The overall attitude in response to TS doing this is hypocritically funny. If Tony does it, well, he had good reason and it's really okay.

Now, if Sammy Swindell had committed this same act, the howling would be heard for hundreds of miles calling for his arrest and dismemberment. Same goes for the outrage that Steve Kinser seemed to incur on several message boards when he lit into the WoO officials at Eldora.

Just depends on who the perp is.

I believe most sanctioning bodies do have rules against "handling" officials. And they need to be enforced just like other major "respectable" sports do (NFL, NHL, NBA, NCAA, etc). No need for the law to be involved (unless physical injury results).

USAC should ban TSR from all sanctioned events for 30 days effective immediately. This kind of crap needs to be nipped in the bud. Otherwise, it sends a message to every team owner and driver that it's okay to "intimidate" officials. Once shoving becomes acceptable, then punches become borderline.

Is this a harsh penalty, sure. But Kevin Miller and USAC are trying to sell their product to new audiences and capture more of the market. I can assure you, NASCAR would penalize the hell out of Tony if he did that to one of their pit road staff.

If you shoved a track official at a show at Bloomington, Gas City, the Burg, or Haubstadt, I suspect you'd be escorted out and asked not to come back for a while.