Tony Takes Indy
July 30th, 2007 by Tank
Native Hoosier Tony Stewart won the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis today, his second straight victory creating some nice momentum on the cusp of the Chase for the Cup. He passed Kevin Harvick for the lead with 10 laps to go, and once in clean air quickly pulled away from the pack. How much? With six laps to go, he took BOTH hands of the wheel and got a drink. Nice. Tough break for Junior, getting another DNF after his engine blew up with 25 laps to go. And props to Juan Pablo Montoya, finishing second in his first visit to Indy for his best performance on an oval track.
July 30th, 2007 at 10:29 am
Help me out on this, are there any unwritten rules in NASCAR - like we’d find in, say, baseball? Specifically I’m wondering if “both hands off the whell to get a drink” for the cameras is viewed as showing up opponents, in much the same way Manny standing in the batter’s box to admire a (possible) home run is frowned upon in MLB (and would’ve resulted in numerous beanings if Bob Gibson were still in the league). From what I understand of Stewart, he cares little about the thoughts, hopes, and feelings of his peers - and as a result is probably *not* the NASCAR driver with the greatest number of “friends” on his MySpace page.
So is this potentially a source of irritation for fellow drivers, just a case of Tony Being Tony, or absolutely no big deal?
July 30th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
There are plenty of unwritten rules (well, more like *guidelines* than rules, but I digress…) in NASCAR but none with respect to hands on the wheel. Dale Jarrett was doing commentary and couldn’t believe what he saw, not because it violated any protocol, but because he’d never seen anyone dare take both hands off the wheel while driving 200 mph. I think Tony just figured he was in clean air, well ahead of anyone else, Indy has long straightaways, chicks dig scars, and… he was thirsty.
Ironically, Kevin Harvick, with whom he traded paint with 10 laps to go, is among his best friends in the garage. Stewart even drives for the Busch Series team Harvick owns.