Sports, Athletes, Drugs and Not so Sporty By-Don Hamm Welcome to InsideThePitBox.com!! Check out ALL our sections and features here!! There is plenty to keep you busy on our main page! Until recently, most stick and ball sports writers wrote off racing drivers as either rowdy rednecks or pretty rich boys looking for excitement. With the recent surge in the popularity of NA$CAR racing, some have decided we are a viable sport after all. Being second only to the NFL in popularity, "We've came a long way baby." With the death of the Intimidator we were suddenly the focus of world wide attention. Some sports writers actually went to the trouble of delving into the background of the sport before writing. Others showed their ignorance and simply jumped on the band wagon. Regardless of how we got there it now appears that we are considered a true sport. Our drivers even make the cover of TV Guide. Whoda thunk it? Some biased and ill informed sports writers grudgingly admit that we are a viable sport but that our drivers are not athletes. To those obviously biased writers I ask them if they could jump in their personal vehicle in mid July or August, roll up all the windows, turn the heater on full blast and drive for four hours without a rest break? For that matter, could the great Michael Jordan, Drew Bledsoe, Ken Griffey, Jr., Andre Agassi or any of the gold winning Canadian Hockey team players? I think not. These fine athletes measure their playing time in minutes based on quarters, innings, sets or periods. Our guys, depending on the series, perform at the height of their abilities from two hours to over four hours in the cockpits of vehicles where the temperature can reach above 150 degrees. They get no time outs unless the race is red flagged. Even the pit stops require intense attention by the driver and fourteen seconds is certainly no break. When is the last time you read a news headline that Jeff Gordon had been arrested for erratic driving on the highway while under the influence of drugs? You can change the name to Terry Labonte, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Petty or any other driver in any of our racing series. The simple answer is they don't do drugs and, instead, set a fine example for the youth of America. There were reports of one Busch Series driver being arrested for drug possession in Daytona Beach but later reports cleared him. When is the last time you saw any of the sports icons I mentioned in the above paragraph sitting in the hot sun for hours signing autographs for free? I'm open to be corrected on this but I don't think anyone out there can tell me they have seen any such fan interface from any of the stick and ball sports. Some of the Not so Sporty, so called, athletes seem to take delight in flaunting their rudeness to the fans and openly flaunt their womanizing. While I am sure NA$CAR would immediately ban any of our drivers convicted of drug usage or drug dealing the Not so Sporty types get traded to another team or make a showcase display of getting clean. For the most part, all of our drivers respect the marriage institution and do not bring discredit on their families or our sport by bad behavior. The growth of sponsorship has had a great impact on how our guys behave. When is the last time you saw one of our drivers get in a knock down, drag out fight where they bit off an ear? Sure, we have had a few scuffles in the garage and a few helmets thrown in frustration. But it isn't a regular habit with our guys and, instead, is surprisingly rare. Those of you with scanners have heard a few profane words over the radios but you don't see our drivers out in public appearances making obscene gestures, threatening to eat a competitors children or punctuating their speech with the F word as the likes of Mike Tyson or Dennis Rodman. The bottom line is that we have a great bunch of guys (and occasionally gals) driving for us under some pretty extreme conditions of speed, heat, danger and tension. They behave off the track and are fine representatives of our sport and their sponsors. They are a close knit bunch who jump in to help an opponent in need. They respect their wives and families and fellow drivers. Sure they have occasional harsh words with or about another driver but they get over it and move on. Ours is a sport, our drivers are truly athletes, they are excellent role models and we should be very proud to be a part of it. While I knock NA$CAR for some of it's procedures I am in full support of the teams and drivers. The pit crews are also true athletes and deserve our respect. May God bless America and may we never forget the events and victims of 911. I welcome your feedback and grant the right for you to disagree but not to be disagreeable. Be sure to check out our Fan Forum on Wednesdays where you can directly interact with the staff at ITPB.com. Don@insidethepitbox.com Thanks for visiting InsideThePitBox.com!! Check out ALL our sections and features here!! There is plenty to keep you busy on our main page! (Editors Note:The views and opinions of our writers are just that, theirs. If you have comments, write to them. We take no responsibility for their articles... Do you blame us?) Article archives Return to the Main Page