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NASCAR Smackdown!
by Steve Wingate
Just when I thought we had seen the last single car team win, here comes the Wood Brothers and Elliott Sadler running away with Bristol. It sure was nice to see one of the oldest teams in existence pull off a win in this age of multi-car teams, 60 million dollar sponsorship deals and big-time TV coverage. The Wood Brothers haven't seen victory lane since 1993 with Morgan Shepherd at Atlanta. We're talking about a team that has been home to some great drivers in the past, not the least of which is David Pearson. Then you also have Dale Jarrett, Neil Bonnett, who have won for the Woods. Since their last win in 1993, we have seen the multi-car teams come to power, but the Woods have stuck with the old formula and have not done very well. When the Wood Brothers lost their longtime sponsor Citgo to Roush Racing last year, it seemed like the final nail in the coffin of this single-car team. After all, we've seen it happen before with single car teams like the #7 Geoff Bodine team and the #10 Ricky Rudd effort. Surprisingly, this was not the case. The Woods made some big changes in the team personnel and aligned themselves with Jack Roush, then ended up in victory lane at Bristol. Congratulations are in order for Elliott Sadler on his first Winston Cup win, and to the Wood Brothers for their long-overdue return. I love it when the "little guys" win.
One thing that never seems to change about NASCAR is Bristol... still the same action-packed racing, still the same potential for controversy, and the 2001 Food City 500 was no exception. I am of course talking about the little last lap "disagreement" between Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.
Depending on whether you're a Gordon or Stewart fan, you can see this little scuffle two ways. I have nothing against Tony or Jeff, so I can make myself see both sides. Here's the Gordon fan's perception: Jeff got under Tony for the pass, and Stewart "came down" on Gordon and spun himself. Jeff did nothing wrong. And from the Tony Stewart fan: Tony had the position on Jeff, so Gordon took him out to get past. If you look at the replay, it looks as if both of these hypothesis could be correct. The point is that we don't know. It's pretty obvious that Tony believes he was wronged and that Jeff believes he did nothing wrong.
The whole thing just smacked of "Days of Thunder"... from the spin to the pit road retaliation to the visit "to the front of the big red trailer". I could just see Fred Dalton Thompson as "Big John" telling Gordon and Stewart inside that trailer; "If you boys wanna turn yourselves into a greasy spot on a country road somewhere, go ahead....."
Pardon me for trying to make light of this whole thing, but it sometimes helps to find the humor in a situation. For instance, try putting a WWF spin on the Gordon-Stewart brawl. Can you imagine a WWF style pre-race interview with Tony Stewart?
Jeff Hammond: Tony, do you have anything to say about last week's incident between you and Jeff Gordon?
Tony: Yeah Jeff, I do. I WANNA LET JEFF GORDON KNOW THAT IF HE COMES NEAR ME, I'M GONNA PUT HIM IN THE WALL! (rips the top of his uniform) YOU HEAR ME, JEFF? I'M GONNA STOMP A MUDHOLE IN YA AND WALK IT DRY! I'M GONNA... WHACK!
Tony crumples to the ground as Brooke Gordon nails him on the back with a folding chair.
Now I don't want to get a lot of irate mail from Stewart and Gordon fans, 'cause I'm just trying to diffuse this little brawl and make a few people chuckle. It really is kinda funny when you think about it.
Gawd, I love Bristol!
2001 Car Guy of Benchfield