Jun 17, 2007

Another Wrist Slap by NASCAR

We've written about NASCAR's weak-kneed stance on driver penalties before, but apparently, we have to write about it again. What prompts this is the sanctioning body's lily-livered reaction to what could easily have been a life-threatening situation during the Nextel Cup race at Dover International Speedway. As we're sure you've heard, Penske driver Kurt Busch narrowly missed running into Tony Stewart pit crew jack operator Jason Lee when Busch, angered over an on-track incident he had with Stewart, zipped into Stewart's pit area. Lee was forced to jump up on Stewart's hood to avoid the oncoming Busch, who had fire in his eye and not much in his head.

Later, Busch offered a half-hearted apology to Lee, and his basic defense for the wildly inappropriate action was that he didn't hit the guy. Apparently to Busch, a miss is as good as a mile. But if that's the case with Busch, it shouldn't be the case with NASCAR.

In the continuing tradition of letting name drivers get away with dangerous behavior, NASCAR officials declined to suspend Busch for even one race.  Instead, he was fined $100,000 and put on probation for a year, the rough equivalent of letting Paris Hilton serve her sentence at her Hollywood Hills mansion while wearing an ankle bracelet. The only part of the penalty that had any teeth at all was the 100-driver-point deduction from his season total, which knocked him down to 18th in the season standings. Car owner Roger Penske, who offered a somewhat lame defense of Busch in the aftermath of the incident, was docked 100 owner points, which we're sure had him crying into his Egyptian cotton toweling.

Of course, NASCAR tried to paper over the entire situation, posturing about the toughness of the penalties. "We felt like we got everybody's attention," Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition said. "We felt like the 100-point penalty and the $100,000 was substantial."

While 100 grand would be substantial for you or me, it is hardly as stiff a penalty to a top driver like Busch, who cashes big checks. One has to wonder if his team won't figure out a way to pony up the bucks anyway. Penske was quoted as saying his didn't want this incident to cause Busch to lose his aggressiveness on the race track, not exactly a stern warning to his driver to cease and desist.

What is lost in the shuffle is that Busch, through his own actions, put the life of an innocent person in danger. And for that he doesn't even draw a one-race suspension. Meanwhile, in Major League Baseball, a manager who kicks dirt onto an umpire's shoes is suspended for four games. Do you get the feeling NASCAR is missing something?