All Purpose NASCAR Thread

I heard about what Stewart told Poole. That was inexcusably unprofessional -- but par for the course, I guess.

I also heard that a lot of the sycophants in the room laughed uproariously when Stewart said that -- as if they were glad Stewart (who has no room to talk) was mocking their weight. They should be ashamed of themselves.

I just wonder what would have happened if Stewart's barbed quip would have been met with stony silence. I also wonder what would happen if someone followed one of Stewart's lackluster responses with, "That was a stupid answer."

 

I wish I had paid more attention to the TV when he said that. I haven't a clue who was "criticizing" him - I just remember laughing when Tony said he hadn't seen any of the TV guys climbing fences.

Speaking of ESPN - can Shannon Spake tell us one more time that Carl Edwards hurt his thumb? Please. I don't think I heard it enough.

 

Quickly, here's the deal on the weight thing with me and Tony.
A couple of years ago he started joking about being on the all-eating team with me and Monte Dutton and a couple of others. What am I going to do? Say I don't need to drop about 10 belt loops? Then Tony hires a trainer and loses a bunch of weight and that becomes the deal. At Chicago, when he won, his sports information director was doing the postrace interview after Tony climbed the fence. Mattycakes made some crack about it taking Tony a little longer than it had in the past. Tony turned that back on Matt and said he didn't see a bunch of media people climbing fences. So when he comes into the media center I'd been told somebody in victory lane said something to him about me climbing it. To head that off, I told him when I asked a question that there was a reason I don't climb fences -- I have more sense.
Fast forward to Indy and he wins again. He's in a playful mood in the postrace (all of his interviews are competitions anyway, too) and there was a lot of talk about this win being less stressful on him. I asked if he thought he could ever win enough there to make it seem anything other than a big deal to him. His answer was "Does it ever get old to go down to the buffet in the morning and see sausage and pancakes and bacon?" It was a funny line and it made his point -- but not in a way anybody could use it.
So then some kid from Indiana State asks some convoluted question about some motorsports program they have there and whether Tony regretted not going to college. He started talking about how he'd spent plenty of time at ISU but not as an enrolled student. I told him he wouldn't have lasted 30 minutes in college, which he wouldn't have.
Tony gets more like Dale Earnhardt every day. When you interviewed Earnhardt, he'd glare at you or snap at you and try to get you to back off or change a topic he didn't like. It was about him wanting to control the interview, not you. If Earnhardt knew you and knew he could get you to back down by doing that, he owned you. The only way to deal with him was to laugh off his barbs and keep coming at him. Tony's the same way. He's battling you for the upper hand in the interview, and if you let him think he's pissing you off or making you back down, you're done. Also, and this is key, if you engage him too long on that little side issue it just derails everything. So you let him get his shots in, and then you do your job.
It's far more unprofessional, in my opinion, to get your nose out of joint and make a big deal out of something a guy says to you or about you. You can quickly make one line into an awkward situation that kills the whole interview for everyone, and that's selfish. It's not about me. It's not really about the little back-and-forths that Tony likes to have. You let him get it out of his system and you do the job. Him or anybody else.

 

Great advice on handling a tough subject.

And IMO, it never gets old to see sausage, pancakes and bacon in the buffet line.

 

I wonder if Humpy Wheeler and Jerry Gappens will allow Tony to race media members in a fence climb in October?

I think my fat ass could beat him.

 

Poole's right about this one.

And when he said, "If Earnhardt knew you and knew he could get you to back down by doing that, he owned you," the opposite was true with Earnhardt and is true with Stewart: If he takes a hard shot at you and you don't flinch, you're golden.

Sooner or later, he takes shots at anyone and everyone. Don't make a big deal out of, don't take it personally and just do your job.

 

Didn't see this one coming. :

 

Of course Doc. Two things NASCAR knows: Fine a driver 25 poitns and $25K, and when a track issue is involved, go to its other fuckpartner, restrictor plates.

 

David Poole is a big boy and can decide how to fight his own battles. What I didn't like when I heard about what happened at the post-race news conference is how everyone else in the room reacted. Laugh at the fat man. That's pathetic.

David has valid reasons for letting what Stewart said roll off his back. I just wonder what Stewart would have done had his little shot been met with silence -- i.e., just answer the fucking question, Tony. I'm sure David didn't think it was funny.

I don't care how many races he wins or money he earns, Stewart is a jerkoff. I don't think journalists should have to be inducted into his little club to get a thought-out answer to a good question.

Certainly, none of us deserve to be ridiculed for our physical appearances. Maybe Stewart thought he was just trying to take a good-natured poke at someone he's known for a while, but his response was still uncalled for.

 

What probably bothers me most about Stewart is that he acts like a conceited Hollywood movie star but still is portrayed by some in the media as the little guy who beat the odds. Sure, it's an interesting story that he dreamed of racing at the Brickyard, but at some point he has to become the guy who went from common man to some asshole thumbing his nose at the common man. I mean, that's who he is now, right? I mean, his remarks come off as if he thinks he's the greatest thing since the creation of man and Mr. Poole, e.g., don't deserve to be treated with even basic respect.

 

I don't know if there were any black writers there, but if he'd made like of a writer's race rather than his size, I'm sure you'd have heard more about it.