Smoke "Class Act"

wolfcub

wolfcub

Team Owner
Joined
May 25, 2004
Messages
492
Points
338
No matter what you think of Tony as a driver, he is a class act personally. He did not hold a "celebration" after his NW win due to the fans getting hurt and just read where he went to the hospital on his own to visit with those injured. Pretty classy IMO.
 
Always been a fan of Mark martin but as he is slowly maybe retiring, Smoke will be my next driver.
 
Not taking anything away from Tony but the lack of a victory lane celebration was not his decision.
NASCAR called it off out of concern and respect for those injured.
Tony Stewart has come a long way since joining the ranks of NASCAR. In his early years, his volatile temper, radical behavior and snot-nosed manner in general did not endear him to fans but there was never any reason to doubt his talent. As Tony matured, thanks to Joe Gibbs, he calmed and when you look at Tony today in comparison to the Tony of yesteryear, it is similar to comparing a hungry lion to a family kitten.
Three cheers to the new and improved Tony.:cheers: A guy who still says what he thinks but these days, uses common sense. Tony has proven he is not only a great driver but a solid businessman. We need more like him in the sport and it looks like Brad Keselowski might have taken a page from the "new and improved" Tony Stewart book.
 
Johnson's celebration seemed to have little to no concern over those injured. Yes he did mention them then in the next breath how great he and HMS was.
 
The big difference between Talladega and Saturday is nascar was honest about fans being injured and made sure all the drivers knew it. At Talladega, they said all the injuries were minor until it came out a couple of days later that one fan had a shattered jaw. They didn't clarify things until Larry McReynolds took exception to nascar still calling the injuries minor and said on the air "Yeah, tell that to the girl with the shattered jaw".

This time, EVERY driver came out of the infield care center talking about the injured fans and a couple mentioned that the staff was telling them about it, so nascar clearly handled it differently. Boo to Regan Smith for being so callous in his comments about "doing the same thing next time". It just wasn't the time to say something like that.
 
The Talladega injuries, to the extent that they were known, were reported the same day that it happened and more extensively the next day. I think the biggest difference between the two incidents is that the most recent happened on Saturday, the day before the biggest race of the season, meaning that there would be followup the next day on the national broadcast. The other was on Sunday with no nationally televised race to be broadcast the next day. Also you have to take into account the ever changing social media coverage that is instantaneous in today's world.

Here's a link to an article posted the same day after the accident and another of man that were posted the next day. Heck, the first one even includes a quote by your favorite driver.

Link & yet another link.
 
Boo to Regan Smith for being so callous in his comments about "doing the same thing next time". It just wasn't the time to say something like that.
Click to expand...
I agree that what he said was inappropriate at the time but what he said was the truth, all drivers will block for a chance to win in Daytona. It is apparent he hasn't had the media grooming that is now part of a driver's skill set.
 
FenderBumper said:
This time, EVERY driver came out of the infield care center talking about the injured fans and a couple mentioned that the staff was telling them about it, so nascar clearly handled it differently. Boo to Regan Smith for being so callous in his comments about "doing the same thing next time". It just wasn't the time to say something like that.
Click to expand...

Almost willing to bet the ranch Nascar's PR people schooled the drivers on what to say before they left the care center.
 
Wow, I never have liked Smoke, but this did earn him some respect from me...
 
everytime i really start to like smoke he does something to piss me off. I think its great that he went to visit the fans. And it is hysterical when he gets mad at another driver.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom