SCENE & HEARD
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Petty blue about restricting NASCAR
5:51 PM
Kyle Petty took offense with criticism that today's drivers are too bland.
"I think racetracks have become too bland. How about that? They're all the same," Petty said.
Petty added that he heard track president Humpy Wheeler is about to launch an ad campaign ramping up where they're going to try to give Lowe's Motor Speedway a nickname.
"And I'm like, 'OK, that's the first thing I want to do: give a nickname to a guy after 50 years,'" Petty said. "If he doesn't have a nickname after the first 50 years, he ain't going to get a nickname. It don't work that way, dude. You don't come out Catfish, you're never gonna be Catfish. That's the way that works."
Petty argued that the way Nextel Cup racing is set up today, with drivers needing to be on good behavior all the time for their high-paying sponsors, it's difficult for drivers to express themselves in the wild ways they used to.
"I think Tony [Stewart] is a great individual," he said. "And every time something is written, he has to go to anger management. What's up with that? I would have loved to have seen Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison go to anger management after the 1979 Daytona 500. That would be the headlines: Petty wins Daytona 500; Allison and Yarborough go to Anger Management on Monday. What a great headline!
"You laugh, but that's what would happen now. And once you get to that point, it's not fun. It's not fun to have to watch what you say or what you do. But you have to, and that's part of it."
-- Joe Menzer
"I think racetracks have become too bland. How about that? They're all the same," Petty said.
Petty added that he heard track president Humpy Wheeler is about to launch an ad campaign ramping up where they're going to try to give Lowe's Motor Speedway a nickname.
"And I'm like, 'OK, that's the first thing I want to do: give a nickname to a guy after 50 years,'" Petty said. "If he doesn't have a nickname after the first 50 years, he ain't going to get a nickname. It don't work that way, dude. You don't come out Catfish, you're never gonna be Catfish. That's the way that works."
Petty argued that the way Nextel Cup racing is set up today, with drivers needing to be on good behavior all the time for their high-paying sponsors, it's difficult for drivers to express themselves in the wild ways they used to.
"I think Tony [Stewart] is a great individual," he said. "And every time something is written, he has to go to anger management. What's up with that? I would have loved to have seen Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison go to anger management after the 1979 Daytona 500. That would be the headlines: Petty wins Daytona 500; Allison and Yarborough go to Anger Management on Monday. What a great headline!
"You laugh, but that's what would happen now. And once you get to that point, it's not fun. It's not fun to have to watch what you say or what you do. But you have to, and that's part of it."
-- Joe Menzer
I agree with Kyle, political correctness has taken a strong foothold on the formerly rough and yes redneck roots of our sport. I also would like to add that a possible reason for lower T.V. ratings could be that there are TOO MANY COMMERCIALS
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