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Debbi Willis, Daw613@bigfoot.com

Taking a Stand

Dale Jarrett may have sewn up the championship with the Phoenix finish and Bobby Labonte says he's running for second these days, but the biggest stories are in subjects other than the points race now. Oddly, the points race is simply waiting for the end of the season. And the end of the season is proving to be unusually interesting. An underlying current has been brewing in Nascar this year. Taking a stand is becoming the norm instead of conforming for success by playing the games Nascar so often imposes on it's drivers and teams.

With the media ever present at its worst, it's pretty obvious they've made fools of themselves in recent weeks. Todd Parrot's fine is old news for his on-the-air-supposed-to-be delayed guffaw but the mud has ended up on ESPN's face for their mistake. Even if they don't admit it as a mistake, they made one! Since they've saddled Todd with the fine levied by Nascar in it's ongoing quest to polish up the sport, the fans have spoken out against ESPN for this foolishness. ESPN could have solved the whole problem and paid the fine, setting a standard that would make the teams more comfortable to work with them in the future. The in-the-moment LIVE broadcasting is an imaginative idea, but the media should keep in mind the emotions in the HEAT of the moment! How in the world could DJ's team (let alone the crew chief) be expected to mind every word out of their mouths during a race at one of the most treacherous tracks on the circuit? ESPN was wrong for not owning up to their mistake and DJ spoke up in Todd's defense, taking a stand where a stand was appropriate. As most remember, once, a while back, Rusty Wallace suffered the same fate with a language fine and took a stand and made his point by paying it in pennies! Tony Stewart paid his fine, but stood by his temper on the track a few races ago when he and Kenny Irwin got into it with each other and ended up putting Tony out of the race. Not that his temper was good sportsmanship but it was honest and genuine feelings, something often whitewashed in recent years.

And the Rainbow Warriors took a mighty stand recently, approaching Robert Yates to become DJ's Pit Crew for 2000, as a package (take us all or no one) deal! What a statement without explanation or wordiness, to make against their Golden Boy driver/now owner and the Hendricks (buy anyone) machine! To add fuel to the fire, another story came out of this move, and the jackman for the Rainbow Warriors decided not to work the rest of this year for Hendricks and Gordon! Only 3 more races to go, but it was seemingly more important to him to make his st and more obvious. This is unheard of! Of course, maybe he had other plans all along and this afforded him the opportunity NOT to have to work the end of the season! Obviously, the details of the Everham/Gordon/Hendricks split has more far reaching effects than anyone can imagine! I've got to wonder if Ray is proud of his old crew! Even the media hasn't fully uncovered this story yet!

Earlier in the year, we saw Bill Davis and Ward Burton sweat out the decision Tommy Baldwin would come up with in light of the incredible offer made to him to become Gordon's crew chief! Thanks goodness, Tommy Baldwin took a stand and stayed with heartfelt loyalty and friendships rather than go for the almighty buck with Gordon. No doubt, Bill Davis was sure he'd suffer the same fate with Tommy when the offer came across from Hendricks that he did with Gordon and Everham a long time ago (or so it seems now)! But a one driver team with alot of spirit held on to hope and a crew chief stuck by his word and dreams for a team he helped build up! There's greatness in taking stands like that and we may all be pleasingly surprised very soon by this team!

Baseball and auto racing don't have much in common except for the recent stand the Yankees took against Jim Gray, one of baseballs well-known reporters, after his confrontative interview attempt with Pete Rose about a 10 yr old defense under the guise of letting Pete tell "his side" of the story! Sensationalism at it worst! The Yankees swept the series and they proved they ARE the best of the century with their 24 series titles, (sort of like Petty and Earnhardt's 7 championships or Earnhardts decade of twin 125's at Daytona) but the real proof of their greatness came with the team decision NOT to speak to Jim Gray after the series. And when Jim approached the homerun hitter about the final winning run, that is exactly what he was informed. Nothing personal of course, just a matter of taking a stand against media exploitation of the sports world.

More of this "taking a stand" is needed in Nascar. If the drivers and teams refuse to go for the "live mike" opportunity again with ESPN, hopefully ESPN will understand why they don't want to risk throwing away $5000 for a mistake in speech. For those who think that all the teams and drivers should be watching their mouths because young ears are present and it's not good to use "bad" language, I hope your glass houses stay in tact! Human nature gets excited, and we fans love to watch that excitement and competition. As adults, we should understand that, so keep the opportunities to hear that language up close and personal with the teams out of the hands of the kids. When they are adults they'll understand. In the meantime, hopefully taking a stand will become the norm and not the exception.

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