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Last weekend NASCAR driver Carl Edwards steered his 3,400-lb. stock car into the car of fellow driver Brad Keselowski. Both were going about 180 m.p.h. Earlier in the race, Keselowski had bumped Edwards, sending him to the garage; Edwards admitted he was seeking revenge. Keselowski's car flipped in the air before crashing hood-down against the ground. Somehow Keselowski walked away unscathed. And somehow, NASCAR did not suspend Edwards for the next Sprint Cup race, to take place March 21 in Bristol, Tenn. He wasn't docked any of the points that determine the season champion...
Gossage felt NASCAR made the right decision. His friend was perplexed. If two games for a punch seems lenient, how can you justify no punishment for attacking an opponent with a potentially deadly race car? "The rule in basketball is, you don't get to punch another player in the face," says Gossage. "The rule in racing is that this is O.K. There are just different standards and codes and things like that." But Gossage admitted, "I understand how outrageous this appears to folks who don't follow the sport." (Read a Q&A with Jimmie Johnson on breaking NASCAR...
...Edwards case crystallizes the harsh dilemma facing NASCAR. After the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. during the 2001 Daytona 500, NASCAR officials put a premium on safety. Energy-absorbing walls were installed on the tracks, and new head-and-neck restraints were introduced for the drivers. A new car design, the so-called Car of Tomorrow, offered more protection. Some of the longer tracks mandated the use of restrictor plates, which place speed limits on cars...
Some critics have blamed these measures for making races less exciting. Drivers complained that the Car of Tomorrow limited their ability to drive aggressively. Harsher penalties for tough on-track tactics - in a motor sport in which "trading paint" used to be the norm - also contributed to more conservative driving...
...Daytona 500 was the lowest-rated Great American Race since 1991. "You can't watch these races without seeing swaths of empty seats in the superspeedways," says David Carter, executive director of the Sports Business Institute at the University of Southern California. (See the photo-essay "A Steam-Powered Car Sets a Land Speed Record...