texastrophies

Smith: Has Johnson gotten too aggressive? By Marty Smith, NASCAR.COM May 5, 2005 11:30 AM EDT (15:30 GMT) Two distinct but intertwined themes overran my mailbag this week: First, the perceived notion among some drivers and fans that Jimmie Johnson is driving like a maniac ("idiot," was the term used publicly by Dale Earnhardt Jr. earlier this week) and secondly Johnson's refusal to accept responsibility for any of the accidents in which he's been involved. And since several of those same responses labeled me a pansy for not crucifying Johnson -- apparently there are entire Web logs dedicated to this; if so thank you, I'm flattered -- I figured it would be prudent to address both issues. First up, Johnson's driving style: No doubt Johnson is aggressive. In fact, he may be the most aggressive driver in the Nextel Cup Series. But is he overly aggressive? Is he any more aggressive this season than in seasons past? On the surface it seems so. Judging by his involvement in accidents at Bristol, Phoenix and Talladega, it appears he's pressing like the 1994 Arkansas Razorbacks. To find out, I went straight to the source. "No way, I'm no more aggressive right now than I've ever been," Johnson said Wednesday morning. "But if they want to roll the Talladega stuff on me, cool. I have big shoulders. If they're accusing me of racing too hard, right on." They are. Jeff Burton and Kurt Busch said Johnson was impatient at Bristol. Tony Stewart questioned Johnson at Phoenix. Earnhardt, Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle all did the same after the 25-car wreck at Talladega. (Which I disagree with, by the way. More on that in a moment.) I figured Burton would give it to me straight, so I called him. Not only does Burton tell it like it is, but he also was involved in the aforementioned Bristol wreck with Johnson, so Burton has a vested interest in the debate. "Jimmie has been in his share of incidents this year, which is out of character for him. We haven't seen that before," Burton said. "There have been many instances where if he hadn't been there it wouldn't have happened. He's been involved in way more accidents than ever before." OK. Any particular reason why? "It's because it's so competitive now and everybody's getting everything they can," Burton continued. I couldn't agree more. And in my estimation folks aren't as frustrated with Johnson about Talladega as they are about the previous incidents. It's just convenient to pile on when the suspect is the points leader, the guy on top of the heap. Last weekend's big wreck was a product of the racing, not any one individual. Johnson was a player, absolutely. But his role in the evolution of that wreck had no greater impact than Earnhardt's role did. If any one of the intricacies of that wreck doesn't occur at that precise moment, that wreck doesn't happen. Talladega is like a dog show with four dozen Doberman Pinchers in attendance. They may play nice for a while, but eventually somebody's going to make a misstep and cause a ruckus, and somebody's going to get bitten because of it. Many fans have expressed frustration that, given equal circumstances, drivers with more controversial auras such as Stewart and Kevin Harvick would be fined and suspended and trashed in the media, but that Johnson's good-guy image has afforded him leniency. I don't disagree with that. That hypothesis holds water with me. So why didn't NASCAR haul Johnson into the Phone Booth for a talking-to at Talladega? "It's tight and close racing at Talladega," said NASCAR competition director Robin Pemberton. "The air does a lot of things to those cars when they're riding around out there at 180 mph, two-and-three-wide. "But we didn't think anyone did anything purposeful in causing any of the incidents during the event. Talladega is tough, close racing." Hmm. NASCAR doesn't speculate on such matters, but if it were Harvick, Stewart or another driver who's aggressive reputation precedes him, chances are he'd be reprimanded. That brings me to the second issue: blame. To me, one of the most ludicrous dynamics in NASCAR racing is blame. Every incident has to be someone's fault, and until someone accepts blame no one is satisfied. But the very moment someone accepts blame for an incident, the drama is gone and the situation quickly forgotten. See: Saturday's Busch Series race. The Big One took out 17 cars and sent Casey Mears on his lid. But Joe Nemechek stood up and said "My fault." Have you heard a word about it since? Most fans just want Johnson to admit he screwed up. They'd be far more willing to forgive and forget if he'd just own up to his mistakes. Thing is, he truly doesn't believe he's done anything wrong. I talked to Kenny Wallace about this Wednesday and he agreed, even took a similar stance on NASCAR Victory Lane on Sunday. "I call it the Blame Game," Wallace said. "As soon as you admit fault, everything's fine. But until you do, they all hate you." Seems so. Just ask Johnson.

Re: Movie Quote Game The Shootist

Re: Russian Boar 2005 (pic) Congrats, nice boar.

Re: Commercials during races I just wish that Dale Jr. would do a few more commercials. Hardly ever see him in any.

Re: Dale Jr Calls Jimmie Johnson an Idiot Me too, Gator. What I saw was JJ hitting the wall in the last wreck, in the first wreck all he hit was the #4.

Re: GORDON WINS TALLADEGA Kind of a two part answer to that question. Literally, yes, he was a rich boy, and if his father wouldn't have been who he was, who knows if Dale Jr. would have been in NASCAR. I am sure there are numerous drivers out at the local tracks that have the talent but not the connections to drive with the big boys. I don't think he acts like the rich kid anymore, before his father died I would have to say he did, but I think he matured immensly on Feb. 18, 2001.

