"Love taps" like Dale gave Jeff after the checker are more the norm than the
exception in Winston Cup. It was, indeed, Dale telling Jeff "congratulations,
kid, ya done good again" and is a note of respect as much as anything.
Remember, those guys don't have to worry about who does the body work next
week. And that bodywork is a single sheet of metal running nose to tail and
painted up to look like doors, etc. Heck. the driver is just as likely to
climb out and jump up and down on the roof, doing similar damage as it is a
similarly thin sheet of metal with only the roll cage keeping it from
totally caving in beneath him.
You don't do it in Club Racing because you are causing damage that will come
out of the pocket of your fellow racer. We don't have a crew of 50 waiting
back at the shop, including bodywork specialists, who will leap on the car as
soon as it gets home (which will be Feb. 2000 in this case, because Gordon's
car goes into the Daytona museum for a year. Hope it wasn't Blacker, Jeff's
favorite chassis).
You will notice, post-race, Gordon was downright effusive about the good race
Dale gave him. Implied was that he knew Earnhardt would not crash him out of
the race to get the win, but that he would certainly stick a nose underneath
to see if the kid could hang on (and he did). Helluva race, helluva finish.
That one will make the future highlight reels.
----
Odd note: channel surfing late Sunday night I came across MSNBC just as it
began saying something about Gordon's win. And all the while it was talking
about Gordon beating Earnhardt, it was showing tape of Mark Martin's win in
the Bud Shootout the week before -- Martin (not Gordon) climbing out of the,
car, the #6 Taurus (not the #24 Monte) circling the track. Guess that's what
happens when people who have no clue try to report on racing. And did I see
somewhere that MSNBC was going to telecast some races this year? That could
be humorous!
--Rocky
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