Victory Celebrations Become Burning QuestionBy TONY FABRIZIO afabrizio@tampatrib.com Published: Feb 11, 2004 DAYTONA BEACH - Kyle Busch had just taken the checkered flag in Saturday's 200-mile ARCA race. He put the nose of his Chevy against the wall near the start/finish line, popped his clutch with the engine revved and sent a plume of smoke into the grandstand. Here we go again. Victory burnouts, once unthinkable because of the stress on equipment, have become a staple. They're stock car racing's answer to the slam dunk and touchdown dance. They're the Lambeau Leap, Terrell Owens with the Sharpie, Joe Horn with the cell phone, the pitcher leaping into the catcher's arms after a no- hitter. More than that, they're a total sensory experience. They're loud, smelly and, at times, spectacularly visual. Young drivers love 'em. The heavy-metal set in the grandstands loves 'em. Old-school drivers are split, with some saying they're unprofessional, wasteful or even dangerous. ``I'm literally sick of the burnouts,'' said Rusty Wallace, one of the biggest critics. ``I think it's ridiculous. I think it's dumb. That's my opinion, and they all think I'm dumb for saying that. I get so tired of guys sitting there just doing doughnuts like a bunch of school kids. I don't see any maturity in it whatsoever.'' Wallace said that if he wins Sunday's Daytona 500, he'll do his trademark ``Polish Victory Lap,'' started in the early '90s by Alan Kulwicki. ``I'll go around the race track backward like I normally do and salute my fans,'' Wallace said. ``It'll be an energetic Victor Lane, but it won't be spinning around in circles. I want my fans to see my car. I don't want it to be sitting in a big ol' pile of smoke.'' NASCAR doesn't take an official position on burnouts, although Vice President for Communications Jim Hunter says he thinks ``they're cool.'' Still, it's telling that during a year of burnout one- upmanship, the 2003 celebration that garnered the most attention was Terry Labonte's classy parade of the checkered flag at Darlington. Labonte took a slow lap in a tribute that fit the mood at the final Labor Day weekend running of the Southern 500. ``I'm too old to do doughnuts,'' Labonte explained afterward. ``I think it's goofy looking.'' Burnouts date at least to the '50s. They disappeared from racing's top leagues for a few decades until the mid '90s, when Alex Zanardi brought them back in CART. Zanardi, the ebullient Italian, made doughnuts not only his trademark but also a work of art. Then came Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s long-overdue Daytona 500 win in 1998. Earnhardt celebrated by pulling into Daytona's manicured infield and laying down four black swirls. It hadn't been done before, and it created a monster. From there, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Greg Biffle started smoking up the grandstands after Busch series wins. It wasn't long before burnouts and doughnuts came to Winston Cup. ``They're a lot of fun,'' Earnhardt Jr. said. ``When the rear tires catch on fire, that's the king in my book. I've seen a few of those.'' Harvick gets the nod for the best tire melt. After winning last year's Brickyard 400, he subjected his rear tires to so much heat that one shredded and tore chunks out of the rear quarter panel. But the longest burnout belongs to Tony Stewart, put down after his Pocono victory last June. ``I went the entire length of the frontstretch,'' Stewart brags. ``Unless somebody can beat that, I'm not interested in watching them anymore.'' Rev-limiters are supposed to protect an engine during a burnout, but there's always the risk of blowing the engine, tearing up the brakes or otherwise damaging the car. Jimmie Johnson blew his engine after his first Winston Cup victory in 2002 and has toned down his celebrations since. ``I had rods hanging off the side of it when it was all said and done,'' Johnson said. ``I was told not to do it to that extent again.'' Mike Skinner doesn't mind burnouts but would like to see more originality in victory celebrations. Reminded that Carl Edwards does back flips after winning in the Craftsman Truck series, Skinner joked, ``I can't wait 'til he busts his [rear] one day. It'll be hilarious. I don't care how good you are [at flips]. If he was that good, he wouldn't be driving a race truck.'' Bobby Hamilton Sr., an owner/driver in the truck series, worries that a burnout will go awry and someone will get hurt. ``For example, when Jamie McMurray won that race for Sterling Marlin [at Charlotte in 2002], the crew ran out there, and he was doing burnouts,'' Hamilton said. ``I've been waiting for somebody to spin around and clip somebody.'' Jeremy Mayfield sees another angle. He wonders whether there's an ulterior motive to over-revving an engine just before it's subjected to the post- race inspection. ``What gets me is, how do you check the motor after you've beat up all your valves and beat up your heads?'' Mayfield asks, hinting that engine damage may be making an illegal competitive advantage. Even drivers who don't like burnouts don't complain too much about the showboating unless it's over the top. Kyle Bush's burnout at Darlington last September for finishing second in the Busch race rankled a few people. Said veteran Ken Schrader, ``I've always said, the next race I win, I'm not going to do a burnout. The coolest thingI've seen was how Terry Labonte just pulled into Victory Lane. That was so cool.''
Originally posted by Lizking I guess when you race for fun you can do that, when there is a 20 million dollar program involved it would be kind of stupid.
