Let’s Hope “Great Granny NASCAR” Doesn’t Over-React AGAIN

By Valerie Wood

For NASCAR to even consider fining Dale Jr. for a mild expletive would be conduct detrimental to the sport of racing by the sanctioning body. For this to even be a consideration that NASCAR might dock points does not speak well of NASCAR’s intentions in their Cup Chase.” It might even smack of attempting to put a different spin on the Chase for the Cup outcome.

In Victory Lane on Sunday (October 3), after an exciting race finish—the kind that the fans were denied in the April race at Talladega which ultimately led to the green/white/checker rule, Dale Jr. inadvertently used a minor ‘cuss word.’ Immediately the talk of the evening on the many post-race shows became not of a terrific, edge of your seat race (for a welcome change!) but “Would NASCAR fine Dale Jr.?” It’s actually rather sad that this is the type of micro-management NASCAR’s style has imprinted on the sport.

It’s not like it was a “wardrobe malfunction.” Or like not driving your car into Victory Lane at Indianapolis in August because you don’t want the PowerAde bottle placed on it, and then subsequently claim your actions were “spontaneous” or “accidental.” It appears that NASCAR cannot recognize the difference between premeditation and spontaneity. That’s pretty sad, actually. If they want to suck the true joy and spontaneity out of racing, then they will continue to try and stage manage every nuance and syllable uttered. Sure, the choice of words was not entirely “G-rated.” But, in fairness to Dale Jr., we have all heard a heck of a lot worse word usage in the supposed “family hour” on all major networks, during the 8-9 p.m. time slot. Words that once were verboten even after 10 p.m. are routinely used in comedy shows which are geared to a younger audience. Does that make it right? Perhaps not. Does it make it a flagrant violation? Of course not.

After the race, Dale Jr. commented:

"I'm pretty bummed out about that, because we're running for the championship, and nobody wants to give away points. Being told in Victory Lane that I might get docked points really sucked the excitement right out of the win. I really don't even remember saying it, but I reckon I did. I was excited, and when you've just won your fifth race of the season and just retaken the points lead in the Chase for the Championship, only to be told you could get penalized, it just squeezed the emotion out of the win. They are saying there is a precedent, because Johnny Sauter said a curse word and was fined. To me, that's different. That was out of anger. What I said was out of jubilation. If they want the Matt Kenseth robot commercial to come to fruition, then that's the way it's heading. I just don't think it's a too big a deal to let a word slip out when you're celebrating. It's emotion."

Amen. The kind of good emotion this sport needs. After all, if we want to watch cartoons instead of racing, there’s always Spongebob Squarepants to fall back on.

For information on Valerie Wood's novel, Enforcer, visit http://www.enforcer.fcpages.com/ (Official Website for Enforcer) or http://www.1stbooks.com/bookview/14441 (Publisher's Website/read an excerpt).

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