Posted on 06/01/2005 6:01:16 AM PDT by gobucks
I asked a friend of mine why Bobby Labonte lost by just a couple of feet Sunday night in the wild CC 600 race. Labonte had the chance to block Johnson on the final turn ... why didn't he block him out?
My friend said that Labonte couldn't actually manuver a block given how turns work in a race like that (I'm a relatively new NASCAR fan). But, he said that Bobby might have wrecked Johnson to prevent him from winning...Dale Earnheardt might have done exactly that had it been him in the lead. But 'Labonte is just a super nice guy' and wouldn't do something like that my friend said.
I argued aha!, Bobby Labonte must be a bible-thumping Christian type! Quick google search confirmed it: during Daytona last year, his car carried the Passion of the Christ over the entire front hood of number 18. My friend was a bit surprised ... he wasn't aware of that.
Well, anyway, Tony Stewart is no longer my favorite NASCAR driver. Because Bobby caught my attention Sunday night, and I'm going to be watching him closely from here on out.
Earnhart would wipe out his mother to win a race.
Sunday's finish could have been a real dog-fight, but instead he gave Jimmy room and they raced to the finish line.
Bobby Labonte is far from being the only driver who won't wreck someone for a win. I'm not so sure I would but Dale Earnhardt Jr in that category at this point.
There would have been some really good racing at the finish if it weren't for that last big crash.
1) blocking under certain conditions is illegal and ..
2) at that speed (187+) and point of the track it might have killed them both.
btw, Labonte might not be all that 'Christian'. As you apparently missed the shot of him having a hissy fit on pit row after the race - throwing his helmet and kicking his car.
It was the actions of a sore and BAD loser and very 'un' Christian.
Class act ... I agreee....(now i have to race to work...:))
I'm bumming I fell asleep AGAIN! Well, this week it's sunday afternoon racing.
I'm a Martin fan. Pretty much everybody agrees that he's always a class act.
No rubbing or push-drafting on the way! Be safe.
I don't begrudge Labonte for giving into a sinful moment. None of us are completely free of our sins, although we might aspire to it. I am sure as a Christian he is not proud of his 'moment' now. In his further defense, I also understand apart from losing the race, he is frustrated with his total effort this year. A previous champion, he is mired way down in the points with a team that just isn't competitive for wins anymore. He knew he didn't have a car to win the race and it was only the timing of a caution when the leaders, including the eventually winner, got caught a lap down that gave him a chance to even be close to winning.
It was the Daytona 500 and he made the apron move on Rusty Wallace. Ricky Rudd was limping around the track on the apron, 'just making laps'. JG forced a situation of either running over Rudd or running into Wallace with his move. Wallace backed off to avoid the crash and JG went on to win the race.
That move I believe was a catalyst to both the minimum speed rules being enforced and the no passing below the yellow line rule for Talledaga and Daytona. While I admire some of JG's accomplishments, it was incidents like this, which have left me in the 'not a fan' column.
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