 | | 'Fess up, Jimmie! You know we'll get to the bottom of this sooner or later.' Credit: Chris Trotman/Getty Images |
NASCAR.COM
December 14, 2006
11:30 AM EST (16:30 GMT)
Editor's Note: XM Satellite Radio anchor Claire B. Lang joins the gang again this week. Her show, Dialed In, can be heard every weekday on XM, Channel 144. 1. What in the heck was Jimmie Johnson thinking when he was injured riding on the roof of a golf cart? Dave Rodman: Simple answer: He probably wasn't. I hate to say, "think" about all the things you've done without thinking -- because when you look at the result you'd like to think you'd have thought your way out of it. How's that for a circle? Ryan Smithson: He needs to star in the Vonage commercials. People do stupid things. It really isn't a big deal. I am sure he probably had a cooler on the cart, and if he didn't, he should have. Claire B. Lang: It's gotten to be Golfgate. Get this -- the reporter from the Citrus County Chronicle, John Coscia, who wrote that Jimmie was on top of the cart, was booked on my live show last night and he kept calling and delaying because of meetings. Mark Aumann: Well, it's good to see that Jimmie's got a personality that maybe doesn't come across at the track. Either that, or he lost the bar bet. Claire B. Lang: Turns out he finally had to cancel because the meetings were with his bosses about what he could say or not say about the golf cart deal. Not sure why -- and he canceled the interview after delaying the booking three times during the show after "meetings with his bosses" regarding clearance to come on the air. Ryan Smithson: When I was 16, back in Tennessee, my friends and I had a game called "Throw 'em off the golf cart." You held your hands in your lap while the driver tried to buck you off the cart. I twisted an ankle or two. Dave Rodman: Ryan, nice to see you guys were so proficient at golf you had to think of other ways to amuse yourselves. And I hope you were on the golf course and not in the parking lot. Ask Jeff Gordon about that. Claire B. Lang: Some fans said what is the difference between the golf cart spill and Carl Edwards doing a back flip off a car and maybe getting hurt? Ryan Smithson: Not much, Claire. Except Carl is trained. Ha! Dave Rodman: And Carl ain't done so much as stub a toe yet, doing it -- and he's had plenty of opportunities.  |  | | Carl Edwards has done this before. Credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images |
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Mark Aumann: We still get a laugh out of the friend who tried to drive a golf cart on the side of a steep hill and ended up running alongside the cart while trying to keep it from tipping over. Dave Rodman: If what you're saying about the reporter and his bosses is true -- that's for sure the saddest aspect of this. If he reported the story accurately, why would there be a question about that? Ryan Smithson: See, Jimmie -- the media is everywhere. Claire B. Lang: Well, that's what I wondered. He said his bosses were meeting with him on what he could say or not say. He ended up canceling. Dave Rodman: ESPN, with their "out there" bent for ads, ought to do the "Dumb things drivers have done" promo: Tony flipping a Midget, Jimmie golf cart surfing, Jeff doing the "Great Escape" train dive out of a golf cart and Denny leaving his finger on the front of a transporter. Mark Aumann: Ryan, you ever see somebody drive a cart into a water hazard? Happened one time during a Super Bowl tournament in Florida. Guy drove straight into the lake, and then walked back to the pro shop for a replacement cart. Dave Rodman: Did they give him a Breathalyzer before they issued another cart key? Ryan Smithson: Yes, Aumann. You didn't ever hear the story of the Turner guy driving the cart into the lake? They made him pay for it. |  | | 'Get down from there, Jimmie!' Credit: Chris Trotman/Getty Images |
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Mark Aumann: He ended up wading back into the lake to get his bag of clubs. We laughed for at least two more holes. Dave Rodman: Well, I was gonna say I hope he didn't get a set of rentals in the bargain. Ryan Smithson: Claire, I am sure Jimmie will be asked about the incident at some point. We won't forget, right? Dave Rodman: Day 1 of testing -- if he's in the first session. Claire B. Lang: Exactly. Before he gets in the gate. He'll be on a golf cart on the way in when we ask him. Remember, these guys spend their lives in golf carts. Ryan Smithson: Jimmie's handlers should simply do the right thing and schedule a teleconference to discuss this very serious issue. Dave Rodman: He ought to defuse it, seriously, by having a cart waiting inside the tunnel -- then having it drive him into the garage area at the test. Of course, all the key media and photographers would be tipped off. Mark Aumann: I can understand perhaps understating the facts because of embarrassment, but you might as well tell the truth and get it out of the way. Otherwise, it sounds like you're hiding something. Ryan Smithson: I'd lie about being on the roof of a cart, too. |  | | Life is full of water hazards, Phil. Credit: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images |
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Claire B. Lang: One last note on the golf deal. Good point, Ryan. I wonder how many people would tell the truth if they were horsing around and were on top of the cart? It's been a big topic because most people would not tell the truth and own up to being that -- umm -- not smart, at the time. Dave Rodman: Worst thing I've ever done with a golf cart -- that I can remember -- is getting one stuck in a ditch cutting through the woods getting back to the pro shop. Luckily I was finished playing -- and the cart man did not mind going out with me to get it. We got it unstuck in 25 seconds flat. Claire B. Lang: In March 1994, Phil Mickelson broke a leg skiing. "Phil was involved in a one-man accident," J.R. Murray, the general manager of Arizona Snowball, told The New York Times. "He fell and slid into a tree." Do you think it hurt his golf game? So maybe he was horsing around on skis? Dave Rodman: Hard to say -- you can be skiing and hit a tree like he did without goofing off -- though he said at the time he'd been skiing all his life, which is a bad sign. Ryan Smithson: This really isn't a big deal. It is pretty funny. I remember Davey Allison broke his hand once when he punched a transporter after a bad race. Dave Rodman: If it heals correctly and he doesn't miss a beat -- it's no big deal. Let's wait and see. Claire B. Lang: Yeah, and Mark Martin tried to cut a cast off his arm while driving. He had scissors in the car and was trying to cut the cast off his wrist while driving. |   | CART BEFORE THE HORSE | Jimmie Johnson was "horsing around" on top of a moving golf cart when he fell off and broke his left wrist, his team said.
