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What’s the
first thing that happens after a wreck?
Okay, the
FIRST thing that happens, is the yellow flag comes out. And
then?
Scanners
go crazy with discussions about pit stops, and the TV network
cuts away to commercial break.
But as
soon as the drivers involved in the wreck are out of their cars,
THEN what happens? There’s a reporter with a microphone in
their face, and a cameraman sticking a camera at them.
Most of
the time, these drivers haven’t had a chance to really figure
out what happened to cause the wreck, and they’re generally not
in the best of moods. Yet, the pit reporters are right there
asking them “What happened out there?”
Guess what
folks? From their cars, the drivers really have a limited
view. If they had better vision, there wouldn’t be any need for
spotters, would there? So at that moment, the reporters that
are asking, “What happened out there” probably have a better
idea than the drivers does.
So why do
they do it week in and week out, race after race, wreck after
wreck? Because they want the ticked off, emotion-laden
responses that they wouldn’t be able to get once cooler heads
have prevailed. They want the confrontational comments. They
want the heated arguments. It gives them, and the rest of us,
something to talk about between races.
Think back
to some of the post-wreck comments that have touched off debate
about who-did-what-to-whom on the track, and stirred up “intense
rivalry” talks among the media, only to be pushed to the side
the following week. Most often, by the next week, all the
drivers involved have to say is something like, “Yeah, we talked
about it during the week. Everything’s fine between us.” Why
does that happen? Given the chance to cool off, more sensible
heads prevail.
There’s
also that issue of not being able to see 360 degrees on the
track, and not really knowing what actually
happened. So, the drivers are giving a very biased version of
events, based on little to no fact. Maybe if they were allowed
to watch the replay of the wreck before being
interviewed, and not just once, but with the repetition and
various angles that we viewers are treated to, things would be
different. Instead, the driver has a monitor stuck in front of
them showing them one angle of the wreck, and asked to tell the
world what happened as they see it for the first time.
That’s just asking for some confrontational remarks.
A perfect
example was this past weekend in Charlotte for the All-Star
race. After the Stewart-Kenseth wreck, Matt Kenseth was
immediately shown the replay and asked, “what happened.” The
first thing he said was that he didn’t see the beginning of the
replay. That right there tells you he still doesn’t know
what happened, and of course he made emotional comments based on
his limited view from the track. Later, after having seen the
replay, he admitted fault. Or close to it. He said something
to the effect of “If I made a mistake, I made a mistake.
There’s nothing I can do about it now.” Which in NASCAR terms
is about as close to “It was my fault” as most drivers will get.
Following
that same incident, Tony Stewart did what was quite possibly the
smartest thing any driver could do. He got out of his car,
ignored the media and reporters, and went to his trailer where
he could cool off, and watch the replay on TV like the rest of
us. Then he went out to talk to the media. In this
case, he was still pretty ticked off about Kenseth’s comments
(who hadn’t had the benefit of seeing the replay, remember) so
he was still pretty steamed. But compare his comments to those
in the past, and just imagine some of the things he might have
said right after climbing out of the car.
All in
all, the media needs to give the drivers some time after a
wreck. Time to cool off. Time to see the replays. Time to
figure out what happened before being asked about it.
Of course,
then we wouldn’t have all of these confrontations, misconstrued
comments, and garage arguments to talk about. |