Re: Dale Jr Calls Jimmie Johnson an Idiot [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] But it was plain to see that Dale Jr. gave that push to start the train wreck. [/ QUOTE ] Why all the smoke from the 48 car then? Junior pushed the 4 to the 48, but the 48 moved over to block and was too late. From Junior's in-car camera, he's not even touching the 4 when the 48 slammed into him. [/ QUOTE ] I have to disagree on this view Chrud, Jr. clearly bump-drafted the #4 just as JJ was drifting up to the wall, and the #4 ever so slightly hooked JJ's left rear bumber causing JJ to loose control and hit the wall...that is clearly shown on a couple diffirent network camera views...(as for admitting fault I do admitt that there are a couple of drivers that have showed that they will never admit any fault on being JJ). [/ QUOTE ] Which race was this? JJ didn't hit the wall in the first wreck he caused at 'Dega, all he hit was the 4 car. In the second wreck he hit the wall and then the 29 and others.

Re: ATTN: Texans: Does his look like Texas? Here are a couple of pics from Dimmit County, Texas

Many places can give you an opportunity for that type of animal from South Texas to Canada, but, you need to define what is too high. Pretty sure it won't be cheap anywhere, if you are looking for a better than average shot at getting an animal in this class. Give us a little more info on the area you would like to hunt, i.e. State, Country, etc. and I am sure someone will be able to point you in the right direction.

Re: GORDON WINS TALLADEGA I would like to jump on your bandwagon, not your case. Agree with you on your opinion.

Re: Keep him in your prayers.... In my thoughts and prayers, also.

Re: My 05 Monster Bruin (pics) [ QUOTE ] Had a good day at work yesterday. [/ QUOTE ] Now that is the type of job I need. Congrats on the brute. Nice pic's, as always.

Re: Dale Jr Calls Jimmie Johnson an Idiot While I am a Jr. fan, let's see what JJ's teammate had to say: [ QUOTE ] It was definitely a good race going on," said Kyle Busch, who was one of three cars that didn't make it back to the track after the wreck. "I kind of hung back." Busch thought that Johnson drifted too high the track, but like most drivers, he had to watch the wreck via a TV replay. No one could see through the massive smoke generated by the spinning cars. "It looked like the 48 (Johnson) squeezed the 4 (Mike Wallace) up into towards the fence," Busch said. "The 8 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) was behind him, nowhere to go." [/ QUOTE ] Imagine that, someone else thinks JJ was at fault.

Re: SHow pictures of BIG ANIMALS THAT YOU KILLED lol, yea they do come with a distinct aroma, don't they.

Re: Hey Texans...... Don't forget to add mosquitos to that list also.

Re: SHow pictures of BIG ANIMALS THAT YOU KILLED Nice one, usually don't see them that big.

Re: The Big One(s) Here is a quote from Kyle Busch, JJ's teammate. [ QUOTE ] It was definitely a good race going on," said Kyle Busch, who was one of three cars that didn't make it back to the track after the wreck. "I kind of hung back." Busch thought that Johnson drifted too high the track, but like most drivers, he had to watch the wreck via a TV replay. No one could see through the massive smoke generated by the spinning cars. "It looked like the 48 (Johnson) squeezed the 4 (Mike Wallace) up into towards the fence," Busch said. "The 8 (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) was behind him, nowhere to go." [/ QUOTE ]

Re: The Big One(s) [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] Don't look in the rear-view mirrors now boys but look who's on the move in the points standings and coming on strong.... [/ QUOTE ] Junior is blasting up thru the points-I'm glad you noticed! [/ QUOTE ] My thoughts exactly!!!!!!!!!! What I thought was interesting, in the first big wreck while Fox was trying to show it as Jr.s fault, they had 8 +/- different camera view's. The second big wreck where it looked like JJ got in the wall and came down to cause the wreck, they only have 2 different views and niether one conclusive. What about Harvick's in car, JJ's in car, Jr.s in car. Didn't see any of those, I wonder why?

Re: GORDON WINS TALLADEGA Congrats to Gordo, he was definetly the class of the field yesterday. It was good seeing all 3 DEI cars up in the mix for most of the day. How about Schrader? He really helped my Yahoo team. [ QUOTE ] it's not often you can take the lead back on your own at DEGA.... [/ QUOTE ] Yea, when Jr. did that a couple of years back, he was accused of everything from cheating to NASCAR allowing him to cheat. Glad we haven't heard any of that now. Typical race for JJ, took care of over half the field.

Re: your average billionaire [ QUOTE ] WOW......just wow I watched pool flip that movie is horrible Cody [/ QUOTE ] Yea that one looked bad.

Re: Question for all Baseball Contest Members #1 works for me. That way we will all be on the same # of games.

Re: Which would you rather see? I gotta go with the second one, Clemens is on top of his game right now, 28 innings pitched, ERA of 0.32, 32 strike outs vs. 6 walks. It is just to bad his teammates won't score any runs for him.

Re: Gameday 4--Forum Baseball Contest sounds good to me.

Re: Gameday 5 - Forum Baseball Contest No problem, congrats on the new girl. Hope the best for her, and you and your wife.

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