With all due respect -- NASCAR was lacking it in 2005
By Jeff Owens
Special to CBS SportsLine.com
Respect. Or, as one famous singer called it, R-e-s-p-e-c-t.
It's a new, popular buzzword in NASCAR these days -- and, in the opinion of many, a word that many of today's top stars do not quite grasp. It's a word many are not paying, well, proper respect to.
The 2005 season started with former champion and retiring veteran Rusty Wallace demanding respect from teammate Ryan Newman, and Newman asking for a little admiration in return.
"Above all, what I want is some respect," Wallace said early in the year in discussing his discontent with Newman.
"Respect works both ways," Newman countered.
By season's end, they were still bickering, refusing to work together and glad to be parting company.
The season ended with defending Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch in trouble with authorities and NASCAR for his belligerent behavior toward Phoenix police during a traffic stop.
Though the incident was embarrassing enough for NASCAR and Busch's teammates and sponsors, it only got worse when an incident report revealed Busch's total lack of respect for authority. Among a lengthy list of insults Busch slung at police were the words "joke," "punk" and the now-infamous line, "Do you know who I am?"
If that wasn't enough to get under NASCAR's skin, several other stars irked the sport's top brass when they blew off a breakfast in New York City the morning of the annual awards banquet. It's a breakfast at which important NASCAR sponsors handed out sizable checks for annual contingency awards.
Among the culprits were champion Tony Stewart, who claimed he had a "migraine" after a night of partying, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who didn't show up to accept his most popular driver award. Other no-shows included Elliott Sadler and Kasey Kahne.
"They have no respect for this sport," said NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter. "All they seem to be about is the money, and that is not what put this sport where it is."
The whole 2005 season seemed to be about respect and featured all sorts of demonstrations of a lack thereof.
One manufacturer (Ford) sued one of its former drivers (Kasey Kahne). Another (Dodge) sued one of its former teams (Bill Davis Racing).
NASCAR got sued by one of its tracks when Kentucky Speedway challenged the sanctioning body and its sister company, International Speedway Corp.
Drivers and teams constantly bashed some of the tracks (Pocono and Lowe's Motor Speedway) for questionable racing surfaces and Goodyear, as usual, was a common target. Both the tracks and Goodyear, by the way, didn't exactly take the criticism lightly.
Two top drivers -- Busch and Jamie McMurray -- created a stir when they jilted their current teams by signing contracts for 2007 with rival organizations. In the end, of course, they got what they were looking for, wiggling out of their contracts so they could jump ship after this season, setting a dangerous precedent for the sport.
By the end of the year, some of the sport's top teams were livid at NASCAR for its team cap plan, with Roush Racing -- the obvious target -- even threatening to sue.
When teams and drivers and sponsors and NASCAR all weren't bickering off the track, drivers were feuding on it.
It started early, with Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick barking at each other after a qualifying race at Daytona. It continued a week later with Johnson and Stewart bumping and banging after the Daytona 500 and earning a trip to the NASCAR hauler.
A few weeks later, Busch himself was called to the principal's office for cursing NASCAR officials at Darlington and throwing a water bottle. It was there that he learned a little about respect.
"You don't want to go in there," Busch said. "You listen and you speak in very short words. You get your point across quickly because the mother hand is on top."
The tongue-lashing did nothing to curb the rampant bickering and backstabbing.
Johnson, in fact, found himself a marked man for much of the year, drawing the ire of fellow drivers for a series of wrecks he caused. Earnhardt Jr. called him an "idiot" after a Talladega crash. Jeff Burton yelled at him at Bristol, Stewart yelled at him at Phoenix, and by the time the series got back to Talladega in October, the whole garage was mad at him for another crash.
It didn't end there. Kevin Harvick and Joe Nemechek put on a finger-pointing, equipment-throwing show after a wreck in the Nextel All-Star Challenge. On the same night, Brian Vickers wrecked Mike Bliss at the finish line to win the Nextel Open, nearly inciting a riot on pit road.
Dale Jarrett lectured young Shane Hmiel after a Busch Series wreck at Bristol, after which Hmiel promptly flipped him off, drawing widespread criticism about, you guessed it, a "lack of respect."
During the return trip to Bristol, it was Jarrett who drew the wrath of fans for intentionally wrecking Newman in retaliation for an earlier incident.
Even teammates weren't immune from the road rage. Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip traded verbal assaults after Junior put Waltrip in the wall at Charlotte.
Nor were some of the sport's leading ambassadors. Jeff Gordon laid into Stewart for spinning him at Dover. A month later, he allegedly punched Mike Bliss in an airport after Bliss wrecked him at Chicagoland Speedway.
In the first Chase for the Nextel Cup race, things got really wacky. Busch made a long, dramatic march down pit road to confront a rival crew chief after getting wrecked by Scott Riggs on the third lap, practically ruining his championship hopes (No wonder he was in such a foul mood after getting pulled over in Phoenix eight weeks later.)
In the same race, Kahne got parked for intentionally wrecking Kyle Busch. Then, in one of the season's most embarrassing moments, Robby Gordon climbed from his wrecked car, flung his helmet at Waltrip and called him a "piece of s---" on national TV.
The New Hampshire race was such a fiasco, Greg Biffle was inclined to say, "We looked like a circus. The NASCAR race at Loudon looked like a cheap wrestling match."
As did much of the 2005 season, thanks to a growing lack of respect.
Jeff Owens is executive editor of NASCAR Scene and a columnist for CBS Sportsline.
