NASCAR's Defending Champion Won't Get to Defend Title
(Or, whatever happened to 'Innocent Until Proven Guilty?')

A Commentary by Valerie J. Wood

When you run afoul of "America's Toughest Sheriff" - Marico County, Arizona's Joe Arpaio, you'd best be on your best behavior.  Unfortunately, reigning NASCAR Nextel Cup Champion Kurt Busch was obviously not aware of that.  And, with the incident on Friday night blown out of proportion primarily by Roush Racing by a team owner with an axe to grind and, well, who would want to be in Kurt Busch's driving shoes right about now?

One of the most disturbing by-plays of this recent incident is that, once again, a person has been tried and convicted in the media (and in this case, by his team owner) before any sort of legal proceeding is held. The Sheriff's department had not even issued all of the information they had about the incident before Rouse took action on Sunday morning. Waiting until right before the Phoenix race, Roush Racing suspended Kurt Busch for the remainder of the year. A Sheriff's Deputy stated that Busch "smelled of alcohol" and was "belligerent" during traffic stop Friday night in Arizona. Kurt Busch belligerent? The often cocky and outspoken Busch, who has lost as many fans as he has won with his sense of self-defense, probably did indeed say a few choice words after being pulled over. While that is not the wisest or most politically correct thing to do, it is hardly a reason for an incident to be made - unless there is some sort of ulterior motive, such as garnering publicity. It's been widely reported that Kurt Busch said words to the effect of "don't you know who I am?"  One suspects that, yes, they did know. While that is hardly the most appropriate thing for Busch to say, since we live in a nation that strongly supports equal justice under law and no one should be above the law, it is not reason enough for the Sheriff's Department to turn this into a minor media circus.

In a rather classless move, probably driven at heart by the fact that Kurt Busch publicly campaigned to be released from his contract a year early with Jack Roush's organization, Roush chose to suspend Busch for the remaining two races of the year. Busch, one of the 10 "Chase for the Cup" drivers running for the championship, realistically had no chance to repeat as Cup Champion for NASCAR. Combine that fact with the obviously rankled Jack Roush's resentment of Busch's wish to move on to another team (Penske Racing), and a dramedy of errors unfolded between poor Kurt being caught between America's Toughest Sheriff and America's Most Disgruntled race team owner.

To recap, in brief, Sheriff's officers clocked Kurt Busch at 60 mph in a 45-mph zone at 8:30 p.m. Friday. They maintain that he nearly hit a car and ran a stop sign. One officer was "unable" to stop Busch and called for backup. Officers said Busch refused one field-sobriety test but took another one, which showed alcohol, and then they took him to a police office at the racetrack for another test, but that machine was broken.

One wonders why Busch was taken back to the track to be tested on a machine there. If he was considered to be possibly driving under the influence of alcohol, one would expect him to be taken into custody and to the Sheriff's office. After all, that would not be giving any preferential treatment to proceed in the usual manner.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio defended his deputies in the incident and immediately took to local (and national) TV to make his points. By the way, Arpaio is the one who makes prisoners wear classic black-and-white-striped uniforms, pink underwear, and uses old-time chain gangs. He also has his own website and is certainly not shy of publicity for his endeavors. This was done well after the stated position of NASCAR that the issue was a 'non-issue' and they saw no reason to take action. This from NASCAR - which has been known to blow the tiniest incident out of all proportion. This from NASCAR, whom we all delight in taking aim at, since they so assiduously micromanage the sport to such a huge extent. This from NASCAR, which right or wrong (and frankly often wrongly in my opinion) over-examines, over-studies and overreacts on almost a weekly basis to anything that falls under its radar. This is primarily why it was such a shock to race fans when Jack Roush decided, as a team owner, that he was going to suspend Kurt Busch from his team for the remaining two races. The suspension impacts Kurt's team particularly because, although mathematically the 97 Crown Royal/Sharpie team was not in a position to repeat as champion, they were in a position to move up in the Top-10 final standings. Roush maintains that he reacted as a result of his sponsors contacting him to complain. As of this writing, the sponsors have not commented publicly nor issued a statement regarding the incident. Obviously, because of the sponsors is an alcohol producer, it wouldn't look good for one of their drivers, who has been involved in commercial campaigns about not drinking and driving, to be caught up in that exact situation. Well, this is where it gets interesting.

It is now finally being revealed that the 27-year-old Kurt Busch fell far short of the legal level for intoxication Friday night near Phoenix International Raceway, Busch was administered a preliminary breath test at the command post which registered .017," Maricopa Sheriff's Lt. Paul Chagolla said. In Arizona, a person can be charged with driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol level at .08 or higher. A 170-pound male who consumes two drinks in two hours will have a blood-alcohol content of .01, according to estimates from the MADD website. The decision to have Busch take a second breath alcohol test (on an Intoxilyzer 8000 machine) was at the sole discretion of the deputy. One wonders what the radio conversation was back with the main Sheriff's office. Chagolla admitted Monday night, however, the chronology of events he originally reported was erroneous, and the initial breath alcohol test was conducted at the county's command post at the speedway. When asked why the .017 reading wasn't made available to the public on Saturday, Chagolla said he was still on a fact-finding mission. "Whatever information I had at the time is what I was going to release. And it's important to note that never at any point did the sheriff's office say he was impaired."

Roush Racing president Geoff Smith defended the decision, saying Busch's actions violated "contractual obligations" with sponsor Crown Royal, whose parent company is Diageo. "Regardless of whatever level of [alcohol] presence was there while driving, we have some very strict sponsorship rules in place," Smith told reporters. "We feel very strongly that those rules have been significantly breached."

It is apparent that this issue is not solely about drinking and driving. It's beginning to look more like a petty revenge taken on a driver who wanted to move on and whose team owner was cruising for a reason to embarrass his soon-to-be-ex driver.

Roger Penske, owner of Penske South Racing, will be Busch's boss next season. Penske said he would support his new driver through this situation. "Roush Racing has their business decision to make," Penske noted. "This situation is unfortunate for high-profile athletes who are under significant scrutiny. Kurt made a public apology to the sheriff (Saturday night)," he added. "We support him 100 percent for the future and we will work with him to be a great driver."

NASCAR's spokesman Jim Hunter said that suspending Busch was a team decision. Asked if NASCAR would take action, Hunter stated, "We'll let the judicial process take its course. He's got a hearing set in December."

It's a strange day when NASCAR is actually - appropriately - stepping back and letting the legal system do its job. Unfortunately, Roush could not take the high road in this matter and do the same. Innocent until proven guilty. Not such a unique concept. Our legal system was founded on that basis.  

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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