Yahoo Autos I Still Owe Him One: NASCAR Drivers Never at Loss for Words after a Wreck
In recent years, Ross Chastain has drawn the ire of drivers and a few team owners for his aggressive driving.
However, he isn’t the first and he won’t be the last. Angry comments and sometimes fights have been a part of stock car racing since its birth. One could call them the salt on the meal because they bring flavor to a sport built on passion. Every successful driver in NASCAR Cup racing has drawn the wrath of someone during his career.
Some remarks made in the 1960s resemble those of today, while others take on a life of their own, never to be forgotten. Such was the case with Tony Stewart’s comments to Fox Sports pit reporter Steve Byrnes as he angrily walked through the Auto Club Speedway garage after punching Joey Logano on pit road. It was March 24, 2013, when Byrnes asked Stewart what made him angry at the end of the race.
Stewart replied: “What the hell do you think I was mad about?! The dumb little son-of-a-bitch runs us clear down to the infield. He wants to (expletive) about everybody else. He’s the one that drives like a little (expletive). I’m gonna bust his ass.”
Byrnes ended the interview by saying, thank you, and the three-time NASCAR Cup champion replied, “Thank you!”
Three-time NASCAR Cup champion Darrell Waltrip’s comments following the 1989 NASCAR All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway also will live forever. Waltrip was leading as they headed to the white flag, when Rusty Wallace clipped him and spun him off turn four. Wallace won the race, but that day the black hat passed from Waltrip to Wallace, who collected $200,000 for the victory.
Waltrip, who finished seventh, was interviewed first: “It was an ugly win. He drove into me and spun me out. It was pretty flagrant. I hope he chokes on that $200,000.”
Wallace countered: “If a man thinks this is a leisurely Sunday afternoon ride, he ought not to be in the race.”
Both of those memorable remarks came on tracks 1.5- and 2-miles in length, but most of the time it’s the shorter tracks where rivalries and feuds begin, where drivers simply develop a dislike for a fellow competitor. Such was the case with Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin in 2017 at Martinsville when Hamlin dumped Elliott in turn three while Elliott was leading. Throughout NASCAR’s 75-year history Bristol, Darlington, Martinsville, North Wilkesboro, Richmond, and Dover have consistently provided emotional fireworks.
Here are a few of the confrontations at those tracks through the decades:
Bristol Motor Speedway
March 28, 1971
James Hylton after an incident with eventual race winner David Pearson:
“He ran me over. There’s no excuse for it.”
April 12, 1987
Sterling Marlin and his team co-owner Wayne King about Dale Earnhardt after Earnhardt sent Marlin into the wall and took the lead:
Marlin: “He hit me from behind and spun me. I’m the leader of the race. He’s supposed to pass me, not spin me out.”
King: “If that’s what it takes to win the championship, they can have it. That’s at least three cars I know of that he’s run over today.”
Earnhardt: “This is Bristol. You’ve got to be aggressive to race here.”
Darlington Raceway
May 6, 1961
Winner Fred Lorenzen talks about runner-up Curtis Turner:
“He bumped me 50 times and I bumped him 50 times in the last 20 laps.”
Turner about Lorenzen:
“If I could have caught him before he got the checkered flag, I guarantee you he never would have finished the race.”
May 13, 1967
Buck Baker after a wreck at the beginning of the race that eliminated him and five other cars: “I don’t understand the folks that run racing. It seems they go out and get some of these drivers out of the cotton fields.”
Sept. 4, 1972
Donnie Allison after he, brother Bobby Allison, Joe Frasson and LeeRoy Yarbrough were eliminated from the race in a multi-car crash on lap 12: “Tommy Gale spun into me, but it was (Fred) Lorenzen’s fault. He was hogging the groove. He should have moved over and let the faster cars go by.”
April 15, 1973
Bobby Allison after his third-place finish in the 500-mile race that had 11 caution flags for 71 laps: “There were some young drivers out there who were absolutely pitiful. I was put in the wall three or four times during the race.”
Sept. 5, 1977
Cale Yarborough gives Darrell Waltrip the nickname “Jaws” during a conversation with D.K. Ulrich following a four-car crash that took Yarbough and Waltrip out of victory contention. Yarborough finished fifth and Waltrip sixth.
Ulrich: You sure knocked the hell out of me. How come you hit me?
Yarborough: “I didn’t touch you. Jaws ran into you.”
Ulrich: Who?
Yarborough: “Jaws. Jaws Waltrip hit you.”
April 15, 1984
Darrell Waltrip after securing his fourth victory at the Darlington track:
“Guys who lose their temperament are usually the ones who get themselves into trouble. This race was like putting a bunch of piranha in a pool with one piece of meat.”
