Drivers need to learn not to be a speed demon in pits

Hypnotized by that repetitious Lil' Wayne rift about lollipops the other day, I was late to notice a stealthy black car fast approaching my bumper. I'd hoped it was a lunatic with road rage; that's commonplace on U.S. 31 where motorists refuse to accept 60 mph as the speed limit for a major thoroughfare that sees more farm equipment than cars.

But much to my dismay, it was the po-po as in policeman ready to write me a ticket for going 75 in a 60.

Nothing sucks worse than a speeding violation to interrupt your groove, just ask Tony Stewart.

The driver of the No. 20 was nailed with a pit road speeding penalty in the first race of NASCAR's Chase last week at New Hampshire; the equivalent of getting a speeding ticket while driving with a suspended license.

One could debate whether or not the violation cost Stewart a shot at the win.

He lost a lap but eventually got it back, finished eighth and moved up a spot to seventh in the standings; the equivalent of getting a speeding ticket but then having the officer not show up for your court date.

As for myself, I got a ticket with no opportunity to remedy my mistake; I didn't even get the courtesy "drive safe" slogan as the officer handed me the ticket on a pink sheet of paper.

And while we are on the subject, (sort of) how did pink become the universal color for bad news; two pink lines means you're pregnant, a pink slip means you're fired, and if you ever had pinkeye it meant you were the dirty kid in class.

Sorry, I had to vent my frustrations much like Stewart did after he was theoretically handed his pink sheet last week.

"I got a drive-through penalty that got us way behind," Stewart said. "We had some bad luck and then I made our problem worse with the speeding penalty. To fight back to eighth, I'm pretty happy with that."

Stewart was clocked going at least a five miles per hour over the NASCAR-regulation 45 mph limit. NASCAR says a drivers' pit road speed (different at various tracks) is electronically calculated and is the average speed between the yellow commitment line and the yellow pit out line; the average speed between those two points. (Continued)