In a lot of cases on the forum, I agree with my old buddy Wrangler.
But this sure isn't one of 'em.
I don't have much of any opinion on what motivates the guys to drive so I will side-step that.
But this nice driver- rough driver talk is something that irritates me.
Here are a few unarguable facts: As long as there have been automobile races there has been contact, both intentional and incidental with the competitors vehicles.
It has always happened in big league stock car racing and probably always will. To be sure----a lot of drivers have bumped and crashed to the front. But those were abberations in the early days. Like at any local track in the nation, those guys were disliked and sneered at in most cases.
The coming of Earnhardt and his cult-like following really popularized(although Dale was by no means the first) this 'rough drivers are tough guys' BS. A decade or so after Dale Sr. crashed his way to the front, that ridiculous Chevy commercial called 'Days of Thunder' further popularized the myth with the popular line: "Rubbin's racin."Enter the bully on wheels era: where crashing the competition was considered 'intimidating'.
What a crock of BS.
Three of the most capable Stock car racers of all time---(stat wise no 'rough driver' can touch
etty,Pearson and Gordon)----never made it a HABIT to bump and crash the competition out of the way. Oh sure, rare instances exist where these guys leaned on the other guys, maybe a little nudge now and then, but that was the exception, never the rule.
So what some consider 'nice ' or ' not nice' I consider skilled or unskilled. As a rule of thumb---the more bumping a driver does, the less car control he apparently has. And that goes from Turner to Earnhardt to Harvick or Busch. Pearson or Gordon would have found a clean way around that driver----on a track wider than a single car width, a driver with enough skill can get around that slower guy without bumping him.
This isn't the popular line in today's blood and guts society, but still true, in my opinion.
If I had my way, any intentional contact with another driver's car would be a 5 point deduction. Teach these guys to drive again and forget that silly ' if ya can't pass 'em, wreck 'em' stuff.
Ok, just my opinion on the subject.
" Maybe I just wanted to rattle
his cage....." --Jeremy Mayfield (in regards to Dale Earnhardt)