Full Throttle

Auto Racing in general has seen it’s share of on track fights and “over aggressive” driving tactics that contributed to most of them.

In NASCAR’s case the most infamous incident occurred in 1979. Bobby Allison, brother Donny Allison and Cale Yarborough took part in a skirmish that’s widely credited with establishing NASCAR as must-see TV to this day - a wild fistfight that ended the Daytona 500.

While the combatants duked it out in sunny and warm Florida an East Coast blizzard locked down the entire coast and the must-see TV reached a helluva lot more than expected.

To a much lesser degree, Robby Gordon did a helmet-toss two step on the tarmac as cars whizzed by under caution last year and Carl Edwards has acted the fool a couple times this year.

But when it’s all said and done, auto racing is a sport. A sport that is supposed to be enjoyable to participants and fans alike.

That’s not always the case, sometimes things can get a little overboard. And in rare instances a reenactment of a Genovese Mob hit breaks out.

BOGOTA, Colombia - An amateur race car driver was shot dead at a track near the capital Saturday minutes before taking his position at the starting line, police said.

Witnesses said German Neira’s assailant entered the pits at a race track in Tocancipa, north of Bogota, and, using a firearm equipped with a silencer, shot Neira four times, in the head and back.

The victim died shortly after being taken to a hospital, said Col. Cesar Rojas, the local head of police.

You have to ask yourself why, in what must have been a crowded paddock, did this nut make use of a silencer?

Stupid criminal aside, it kind of places incidents seen around most of the world’s tracks into a different light doesn’t it? Compared with the seriousness of a murder an exchange of fists and tossed helmets seems trivial, almost comical.

Out of respect for three racing greats, I’ll give Bobby Allison the last word on that long ago ‘79 incident: “When it was over, they fined me, Donnie and Cale $6,000 each for it. They’ve used our money to promote that fight to this very day. They’ve made a fortune off of that fight.”

And continues to do so.

Daytona 500, NASCAR, NEXTEL Cup, Bobby Allison, Donney Allison, Cale Yarborough, Sports, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle