June 3, 2007
By Kim Roberson

Kim Roberson

An extra happy race day to everyone! Why? Because Mikey is in the race! (Even with my article of last week…maybe I ought to write those more often. LOL). If nothing else comes of his participation today, he will end up with a positive points balance, and hopefully, get some of that racing confidence back.

Several different factors converged to help me decide what to write about this week. It is a topic I have touched on before, however, I think it is important to bring this up any time it rears its ugly head.

Many readers took the time out to write me about my column last week. Some agreed with what I had written, some disagreed…and then a couple actually told me they took great pleasure in Mikey’s difficulties.

Now, I know every driver has his fans…and his haters. However, it is the level of “hatred” that concerns me when it comes to some folks. One such letter is as follows.

Kim,
Don't feel sorry for him. You know you reap what you sow. He deserves all he is reaping. I absolutely delight in Michael's travails. It makes my day absolutely wonderful when he crashes or can't qualify. He is nothing but a egotistical self promoter. He feels he is intellectually superior when compared to us less gifted masses. If he were as good a wheel man as he is at promoting Michael Waldrip he would have been a several time Cup winner. I(t) would delight me (to) no end if he would take his motor mouth brother and both of them go to somewhere like Outer Mongolia. Oh, happy day! Thankfully FOX's time is about over to broadcast the races.
Don

When I received this e-mail, I was concerned about someone rooting for any driver to hit the wall on a regular basis. So I responded as follows:

Don,
My only concern about your comments is the apparent glee you take in wishing someone flatten themselves into a wall at a high rate of speed. Do you WANT to see Waltrip injured, or worse, killed? There is dislike and a desire for failure, and then there is maliciousness. Remember what happened to Tony Stewart last year with two hits of the wall...he was out of the car with a broken clavicle.

I might not be a fan of some drivers, but I would NEVER want to see them injured or maimed just because of that dislike.
Kim

To his credit, Don responded with clarification:

Kim,
You misunderstand me. I surely would not want to see any driver seriously injured. Hardly anyone is seriously injured anymore in a wreck, but I surely enjoy seeing any of his race teams tear up their equipment. I am sorry but he and his loud mouthed brother completely rub me the wrong way. They are both way too much self serving for my tastes. Junior, Jeff, Jimmy, Matt, Mark and Tony for all their success do not toot their own horns like the Waltrip's do. Guess what goes around eventually comes around. Thank goodness!
Don

As I mentioned, I can understand the inherent dislike some fans have for some drivers. Don understands the difference between damaging equipment and damaging a driver. However, one man called into one of my racing radio shows this week, and apparently he had no qualms wishing harm on a particular driver. And with the vehemence he made his claim, it made me worry about the sanity of some fans out there.

Rick called into Sirius Speedway on Memorial Day afternoon and talked to host Dave Moody. The topic was the cheering that happened when Jeff Gordon hit the wall last Sunday in a VERY violent crash. Not so surprisingly, there were a high number of cheers from folks who seemed very happy that the 24 car had been taken out. Now, that in itself is nothing new. However, the violence of the crash should have given pause to most normal people until they were certain he was OK.

Rick called in proudly announcing he was one of those who cheered loudly when Jeff hit the wall and then was hit again, sending him airborne.

When Moody asked how he would have felt if Jeff had been seriously injured or died, he said "That's OK...my guy would have moved up in points". My jaw hit the floor. When Moody asked if he was serious, the guy said "Yeah...no one forces them to get in the car. They crash they die. My guy moves up". Moody then said "So if you get in a car and head out on the road and someone beans you and dies, you think people should cheer?" to which Rick says "Of course not., But I'm not racing for points". "So you think those points are worth someone’s life?" "Yeah… But if it was my driver I'd be sad."

The true hope is that this guy was just being a troll and trying to get a rise out of folks. However, Rick swore he was not a troll, and this is how he actually felt.

My only comment on this is “Are you serious?!?!?!”

I’m sorry, there is rooting for a driver, even hating another. But saying that you don’t care if the guy leading the points dies because if he does it means your driver moves up is completely insane! It absolutely baffles me that there are fans out there that could think this way, especially after witnessing the violence of Dale Earnhardt’s death in a seemingly survivable crash. Maybe we have gotten complacent since Dale died, because no one has died since. Safety measures have made crashes like Gordon’s, and Kyle Busch’s and Clint Bowyer’s and David Reutiman’s, survivable. We joke about the fact Elliott Sadler has a hard time finishing Talladega on his tires. Friday night during the truck race, T.J. Bell hit a non-safer barrier wall at Dover head on so hard it bowed the wall inward. His truck was demolished, but he was able to climb out and walk away.

We expect a driver to drop that window net as soon as their car comes to rest. However, as the crash of the 3 proved, freak accidents happen. Anyone who has crashed in their own personal car at 45 or 55 miles an hour (I have rolled mine at 60) knows that it can be a terrifying and damaging experience. These guys do it at 3-4 times that speed. Even with five point harnesses and HANS devices and roll cages, no safety mechanism is perfect. Until that driver, regardless of who it is, climbs out of that car on his own, no one should cheer.

Because, if you think a driver being maimed or even dying is acceptable, you need a therapist, and possibly a white padded room.

Finally, back to one last happy note: I am off to Eldora and the Prelude to the Dream this week. Not only is it my first trip to Eldora, it is my first dirt race. I’ll share my adventures next weekend!

Have a great week!

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.