NASCAR - The Bad Boys

Auto racing in general, but especially stockcar racing, is essentially 3 to 4 hours of tightly controlled road rage. They spend 4 hours in a 120+ degree cab trying to get to the finish line in front of 42 other cars at (depending on the track) anywhere from 120 to 190 mph. It wears on ya. I don’t think there’s a driver out there that hasn't bashed bumpers or hucked equipment at a competitor that has pissed them off. Most of the time the incidents that spark these displays are “accidental” and fall under the bailiwick of “racin’ deals”, the rift being completely settled by the following weekend. But there are problem children that seem to find themselves in the middle of these drama’s pretty often.

Love ‘em, hate ‘em. All these drivers are very talented, all of them very aggressive and all these guys are the ones that really keep things interesting.

Tony Stewart (Smoke, TS)
Drives the #20 Orange & Black Home Depot car.
Is 33 Years old, has been racing "professionally" since the age of 7.
Drives for: Joe Gibbs Racing (Yes, that Joe Gibbs)
Teammates: #18 Bobby LaBonte, #11 Jason Leffler
Crew Chief: Greg “Zippy” Zipadelli
Driving style: Damn good, can drive anything with a wheel, but stay the hell outta his way!
The Polite Term is "Moody": Oh Tony, Tony, Tony. Aggressive and unpredictable (and with a great sense of humor too), what will having Tony slugging drivers one week will have him hugging them the next. (In context in can make sense…sometimes.) Yet, somehow despite it all, everyone loves Smoke.

Robbie Gordon
Drives the #7 Jim Beam car.
Is 36 years old, has been racing "professionally" since the age of…well he came to sportscars from off-road in 1990, but I can’t find when he started in off road.Obviously, he’s been at this for quite a while
Drives for: Himeslf
Other Teammates: Nobody
Crew Chief: Bob Temple
Driving style: Like Tony, Robbie is one of those guys that just needs a wheel. He can drive anything, but he takes getting his way very personal.
Not a Choir Boy: When Tony gets mad, he flips people off and slugs them after the race. When Robbie gets mad, he can take out half the field during the race seeking retailiation.

Kurt Busch (Elfboy, Rubberhead)
Drives the #97 Black Rubbermaid/Sharpie car.
Is 27 years old, has been racing "professionally" since the age of 15.
Drives for: Roush Racing
Other Teammates: #17 Matt Kennseth, #6 Mark Martin, #16 Greg Biffle
Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig
Driving style: Short track genius, which means short track dirty tricks.
Our 2004 Champion Ladies and Gentlemen!: Probably the single most despised man in motorsports, Kurt Busch just seems to rub everyone the wrong way. Arrogant with a tendancy to either trip over his own tongue or flat out stick his foot in his mouth, not even after getting decked by the well-known-to-be-volitile Jimmy Spencer could he win the crowd to his side. (But you have to give the guy props for standing up and being booed at every week by tens of thousands of people and not disintegrating into a gelatenous blob of insecurity. I know I would.)

Kevin Harvick (Happy Harvick)
Drives the #29 Black and Silver Goodwrench car.
Is 29 years old, has been racing "professionally" since the age of 7.
Drives for Richard Childress Racing (RCR)
Other Teammates: #07 Dave Blaney, #31 Jeff Burton, (occasionally) #33 Kerry Earnhardt (yes, one of those Earnhardts)
Crew Chief: Todd Barrier
Driving style: Bumper cars. The Goodwrench car used to be driven by a certain someone nicknamed “The Intimidator”, Harvick seems to be trying to imitate what he thinks that style is. He’s not only not been around long enough to pull it off, I don’t think he really gets what it was.
Oi!: Famous for managing to piss off mellow Matt Kennesth enough for the two of them to play bumper cars in the middle of a race last year and jumping on another driver’s hood (that’s tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage right there) in pit road post-race the year prior, after Happy Harvick retires from racing, he has a bright future in the WWF. ;)

Quote of the Day: From Fark.com ~

"The only thing more embarrassing than being arrested for indecent exposure is being released for insufficient evidence." ~ Phibb TF