Dover Motor Speedway
June 4, 1989
Ken Schrader and Dale Earnhardt after Schrader passed Earnhardt for a $10,000 bonus that went to the driver leading at the race’s halfway mark.
Schrader: “I wanted that money bad. When I got up under him a little, I thought what would Dale do? So, I hit him.”
Earnhardt: “That got a little rough. I was really surprised by that because I was giving him plenty of room to pass. I’ve got a memory like an elephant. Somewhere down the road, I just might slip and get into him.”
Sept. 19, 1993
Ricky Rudd after getting wrecked on a restart when Rusty Wallace ran into the back of Hut Stricklin and turned him into Rudd.
Rudd:“Well, they’ve got the Goody’s Headache Award. They ought to have the Rubber Head of the Race Award and I give it to Rusty Wallace. … It was just a dumb, stupid move. I don’t know where he was going. You’ve just got to wait your time. The track’s greasy. Everybody pretty much is biding their time, and that dumb SOB comes up through there like an idiot and causes a chain reaction.”
Sept. 23, 2001
Ricky Rudd after getting spun by Rusty Wallace. Rudd finished third.
Rudd: “I don’t know what was wrong with Rusty. He was off the pace, something was wrong with him. … I was lapping him, I guess he needed a caution and decided to wreck the leader. I’ve never seen nothing like it. I know he’s got the nickname Rubberhead in the garage area now. I never understood it, but I understand it now. … I used to have a lot of respect for that guy. I wouldn’t give him two cents right now.”
Wallace: “He was getting ready to lap me and he ran into me in the back straightaway. As we went into the corner, I stood on the throttle to try to pass him on the outside, he slowed up a little bit and I got into the tail end of him. It wasn’t payback. We’re going too fast to do stuff like that, but his memory is pretty short. He rammed the crap out of me at Bristol and now he forgets about it. I named a guy conehead a long time ago. I think I’m going to name that Dude that.”
Martinsville Speedway
Sept. 23, 1962
Fireball Roberts after brake-checking a tailgating Fred Lorenzen and destroying the radiator in Lorenzen’s Ford:
“I warned Freddy by shaking my finger at him. That must have made him mad because he shook his finger back at me and began bumping again. I waved my hand at him and told him to lay off. But he kept it up. I didn’t tell him again because I knew how to get him off me.”
Sept. 22, 1963
Nelson Stacy to Holman-Moody teammate Fred Lorenzen’s crew chief Herb Nab:
“I’m sick and tired of being roughed up by Lorenzen. This is my last warning.”
April 24, 1983
After the race on the cool-down lap, Ricky Rudd repeatedly rammed his Pontiac into the back of Joe Ruttman’s Buick starting in turn one, down the backstretch and then plowed into him on pit road as the cars were pulling off the track.
Rudd: “I guess I’m the villain. I got pushed around all day and I retaliated. I’m not going to name any names.”
Ruttman crew chief Buddy Parrott about Rudd: “That boy has got a lot to learn. He might lose his ride over it. That kind of stuff went out with dirt-tracking.”
Sept. 22, 1985
With 58 laps remaining in the race, Dale Earnhardt hit Tim Richmond’s rear bumper and knocked him out of the racing groove. While Earnhardt was beside Richmond, the Ohio native yanked his Pontiac’s steering wheel left and hit Earnhardt’s race winning Chevrolet.
Richmond: “He pulled the same stunt he did at Bristol. As far as I’m concerned, we ain’t even yet. I still owe him one.”
Earnhardt: “I bumped him in the corner, but he backed off. He gave me a shot to let me know he didn’t like it. But I grew up watching guys like Ralph Earnhardt, Tiny Lund and Dink Widenhouse. If I hollered every time I got hit, you’d think I was a crybaby.”
Sept. 21, 1986
After an incident between Ricky Rudd and Kyle Petty that eliminated Rudd from the race, Rudd called Petty a “spoiled brat” and “an idiot.” Petty was later fined for rough driving.
Sept. 27, 1987
A last lap incident involving Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, and Terry Labonte, resulted in a victory for Waltrip and an irate Earnhardt and Labonte.
Labonte: “I was on the outside of Dale as we went into the second turn. He tried to put me into the wall and he damn near succeeded. Then we went into the third turn and Darrell never lifted. I guess it’s one of those deals where you win any way you can.”
Earnhardt: “Darrell wrecked Terry. He knocked Terry into me. They should have put him in the penalty box.”
North Wilkesboro Speedway
March 27, 1960
Runner-up Rex White’s comments about winner Lee Petty:
“Something’s got to be done. The Old Man (Petty) is getting rougher and rougher. If this sort of thing keeps up, there is going to be a lot of equipment torn up and some drivers badly hurt.”
