Brad Keselowski lands after his flight at Atlanta Motor Speedway during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt Tools 500. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Carl Edwards’ retaliatory move against Brad Keselowski two weeks ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway might have caught some people by surprise, but for many inside NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series garage, the incident was anything but unexpected.
Right or wrong, it was the sport’s version of hazing, in a sense. It was a “wake-up call” for a driver that is trying to feel his way around in a new series.
Keselowski isn’t officially a rookie because he made more that seven Cup starts in 2009. But this is his first full season in Cup for Penske Racing. And just like nearly everyone else has done when making the transition, the 26-year-old is quickly discovering how to race with, and around, others. And how not to as well.
“I think every rookie goes through moments, whether it’s just getting beat, or somebody takes them to school in a way that shows them something that they didn’t know, or knocks them out the way, or points their finger out the window, or whatever,” four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon says. “I think every rookie goes through that, and that’s what makes being a rookie so tough. You feel the pressure. You feel out of your element.”
For Gordon, such a moment came in 1993 at Phoenix International Raceway. He recalls the teacher – “Dale Earnhardt Sr.” – and the result – “me backing into the wall.”
“Yeah, I remember it well,” Gordon says. “At the time I was pretty mad, and didn’t think I was deserving of it. About six years later I was like, now I get it. I was racing way too hard for 10th place, too early in the race, and I had it coming to me. It was the perfect time to teach me a lesson from the best guy to do it.
“I never forgot it, obviously, but I did learn from it.”
Gordon might have gotten off easy. At least the Hendrick Motorsports driver kept his feet on the ground. Jeff Burton, on the other hand …
“Jack Ingram taught me a lesson I’ll never forget,” the Richard Childress Racing driver says. “Although I have to admit, I didn’t heed it as well as I should have. I went down there and ran that little mouth and he let me know right quick that wasn’t going to be tolerated.”
Burton was competing at South Boston Speedway in what’s now the Nationwide Series. He was young and brash. Ingram, known as the “Iron Man,” was grizzled and already a legend. Differences on the race track between the two were settled outside the car.
“He physically, literally picked me up off the race track,” Burton says. “I was behind his trailer. He literally had my feet off the ground. His son, I remember his words like it was yesterday, were, ‘Daddy, put Jeff down. He’s a good boy.’”
And that, Burton says, “was like music to my ears, man. ‘Yeah, put Jeff down.’
“Honestly, it was a good experience for me. Because here I was … these guys were racing to put food on the table. I never had to worry about where my food was going to come from. My father could afford to feed me. I never had to worry about that. Here’s a guy who was making a living, putting food on the table, doing something I thought was just a hobby. It was an eye-opening experience for me.”
That Dale Earnhardt and Jack Ingram doled out lessons on the race track isn’t surprising. That Mark Martin did as well might seem a bit out of character for the highly respected veteran driver.
“It was my only DNF of my rookie season,” Denny Hamlin says. “At Martinsville I was racing Mark Martin I think pretty hard, probably midway through the race and he just ran right up into me and cut my left rear tire on purpose.”
