Confrontation
To
continue reading, see; More Conjecture uponStewart-Ward Jr. incident...
