Give Me a Break!

by 4ever3 on Apr 22, 2007 10:11 PM EDT Comment 7 comments

Before I begin on my rant let me make it perfectly clear - I am a Dale Earnhardt fan. A hard-core Dale Earnhardt fan, and I'm not talking about his son either - I'm talking about "The Man In Black", "The Intimidator" and I'm not a Jeff Gordon fan.

With that being said, and established, let me now rant.

Unless you've been hiding under a rock this weekend you by now know that Jeff Gordon's win on Saturday ties him for sixth on the all-time win list with Dale Earnhardt at 76.

After Jeff's victory he grabbed a Dale Earnhardt #3 flag and drove around the track in a 'tribute' lap. Where he was promptly booed by some 'so-called' Dale Earnhardt fans, and even had a full beer, Budweiser on doubt, bounce off of his car. Give me a break!

believe Jeff Gordon's 'tribute' was well intended and was not contrived as a marketing ploy, or a sign of in-your-face-showboating (this isn't the NBA folks).

Take a look at the pictures, how is what Gordon did any different than what Dale did when he won the Championship the year when current Champion Alan Kulwicki died? It's not!

Get a life and grow up - who would waste a perfectly good beer anyway? You really must be dumb! You must be the same idiots who gave Stirling Marlin death threats when Dale died. You tarnish the memory of Dale by your actions, and as a Dale Earnhardt fan I am embarrassed for him, his family, and the rest of us true fans.

Dale and Jeff respected each other, both on the track and off. Why can't we, as fans, do the same? Don't believe me? Here is what Dale Jr had to say,

"Congratulations to Jeff. He's a class act and I'm happy for him,'' Junior said. "I ran over to Victory Lane to shake his hand and let him know. I know a lot of fans of my dad's aren't the biggest Jeff Gordon fans, but he and my dad were business partners on a lot of things and worked together a lot more than most people realize.'' -source Associated Press

Jeff Gordon deserves the accolades that go with tying Dale Earnhardt, and trust me, he'll pass him this year. I don't know what will happen when he does - he'll probably get hit with a keg of beer instead.

Photo Credits: Jeff Gordon - GM Racing/Motorsport.com and Dale Earnhardt/Rusty Wallace - I don't know, but let me know if you do and I'll post it.

Here is my latest offering at MVN entitled Gordon vs Earnhardt: Who Is Better? It is a slightly more streamlined version of what I posted back in July of 2006.

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Comments

I was a little upset at first until I thought about it. But when Junior gave his OK, I accepted it too. But I was mostly upset about what happened to Junior; you know, getting tired of him having a good car and not being there at the end to no fault of his.

by Cheyenne on Apr 23, 2007 12:13 AM EDT reply actions

I hear you on that Dale Jr thing Cheyenne.

by 4ever3 on Apr 23, 2007 12:16 AM EDT reply actions

Class move on Jeff's part. As a Dale sr. fan I was touched by Jeff's tribute and disgusted with the bouncing of the Buds. People need to realize how close Jeff and Dale Sr. was. The rivalary between the two used to be friendly. The fans have taken it tooo far.

by Tiredawg on Apr 23, 2007 5:47 AM EDT reply actions

Agreed. Totally lame reaction on the part of some of The Intimidator's 'fans'. Embarrassing. Even if you don't like Gordon, you have to respect what he has done in his career and I think his tribute to Dale was a cool thing to do. People should have been cheering for him not throwing beer cans at him. Lame.

by Ernie on Apr 23, 2007 10:12 AM EDT reply actions

I am fully convinced that there is absolutely nothing Jeff Gordon could ever do to endear himself to a majority of NASCAR fans. Even if he ends up winning 250 races, people will boo him and hate him.

I agree, the flag was well-intentioned (although he should've done the Polish victory lap so that the angry fans would be dared to throw that beer at the Earnhardt flag), but there will always be that contingent who thinks that Jeff Gordon is not worthy to shine Earnhardt's shoes.

Well, let Jeff Gordon put it best:

"When I was coming into the sport, I hadn't had a lot of success. Dale was the man ... but there were people booing (Earnhardt) and there were people who were cheering (Earnhardt) as well. I remember him saying, ‘When you have signs like that, and you hear boos, and you hear cheers, well you're doing something right. You remember that.' And I always did."

by MP on Apr 23, 2007 11:20 AM EDT reply actions

Nice to see that there are still some 'sane' 3 Fans still in this world. great blog!

by okla21fan on Apr 23, 2007 12:01 PM EDT reply actions

I would never throw anything at a driver regardless of how much I dislike him. That's just awful and disrespectful.

As for the victory lap with the 3 flag, I do understand it was a tribute, but I didn't like it one bit. I understand that Dale Sr. and Jeff Gordon were business partners but I still cringed at the site of Jeff Gordon holding the #3 flag.

by Antonette on Apr 24, 2007 11:35 AM EDT reply actions