By Jeff Owens
Special to CBS SportsLine.com
Respect. Or, as one famous singer called it, R-e-s-p-e-c-t.
It's a new, popular buzzword in NASCAR these days -- and, in the opinion of many, a word that many of today's top stars do not quite grasp. It's a word many are not paying, well, proper respect to.
The 2005 season started with former champion and retiring veteran Rusty Wallace demanding respect from teammate Ryan Newman, and Newman asking for a little admiration in return.
"Above all, what I want is some respect," Wallace said early in the year in discussing his discontent with Newman.
"Respect works both ways," Newman countered.
By season's end, they were still bickering, refusing to work together and glad to be parting company.
The season ended with defending Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch in trouble with authorities and NASCAR for his belligerent behavior toward Phoenix police during a traffic stop.
Though the incident was embarrassing enough for NASCAR and Busch's teammates and sponsors, it only got worse when an incident report revealed Busch's total lack of respect for authority. Among a lengthy list of insults Busch slung at police were the words "joke," "punk" and the now-infamous line, "Do you know who I am?"
If that wasn't enough to get under NASCAR's skin, several other stars irked the sport's top brass when they blew off a breakfast in New York City the morning of the annual awards banquet. It's a breakfast at which important NASCAR sponsors handed out sizable checks for annual contingency awards.
Among the culprits were champion Tony Stewart, who claimed he had a "migraine" after a night of partying, and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who didn't show up to accept his most popular driver award. Other no-shows included Elliott Sadler and Kasey Kahne.
"They have no respect for this sport," said NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter. "All they seem to be about is the money, and that is not what put this sport where it is."
The whole 2005 season seemed to be about respect and featured all sorts of demonstrations of a lack thereof.
One manufacturer (Ford) sued one of its former drivers (Kasey Kahne). Another (Dodge) sued one of its former teams (Bill Davis Racing).
NASCAR got sued by one of its tracks when Kentucky Speedway challenged the sanctioning body and its sister company, International Speedway Corp.
Drivers and teams constantly bashed some of the tracks (Pocono and Lowe's Motor Speedway) for questionable racing surfaces and Goodyear, as usual, was a common target. Both the tracks and Goodyear, by the way, didn't exactly take the criticism lightly.
Two top drivers -- Busch and Jamie McMurray -- created a stir when they jilted their current teams by signing contracts for 2007 with rival organizations. In the end, of course, they got what they were looking for, wiggling out of their contracts so they could jump ship after this season, setting a dangerous precedent for the sport.
By the end of the year, some of the sport's top teams were livid at NASCAR for its team cap plan, with Roush Racing -- the obvious target -- even threatening to sue.
When teams and drivers and sponsors and NASCAR all weren't bickering off the track, drivers were feuding on it.
It started early, with Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick barking at each other after a qualifying race at Daytona. It continued a week later with Johnson and Stewart bumping and banging after the Daytona 500 and earning a trip to the NASCAR hauler.
A few weeks later, Busch himself was called to the principal's office for cursing NASCAR officials at Darlington and throwing a water bottle. It was there that he learned a little about respect.
"You don't want to go in there," Busch said. "You listen and you speak in very short words. You get your point across quickly because the mother hand is on top."
The tongue-lashing did nothing to curb the rampant bickering and backstabbing.
Johnson, in fact, found himself a marked man for much of the year, drawing the ire of fellow drivers for a series of wrecks he caused. Earnhardt Jr. called him an "idiot" after a Talladega crash. Jeff Burton yelled at him at Bristol, Stewart yelled at him at Phoenix, and by the time the series got back to Talladega in October, the whole garage was mad at him for another crash.
It didn't end there. Kevin Harvick and Joe Nemechek put on a finger-pointing, equipment-throwing show after a wreck in the Nextel All-Star Challenge. On the same night, Brian Vickers wrecked Mike Bliss at the finish line to win the Nextel Open, nearly inciting a riot on pit road.
Dale Jarrett lectured young Shane Hmiel after a Busch Series wreck at Bristol, after which Hmiel promptly flipped him off, drawing widespread criticism about, you guessed it, a "lack of respect."
During the return trip to Bristol, it was Jarrett who drew the wrath of fans for intentionally wrecking Newman in retaliation for an earlier incident.
Even teammates weren't immune from the road rage. Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip traded verbal assaults after Junior put Waltrip in the wall at Charlotte.
Nor were some of the sport's leading ambassadors. Jeff Gordon laid into Stewart for spinning him at Dover. A month later, he allegedly punched Mike Bliss in an airport after Bliss wrecked him at Chicagoland Speedway.
In the first Chase for the Nextel Cup race, things got really wacky. Busch made a long, dramatic march down pit road to confront a rival crew chief after getting wrecked by Scott Riggs on the third lap, practically ruining his championship hopes (No wonder he was in such a foul mood after getting pulled over in Phoenix eight weeks later.)
In the same race, Kahne got parked for intentionally wrecking Kyle Busch. Then, in one of the season's most embarrassing moments, Robby Gordon climbed from his wrecked car, flung his helmet at Waltrip and called him a "piece of s---" on national TV.
The New Hampshire race was such a fiasco, Greg Biffle was inclined to say, "We looked like a circus. The NASCAR race at Loudon looked like a cheap wrestling match."
As did much of the 2005 season, thanks to a growing lack of respect.
Jeff Owens is executive editor of NASCAR Scene and a columnist for CBS Sportsline.
