With the opening of NASCAR;s 2005 championship chase last weekend, things got a little ugly. The first race of the ten-race Nextel Cup "playoffs" was held on the mile and a half oval at Loudon, New Hampshire and it almost looked as though drivers who are not running for the title got a bit vindictive.
In two cases Sunday, drivers took it upon themselves to retaliate against other drivers they felt "done them wrong."
In one case, Kasey Kahne was involved in a crash with rookie Kyle Busch, and then retaliated by ramming into Busch's car under the yellow flag.
Robby Gordon was spun out by Michael Waltrip and retaliated by standing by the track and walking out in front of Waltrip's car and throwing his helmet at the windshield of the No. 15.
Lots of people got called into the NASCAR officials' trailer after the race and penalties were announced Tuesday.
What penalties?
Kahne and Gordon each were fined 25 thousand dollars and lost 25 driver points. Gordon was fined another ten thousand dollars for using a naughty name for Waltrip during a TV interview.
You don't prevent anarchy with a slap on the wrist.
But then, NASCAR may not really want to prevent anarchy. It makes good television.
The whole point of the playoffs is television ratings. At this time of year, the show is competing against the beginning of the NFL season and the end of the MLB season. They need to promise a good show to get folks on the couch on Sunday afternoon or Saturday night to switch to NBC or TNT and lay down the remote.
Stories of ill feelings and demolition derby retaliations will make that happen.
You can almost hear Bubba and Billy Bob as they sit out in the garage.
"Hey, did y'all see that race last weekend? Them good ol' boys are outta control, ain't they? I'll bet they really get it on next week. I wouldn't miss it if my dog was sick."
Both Kahne and Gordon were put on probation for the remainder of the season, but immediate suspensions for a week or two would send the "We're serious" message a lot more clearly.
America's most popular racing series may be making another mistake with its "Drive for Diversity" program. NASCAR makes a dedicated effort to get more women, more minorities, and now, more non-Americans into its ranks.
ESPN.com's John Oreovicz pointed out this week that NASCAR and some of its teams are very close to bringing in drivers who were not "born in the USA."
It's been no secret that Canadian Paul Tracy would like to move from the open-wheeled Champ Cars to the fendered stock car ranks. Ron Fellows, also from Canada, is a regular on NASCAR road courses and has come close to winning several times.
From the south side of the border, Adrian Fernandez, a winner in open wheeled racing, is to run a few Busch Series races this season. He drove in this season's Busch race in Mexico City.
A Busch near-regular from the open wheeled ranks, Michel Jourdain, Jr., hopes to run in the support series full time.
From way south, Ford is bringing Australian Marcos Ambrose to the States next year. Ambrose has won two straight cham-pionships and is expected to wrap up his third in the Down Under V-8 Supercar series.
Incidentally, the only non-American to win a top-level NASCAR race was Earl Ross of Canada. He won at Martinsville in September, 1974. That season he had ten top-ten finishes and won Rookie of the Year.
Diversity is almost universally considered a Good Thing. NASCAR may want to be a little cautious in its effort to bring in foreign-born drivers. There are a lot of non-Americans in Champ Car and the IRL but Bubba and BillyBob could care less.