That's one way to get out of work. Of course there's always a debate about whether NASCAR drivers are really "athletes," but these days it's hard to compete if you're not in pretty good physical shape. Drivers regularly lose up to 10 pounds during a race, and obviously going 180+ mph, you want your guy to be in good shape not only for the safety of himself and the rest of the drivers but also to get every bit of an advantage that you can during a race. But that hasn't always been the case. We've seen plenty of drivers over the years who looked more like a regular at your local dive bar than a finely-tuned athlete. (Anybody remember Dick Trickle smoking a cigarette in his car during a race?) https://twitter.com/Super70sSports/status/1508614123822665746 And while drivers typically refrain from drinking on race weekends these days,
Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently recalled a time not so long ago when a driver had a little too much to drink at the track - and then made up an excuse for why he needed to take a break. On an episode of his
Dale Jr. Download podcast, Junior told the story about some of the "old dogs" of the sport calling him over to their RV one night before a race at Watkins Glen:
"I'm in my bus, it's Friday night, 9:00. I get a knock on the door and it's Kenny Schrader. And he's like, 'Hey, guys wanna talk to you.'... And it's him, I think Sterling Marlin, Terry Labonte, maybe Bobby, there was like 5 "old heads" in there. And they're drinking beer. I sit down next to Terry Labonte. And I sit there for like 10 minutes wondering what the hell Schrader brought me in there for. Finally, Terry Labonte leans over and goes, 'Hey, I really think you need to wear one of them devices. I really want you to think about doing that. I want you to be be around here for a long time.' I've never said one word to this man my whole life." The "device" that Labonte was referring to was a HANS Device, a head and neck restraint that's now mandatory in NASCAR but at the time was just being introduced and was still optional for drivers. The device is meant to prevent sudden head movements during a crash, which was obviously a major concern in NASCAR at the time after the death of Dale Earnhardt from a basilar skull fracture. Well obviously the old guard of NASCAR was worried about Junior after the death of his father, so they decided that while they were all sitting around drinking they would just call him over and talk to him about it. Junior said that he agreed, and went on his merry way. But the next day was practice - and remember, these guys were up drinking the night before. And apparently, one of them was feeling the effects of the brews:
"The next day, I think it was Schrader or Sterling, pulls out on the racetrack for practice and runs about two laps. Says 'Man, there's something wrong with the transmission' and had the guys change the transmission because he was so hungover. He did not want to be in the car and he's like, transmission change is going to take the rest of the practice and he'll get in the car for the final practice and run it." Brilliant. They don't make 'em like that anymore. https://twitter.com/DirtyMoMedia/status/1834591803112034674
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