Boos An Accurate Barometer Of A Driver’s Success
May 16th, 2008 by Cathy Elliott (NASCAR Media)
If you attend a NASCAR event in order to get a little peace and quiet, you’re in the wrong place.
A particularly appropriate phrase comes to mind, but another Southern writer has already coined it. I’m not quite egomaniacal enough to compare myself to William Faulkner, but I am just brave enough to blatantly “borrow” from him, as NASCAR is the perfect contemporary definition of “The Sound and the Fury.”
Faulkner basically stole that line from William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” so I don’t feel all that guilty about my own random act of plagiarism.
Much ado has been made lately about the declarations of derision greeting driver Kyle Busch under the following conditions: 1) During driver introductions prior to any race in any series in which he is competing; 2) during victory lane celebrations after every race he wins (this happens a lot); and 3) pretty much anytime Busch is present at a NASCAR venue.
To make a long story short, Kyle Busch generates a lot of noise, not much of it positive.
In ballparks and stadiums all across the country, fans are more than willing to express their opinions of a particular player or team loudly and at great length. Cheers and spirits simultaneously soar in Indianapolis, for example, when Peyton Manning is introduced before a Colts game; galleries erupt each and every time one of Tiger Woods’ clubs makes contact with a golf ball.
Conversely, if an athlete is doing badly, spectators are quite prepared to let him know about it by opening up the cage and letting that boo-bird fly. After some of his experiences as a New York Yankee, I’m sure Alex Rodriguez would substantiate this statement.
We can pick and choose our favorites and foes, and hail or hiss them according to our moods and their own professional peaks and valleys, but generally speaking, the guys being booed are the losers. The underachievers. The ones who don’t quite deliver the goods.
Kyle Busch does not fall into this category. In fact, he regularly offers same-day delivery in all of NASCAR’s top three levels — the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and of course, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He finishes what he starts. He is a winner.
This fact is not applauded. Rather, it is acknowledged with the loudest, most vociferous chorus of contempt conceivable from fans at every racetrack, every week. No one else’s disapproval rating even makes a blip on the radar screen. Once again, Busch blows away the competition.
Here’s the question: If Kyle Busch is an extremely gifted racer, which he is, and if he has the ability to go out on the track and compete for the win each week, which he does, where’s the love, people? Why all this negativity?
It hasn’t been so very long ago, after all, that a driver by the name of Dale Earnhardt was often criticized for being too brash, for racing too aggressively. The boo-bird flew shotgun with Earnhardt for years (probably because the poor thing was too intimidated to attempt an escape). He represented a villain, of sorts, until some whippersnapper named Jeff Gordon turned up and began taking him regularly to task on the track.
Suddenly, the worm had turned, and the bird flew the coop and followed it. Earnhardt was suddenly (and yes, deservedly) revered as a hero and an icon and the “greatest driver who ever lived”, while the guy winning all the trophies became the most reviled racer on the circuit.
You know, sort of a “boo”merang effect.
How time flies. Nowadays, the formerly villainous Gordon is enjoying his own turn at hero status and is the most successful active driver in NASCAR. He has already become a racing legend. His teammate Jimmie Johnson is the defending two-time champion.
Another of Gordon’s teammates, Dale Earnhardt Jr., is NASCAR’s most popular driver, hands down. Still, a different guy has taken the lion’s share of the checkered flags so far this season.
It could almost give you reason to believe that in terms of NASCAR popularity, maybe it’s not the fact you’re winning that counts. Maybe it’s whom you’re beating that really matters.
So if Kyle Busch’s honorary mascot turns out to be the boo-bird, at least for the time being, is that really such a bad thing?
Nope, because despite much flapping of wings and almost constant squawking, together they’re flying high.
Congratulations to Joe T. of Arizona! Joe participated in the 
While Earnhardt Jr. deserves those kudos, many of his fans deserve a reprimand and some should not be permitted to attend future races. Once again there were those few rotten 
After a racing incident between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch last week, Kyle has been the focus of much criticism from many fans who blame him for wrecking Dale Earnhardt Jr.. Many fans are split on whether Kyle purposefully took Jr. out or if it was “one of them racing deals.” [The correct answer is the latter.] However, the added attention and scrutiny didn’t seem to bother Kyle one bit as he extended his point lead to 79 over second place Jeff Burton. Kyle now is tied with Carl Edwards for 3 wins this season. With eleven races now in the books, Kyle also has 7 top fives and 8 top tens. 
I took my son to the Darlington race and we camped out in Camp Darlington afterwards. This was my son’s very first NASCAR race, and maybe you can imagine the look on this 9 year olds face and the joy he expressed when his two favorite drivers finished 1st and 2nd. I have to say that this was my favorite race that I’ve ever attended. Not so much because of what happened on the track (after all, my drivers didn’t have great nights), but because it was a terrific bonding moment for my son and me. While my son was hoping Carl would get up there and be able to pass Kyle, he was happy for a 1-2 finish in the end. Here are the post-race Loop Data Statistics on how Kyle Busch tamed Darlington.
We’ve all seen it happen on TV or heard it before on the radio. A young athlete makes an improbable game winning move in the last few seconds of the game. Or maybe the camera pans into the grandstands and stops on a bunch of teenagers or college student aged fans who have clearly been drinking something other than Coca-Cola. It almost never fails, “Hi mom!” they yell into the camera. When Carl Edwards won his first Cup race (the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway) in 2005 his mother, Nancy Sterling, was there to celebrate with Carl in victory lane. Seeing a mom in victory lane or at the track really isn’t so odd in NASCAR though. Many driver’s wives and their children travel the circuit with the drivers and are at the race track quite often. Many of these “NASCAR moms” can be found on the pit box during the race (Kim Burton comes to my mind!).
It simply amazes me the amount of anger Earnhardt Nation has been spewing on forums and blogs (and probably even a water tower or two) stemming from the incident between Dale Jr. and Kyle Busch this weekend in Richmond. The simple fact is that what happened was nothing more than a product of Saturday night short track racing and it was a racing incident, period! Furthermore, this incident was so mild by short track racing standards that those who think it was Kyle’s intent to wreck Jr. must be befuddled! I think many members of Jr. Nation (as well as the “We Just Hate Kyle Legionnaires”) are really looking for a reason to cry foul here. 
For the second time this year Denny Hamlin looked to have a short track race wrapped up and in the bag. Just five races earlier the Cup series was at Bristol and Denny was leading on a green-white-checkered finish. When Hamlin’s car suffered a fuel pickup issue, the entire Richard Childress Racing team was there to take advantage as Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick & Clint Bowyer each freight trained past Hamlin to a 1-2-3 finish for RCR.
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