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Mark Aumann: Since the last two Nextel Cup champs have broken their wrists, you have to wonder if Dale Jr.'s wandering around Kannapolis, looking for a fight with an angry wrist wrestler. Claire B. Lang: Mark looked at the cast and the scissors and said what the h--- am I doing here? Dave Rodman: What the heck was he doing with scissors in the car? Advance planning? Claire B. Lang: Yes, in case he could not race with the cast. He was literally trying to cut it off while going almost 200 mph. Dave Rodman: That's incredible. Would be a good one for Funniest Home Videos. Ryan Smithson: One time near Michigan, Rodman and me were playing golf; I hit a big drive that hit the top of a guy's cart. He wasn't pleased. Luckily, I had Rodman with me. Rodman is very physically intimidating. Claire B. Lang: I have noticed that. Dave Rodman: I'd like to think the reason Jimmie was up there would be funny enough to justify the end result -- though to tell you the truth, in 35 years of playing golf, I've never been compelled to get on top of a golf cart, unless it was to retrieve a club out of a tree. Mark Aumann: Oh, no. You're too busy looking for golf balls at the bottom of lakes, Dave. Dave Rodman: Yeah -- but I didn't drive the cart in there to do it. Touché. 2. Why did Matt Borland decide to team up with Dale Jarrett? Mark Aumann: Dale can get him a tee time with Arnold Palmer, perhaps? Or maybe Borland can now get a discount on UPS shipping for Christmas presents? Ryan Smithson: I really don't know about the Borland deal, but he's got a driver that is probably the best of all time at saving fuel. Claire B. Lang: OK, let's hop on that for a second. Was Borland ever planning to go to Toyota -- or did they just think that at Penske? Ryan Smithson: I wonder what was so bad with him and Newman to necessitate a career change like that? Claire B. Lang: What a weird deal. He'll talk the talk with the Toyota engineers. And everyone who has left Penske has gone on to shine elsewhere, like Earl Barban, the spotter at the 48, and others. Dave Rodman: I hope he knows DJ well enough to know what he's getting into. If they mesh completely -- look out. But it seems like that seamless joining of a driver and crew chief has been absent for DJ since his heyday with Todd Parrott. Claire B. Lang: He will shine but the whole leaving two weeks off deal and time with the family story -- even the team didn't know what was going on. Ryan Smithson: Borland and Jarrett -- the all-gray hair team. Claire B. Lang: Ouch. Mark Aumann: Well, you still have to wonder who takes over that ride when Dale retires. Is Borland going to be happy trying to work with an inexperienced driver? Or will he be in the market for another gig at that point? Dave Rodman: Well, he did it once with Newman. But Ryan was certainly a special case. Ryan Smithson: He's got two years to think it over. But if NASCAR is indeed going to change the past champ provisional rules, they better have some good cars ready. Claire B. Lang: Dale says they needed more engineers at Yates' and now he's got one at Michael Waltrip Racing, so it should be fun to see how he likes the engineering-based crew chief. Dave Rodman: Exactly. I hope they are speaking the same language, for everyone's sake. Claire B. Lang: Exactly. Give them a golf cart and send them out to bond for a while on the course. Dave Rodman: If it has seatbelts and roof rails on it. Mark Aumann: How Dale runs in 2007 will be very telling for Toyota. |
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Dave Rodman: Could be real telling for DJ. If they're not good and there's no sign of improvement, it will be the longest two years of his life. Ryan Smithson: Claire, you had Borland on the air last week. What did he say? Claire B. Lang: I know him very well ... and I like the guy. But he doesn't talk much. I had Mike Nelson on [earlier in the week] and he's the same. He said it won't be easy but he's up to the challenge. Dave Rodman: Well, I think DJ has to be Toyota's leader -- even though I still think Dave Blaney has the best potential to do it, at this point. Ryan Smithson: I'd love to see Dale Jarrett on top of a golf cart -- or Jimmy Spencer. Claire B. Lang: God help the golf cart. Dave Rodman: That's just plain silly. The opinions expressed are solely of the participants. | 
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