May 27, 2007
By Kim Roberson

Kim Roberson

Happy Memorial Day weekend! I hope everyone is doing something fun on this wonderful three-day weekend. And if you see a Soldier, Sailor, Marine, or Airman as you are out and about, please take a moment to shake their hand and say thank you for their dedication to our country.

I don’t know about you all, but as I watched qualifying on Thursday night I just had to shake my head and sigh.

Whoever has the Michael Waltrip Voodoo doll…please take the knife out of its back. I think your curse has worked well enough.

What truly amazes me is the absolute glee some people seem to take in Michael’s misfortune. I know there are fans out there who don’t like him. They don’t like the car he drives. They don’t like his visibility on TV when he isn’t a Championship winner.

“Mikey, Mikey, Mikey. After years of pulling the wool over the eyes of hordes of NASCAR fans it all comes crashing down. No longer telling jokes you have become the joke” wrote one Mikey-hater named Jeff this week.

Michael’s trials and tribulations were the topic of conversation on the 'Morning Drive' Friday morning, and it says something when Marty Snyder has to preface opening the lines to talk about Michael by saying “I want folks to know this is not to be…the lines are jammed…this is not meant to be a Michael Waltrip bashing session…we kinda feel sorry for him at this point.”

David Poole said, “I was thinking to myself, if I knew Michael Waltrip better….if I was one of Michaels friends, I would have picked up the phone last night and said man, just hang in there…I know you gotta feel like the world's falling around you. I mean, it would be the kind of deal where you would be worried about him as a friend of his mental state. And I don’t mean to be melodramatic; it’s almost to the point where you begin to worry about the guy on a personal level…because this has got to be…it’s almost to the point where his friends and family have to do an intervention. I think people need to go to him and say…you need to get out of that race car. You know how hard he’s pushing to make races, and he wrecks. I think the thing, the problem with his team…he probably has enough depth (at Michael Waltrip Racing) to run a couple of pretty good race teams. Three is just stretching them so thin …there’s no recovery time…every moment they have is to get cars to the race track every week. How do you get stronger that way?

“Man, you just hope he gets through this in one piece.”

Michael himself sounded dejected just seconds after he hit the wall. Trying to regain his breath, he told his crew chief “I just can’t drive this car. I really struggled.”

As they re-watched the crash, his brother, Darrell, said “Thank god the safer barrier was there…..I tell ya boys, it’s breaking my heart to watch this.”

A friend of mine, who has never been much of a Mikey fan, admitted “No matter what anybody thinks of him, ya gotta have some sympathy for a guy that sits in his car and makes that statement after a wreck.”

Another commented “I admire Mikey for his tenacity and the drive that it took him to tackle a brand new three car team with a brand new untested car, but I think his candle is burning in too many places - left, right, and center. Trying to manage, run, drive, and put together a winning combination, in addition to the new facility, the pressures of calamities starting at Daytona and ending in the ditch by his house have taken a normally jovial and high-spirited man to a shell-shocked shadow. I feel for him, his family, and his team.

When TV pit reporter Bob Dilner was trying to interview him a about the charity can drive, it was painful to watch. Mike was like a zombie and you could see Dilner struggling to get through it. He needs help and he needs it fast.

“I can honestly say that I was never a great fan of his, but I have a lot of respect for what he's trying to do. The people that wish ill-will on him and his teams don't belong around NASCAR, they belong out in the middle of a field with a dull rusty razor and directions to their wrists…Along with the beer can-throwing morons” he continued.

You know when folks who normally have no tolerance for Waltrip and his “antics” start admitting they feel sorry for the guy, something is pretty wrong.

Someone wrote into the show and summed it up this way “I admit I had been enjoying Mikey’s struggles. He’s worn thin on me with his over exposure. But after yesterday, I do feel sad for him. His in car audio sounded like a broken man….this is sad. Now I hope he has good friends.”

Even the most vicious posters on one of the forums I used to belong to are cutting back in their usual glee-filled posts when he doesn’t make a race.

“I'm starting to feel sorry for Mikey…Just a little bit", said one. "I think he has a bad case right now of trying too hard to make speed. It’s beyond embarrassing. Can you imagine being in his shoes right now? Hang in there Mikey, there's always next week.”

Many people are starting to make louder rumblings about the option of Waltrip stepping out of the No. 55 to focus solely on getting his company up and running. As much as I hate to admit it, I am slowly leaning that way as well. He has taken on such a HUGE undertaking this year. It has never been done before, and it seems that it has been a bumpy road since day one.

Even the heartiest driver or owner would be close to pulling his hair out after the year he has been having…and he is the owner and driver. Robby Gordon struggled with just one car. Michael has been trying to do it with three…and the Busch team (which has been doing very well this year)…and a new manufacturer. I think in a decade, Michael’s legacy will be as an owner, not a driver. If you look at Richard Childress’ career as a driver versus owner, I can foresee something similar down the road for MWR. But he has to get everything straightened out and on the right track before that can happen, and the best way to do that is put the owner’s hat on and hang the driver’s helmet up.

As much as I would miss him on the track, I have to admit, I am beginning to think for his own health and sanity, it might be time for Michael to pick which battle he is going to wage…owner, or driver. If he doesn’t, his team isn’t going to be the only one to suffer. I’m afraid he might end up not just pulling all that black hair out, but working himself into the hospital…or worse. And I don’t think anyone wants THAT to happen.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.