Hawker,

I would dispute that statement. Hockett and Coons were just as fast if not faster in the last 10 laps of the race.

There seems to be a perception among some drivers that a slide job that includes contact is acceptable. 20 years ago this kind of racing would have earned the offending driver a black eye or bloody nose. In our current era of political correctness and "time outs" for unacceptable behavior, there are no real consequences for this type of driving.

Unless the sanctioning body starts controlling the situation on the track or allows the drivers and crews to settle it in the pits we are going to continue to see an escalation of "rough driving" with the end result of somebody being seriously hurt. I don’t think anybody wants to see that happen.

Rob Hoffman

:applaud:

Very well said. :respect:

Jerry #66j
www.joshspencer.com

I was there both nights, Hockett was clearly the fastest car Saturday night, damn shame he had to ignite the engine as he was pulling away from Swindell for the win.

I'd like to see that statement amended to exclude crews. I myself have watched members of the Hoffman family kicking/throwing stuff/behaving irrationally/etc after viewing events on the track and being way too upset to deal with these things in a postive manner. Too many crewmembers get wound up over events they see on the track and may be influenced by external forces. Crews have no business being involved in these disputes as they become nothing more than lynch mobs.
On the other hand, I say that if the drivers got themselves into this mess and if the drivers care to go at it with no outside help/influence then I say have at it.

Besides, how would Kroger look at it if the racing press circulated a picture of a bunch of people in HAR shirts in a melee. However if the drivers alone go at it then you have some degree of plausible deniability to sponsors, etc.

You may have witnessed me upset by on track action. I am only human after all and a fierce competitor. I make no apologies for any of MY actions. If you have seen me upset I probably had a good reason. I challenge you to ever point to an incident where you saw ME act irrationally. I cannot control the actions of others and therefore cannot and won't comment on their actions. If I do witness any of my crew out of line I take care of the matter internally not on this board.

I would like to point out that someone of say Jerry's or Brad Sweet's stature would forever be on the receiving end of rough driving by someone of say Hockett's or Levi's size as they would be horribly mismatched in a physical confrontation. Since they could not compete in a physical match up, it would stand to reason that the physically smaller drivers would seek to retaliate on the track leading to more rough driving.

I would further point out that although the driver is on the track and receives the lion's share of the attention, this is a TEAM sport. We win as team, lose as a team and get crashed as a team. When the driver craws from the wrecked race car (hopefully unhurt) it is usually the crew that has to put the pieces back together and the owner that foots the bill. So I believe the entire team should has a stake in the policing of rough driving.

As far as sponsors go, our team strives to represent them well on and off the track. I would hope that we would not have to be involved in any melee, but I am getting very tired of being on the receiving end of rough driving. Usually after one or two "confrontations" most drivers will learn it is not worth the pain to disrespect your fellow driver by driving over/through him and the owners will not hire those types of drivers.

I stand by my words and therefore always sign my name so you can come discuss my opinion with me.

Rob Hoffman

Maybe go back to racing 1/4 midgets if your afraid of a little car contact. :crying:

Nice job Kevin!!!:thumb

Joe having been there and seeing all the contact that Mr Swindell made with other cars(I'm sure Dean didnt exclusively follow him on camera for the entire race) AND the fact that Mommy and Daddy didnt think the call for crews to remove themselves from the track didnt mean them(which delayed pushoff by about 5 minutes) I will have to respectfully say that you are full oh $h^t. If I were Coons I would have booted his azz out of the way on the last restart

The RichC/Rob Hoffman debate above brings to the forefront one of the big conflicts facing sprint car racing today.

One one hand you've got a sport that, up until very recent times, was pretty downhome in nature and quite self-policing. Fights after on-track altercations used to be pretty common, and for good reason. Getting popped in the eye by a Bobby Kinser or a Jack Hewitt conveyed a clear message: Get your head out of your ass. It was a reliable system.

Nowadays we see our sport on the brink, or moving nearer the brink, of "big time" status. More and more big money operations, tied to big names, keep popping up and more attention on a national scale seems to be afoot. Behind the new money rolling into the pit area are big-name sponsors, all of which certainly hope to be represented in a professional manner.

Now, in today's overly-sensitive and liberal society, those two worlds are meeting. And make no mistake, this show will go one of two ways: Either back to its former state, or on to a new level of corporate involvement. The benefits of the latter are pretty obvious. We all would like to see TV deals, bigger purses and possibly even a non-wing touring series made possible by sponsorship dollars.

But at what cost? Are those things worth sprint car racing losing touch with its roots and identity over? I know I'd rather lose my front teeth in the Paragon pits than receive a slap on the wrist in the "hauler" at some futuristic dirt track palace.

John quit yer :crying: This stuff has been going on for as long as I have been going to races. You people act like it is something new. Get over it.

Again nice job Kevin. :thumb