[Mud Packer]

Originally Posted by hogan6 I figured everyone would look the other way. Hey, I too think Dave's a great race car driver. But yet he was over the top at Kokomo last Sunday. I have never seen him play so much defense which cost him the race on the last restart. Buckwalter and Whitt had no clue where he was going last after lap.

Isn't that what racing is about? Keeping your competition guessing rather than run the same line over and over again? Anyone of them could have done the same thing Bryan did so I don't think it was a case of dirty driving. What should Dave have done, signal for them to pass him on the outside?

[Racerrob]

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[Kirk Spridgeon]

Good point, Rob.

[IanB]

To be honest it was a great race and a masterfull display of skill by several drivers in the field. DD especially showed that in keeping off several cars that perhaps just had the edge on him. Kuhn Clauson whitt and Buckwalter to name a few. Dave was under pressure from the green to the checkers and put on a great display which definitely had me applauding in the stands!! I did not totally see anything that Cole WHitt did wrong in fact I did see DD run him pretty high into 3 after the pass on the high side by Clauson.
No harm no foul but possibly some frustration after a VERY hard fought race.
Bottom line........midget racing is THE best

[sceckert]

I think it is a demonstrable point that Dave Darland is absolutely nobody's idea of a dirty driver. I've always considered him one of the very cleanest drivers around. That being said, defensive driving does NOT come naturally to him, but neither is defensive driving a capital offense in racing. Sometimes what we from the stands see as defensive driving probably seems in a cockpit like doing everything possible (though NOT unethical) to win.
Oftentimes, disturbing a faster guy's momentum in the waning laps of a race is the difference between the win and a loss.(see: Kinser,Steve -for examples of this "art") Darland was going to remain up top until somebody showed him that there was some way that might be faster. That somebody was Steve Buckwalter with that "high-in-three-then-through-the-middle-in-four" tactic, which Darland immediately adopted with great success. Once he saw Clauson making those bottom lunges, he attempted a modified game plan.
Truth is, especially once that caution came out, there was No Way he was going to hold off Clauson. If the final yellow never came, and Dave and Bryan continued grappling for the low side, Buckwalter was poised to maybe smoke `em both. When Darland stunted the momentum of Whitt, he did so, in my opinion, with neither malice nor any particular notion that Cole was there. He was just trying to get a huge entry up top into three. That he cost Whitt a chance to overtake him, and opened the door for Kuhn to take Whitt, and very nearly Darland as well, is certainly true.
I'd reckon that the first that Darland knew Cole was even still in the race was when he got his car crowded by Whitt afterwards, while both of their levels were running VERY hot from the positions they each lost in the waning laps. And, of course, the default-mode of way,WAY too many of the younger guys in racing today is to crowd/ prod/ ram into a competitor who has given offense (see: Swindell,Kevin -for a master's level tutorial in how to mangle front, side and rear bars post-race).
I'm not used to seeing Whitt do the ramming, so he gets at least some slack for not being (to my experience) one of the major offenders in that area, but if you run into a guy after the race, you better be ready for him to ram back. And you'd better hope you're lucky enough to do it to a guy like Darland who is more likely to just say "***?" and leave it alone than a competitor who is Dave's size and is more inclined to throw down and rack.
Darland wasn't smooth in the last five laps, but neither do I think that he was dirty. He did give those looking to pass him quite the time figuring out how, though, but since when is that anything other than what Brad Sweet at Bloomington properly and (I thought) fairly-graciously called "Indiana Short Track Racing"?

[speed9]

:2D last lap block of Brad Kuhn was a clean move and well within his rights to change lines. Never saw DD ever do a nastey thing on the race track under the green. Maybe they should of let DD talk rather than USAC intervein in this case. Bob Kinser and Dick gaines, and many more old time drivers, would of talked to these younger drivers long before now. OOps to much money and USAC needs these young money drivers to keep them in bussiness. USAC should call drivers to their trailer after a race and if there is a problem talk to them not wait till a dispute happens on the track and then say oh their even now.

[Jim Halpert]

I have been a huge Dave Darland fan for many years and I have been impressed with Cole Whitt ever since he came to the midwest. The first time I saw him race I was very impressed with his abilities and smoothness. It sucks when your two favorite drivers get in a situation like this...but I don't see how anyone can call DD or Cole a dirty driver...everyone has moments like this. DD's been racing for 25+ years and I think he knows what he is doing...Cole has never shown signs of questionable driving either...his record over the last two years speaks for itself. It's not "looking the other way," it's knowing what your talking about and not trying to get people angry for arguments sake.

[IanB]

I tell you something DD fought like a 20yr old with the brain of a 40yr old for that win and for that more Kudos to him. I have never seen him act in any other way than a class act to fans or drivers and his reputation is without doubt. It was a great race and was hard fought from lap 1 til the end. If DD was ticked..........great.......thats the reason I dont care to watch nascar !!!!!!!

[SteveD]

Thank You , DD & CW, for your dedication to the sport!! Onions to Mr.Six