Bonehead of the week: Fan Edition

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PushRodV8

Guest
I witnessed some idocracy last night and thought I would share. It was quite amusing but aggravating as well. I'll keep it short as possible. I gave the people involved their own names. lol

So two rows in front of me sits this guy by himself (Dave), minding his own business. Another guy (Tom) walks up and sits beside him. BTW, neither guy was drinking. Before the race started, they were kind of yelling at each other and at the time seemed like goofing off but really Tom was talking major crap and threatening to kick Dave's ass. I'm assuming over a driver disagreement. Well it kind of died down until right before the competition caution at lap 60. Dave tried to leave and go somewhere else, but Tom physically grabbed him and tried to sit him down. Acting like he was going to punch him and stuff. About that time, about 5 really big guys stood up and turned around and stared at Tom. He straightened up and looked ahead acting as he hadn't done a damn thing. They exchanged words and basically he got put in his place. Shortly afterwards the cops show up, he refused to leave but it didn't take long for the coward to go with them after they physically grabbed him and had a word. Then they escorted the douche out of the track. Me and my cousin started clapping and praising the cops, and everybody in that section joined in. It was awesome. Glad to see idiots like that get what's coming to them.

So that guy gets the Bonehead fan of the week. Pays for a ticket to Bristol only to get kicked out by picking on someone that's not a fighter. He's lucky it wasn't someone who would have killed him.
 
prolly have lawyer.....claimin police brutality by tomorrow.
 
They probably did their share of drinking before they got to their seats.
 
Maybe it was related to this:

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VS uncle harv
 
This does not match the OPs experience but the post reminded me of some moments.

In 1989 I took my future ex wife who was also preachers daughter to boot to see the Busch Grand National race at Hickory.
It was a great race Dale Sr even ran the race in the #3 black GMgoodwrench colors.
Jimmy Spencer knocked or Bumped and runned Dale Jarrett out of the groove to get the win. Afterwards DJ was about as mad as I ever saw him . I'm sure he wanted the home track BGN win very badly.

Well about the ex and the race experience. She wasnt a race fan and I was insane about it (and her too) especially a BGN race at Hickory. She had cousins that raced in the lower divisions at the local dirt tracks that were really crude compared to her mild upbringing. They had auctioned off about everything they had to race. So she went to the race expecting the worse in spite of me trying to get her into racing.

It was a two and half hour drive and we got there about an hour before the green. At a Hickory BGN race that meant you were going to be setting near the bottom of the stands.
And the fresh cut grass that I love to smell started making her allergies go crazy. I was young and and didn't really understand how bad it bothered her. I just bought her a BC or Goodies and just knew that the most awesone race a person could see as in a 30 plus BGN car race was fixing to happen at Hickory and that her life would be forever changed for the better. In my mind she was fixing to enjoy the greatest thing that a young women could ever hope for from a date. Her favorite tv show was Beverly Hills 90210 and this was going to blow that kind of stuff away.

But she was raised in a conversative home as in a very quiet one, and the beauty of the noise didnt inspire her. The guys behind us were loud too and having a little party. The guy selling flags said they took his merchandise away from him and the cops had to intervene.

All of my preperation in trying to tell her about racing people being the best was shot to Hell with that incident. When we returned to the parking lot to my new car the whole passenger side was covered in mud, it had rained prior to the race. The next day after the clean up I discoved a deep two foot long crease in the door.
But it was ok, because the race was a classic.

Eventually the racing became too much for her, I missed her awfully when she left. But given the choices, keeping the racing was the most important thing.

Other moments. I was at GPS once in the late 70s and every time Buddy Howard drove by the stands a drunk guy would procede to loudly cussing him out. (he was the dominant LMS four 4 time track champion at the time) I guess he thought Buddy could see and hear him in the stands. The cops took him out and the crowd cheered , even the ones that didnt like Howard.

In the spring 1987 Darlington race the police ushered out an entire row behind me.
I dont know what they did, it just seemed bizarre.

Another BGN race at Hickory everytime Dale Sr hit a car in the corners, the dude in front of me would turn and give me the biggest stare downs. I was wearing my Earnhardt cap and along with my racing buddy. We had scanners so I guess he tought I had the means to call Dale and advise him to drive like a gentleman. After the fourth of fifth stare down I kindly told him I didnt have any kleenex, but he could use my KFC chikens napkins. It made my brother nervous he said I was going to start a fight, but my patience had run out.

But I have honestly met some great folks at the track. Almost every person I have met was kind. Even when racing, other crew members will loan parts, tools, and even help you unload and load back up.
 
Dumb fan tricks! Here's some I witnessed:

At Charlotte for the World 600 race one year, had tickets for the GN grandstand. That's down near the end of the front straight, about where Turn 1 starts. After sitting there about half an hour, but before the race started, a drunk guy comes up to me and claims we're sitting in his seats. I showed him my ticket stubs - he wasn't swayed. I looked at his stubs - he was supposed to be in the GM grandstand (near the start / finish line) although it was the same row and seat numbers. I tried to explain the difference to him but he wouldn't hear it. An usher came over and also tried to explain it to him, but he still insisted that we were in his seats. So we traded tickets. A free upgrade for me and my wife!

I used to try to win new fans to local racing, but gave up after too many bad incidents. One time I made the mistake of bringing several folks who had only seen NASCAR on TV to Bowman-Gray Stadium, and sitting in the main grandstand near the flag stand. After hearing lots of cursing and finally getting challenged to a fight (by a drunk) because we didn't support his rude behavior after his driver had blatantly wrecked another car, we left - and those folks haven't been interested in attending another local race since. Another time I took a potential sponsor to 311 hoping he'd be impressed by the action. But there was more action in the stands than on the track - the races were follow-the-leader due to poor track preparation while several fans got into loud cursing matches with the track promoter. My potential sponsor was unimpressed and I couldn't blame him for advertising elsewhere.

The day after Earnhardt Sr. died at Daytona, I was at a grocery store. A rough looking and pretty drunk redneck saw me and mistook my hat for a Goodwrench hat, so he started asking me about "our man Dale" before noticing it was a "Dodge Racing" hat. I didn't really care about Dodge (it was just a hat I was able to buy cheaply when I needed a hat) but when the guy read my hat his face went white - and he accused me of having something to do with Mr. Earnhardt's demise! (Sterling Marlin, whose car hit Earnhardt, was driving a Dodge.)
 
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