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October 25, 2007

What is Up With Crazy Cousin Carl
By Dennis Michelsen
On a rainy day in Mansfield, Ohio I got the weird idea to find out if Carl Edwards was just as nice as he appeared to be during race broadcasts of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Speed Channel. From his crewmen, to fellow drivers, NASCAR officials, and sponsor reps the response was unanimous. Everyone liked Cousin Carl and nothing seemed to ever faze this guy! In sports they say "Nice guys finish last" but Carl was re-writing that theory. Here was a guy happy to be racing for a living, his dream come true. He wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth he earned his big break the hard way! That was May of 2004. Now let's fast forward to last week at Martinsville Speedway and Carl Edward's strange encounter on pit road with his teammate Matt Kenseth. It just begs the question, what is up with Crazy Cousin Carl?

Pressure is Intense
Even if you have a contract there is no such thing as a guarantee in NASCAR! The pressure on the drivers, crews, and teams is intense. Sponsors start screaming the minute you go without a win for a while. The competition in the sport has never been more intense and the big bad Hendrick Motorsports juggernaut is making everyone else's sponsors scream even louder! But that does not give you permission to whoop up on your own teammate after the race. Confrontations between teammates SHOULD take place behind closed doors! While NASCAR racing does not have a hierarchy among their drivers as they do in Formula One, as a young driver you should STILL respect your elders…especially on your own team! Matt Kenseth might be "Matt the Brat" but he is still your teammate and elder statesman at Roush Fenway Racing Mister Edwards. I know your Momma taught you right to respect your elders. Yes the pressure is intense but last week's bizarre behavior begs the question, what it up with Crazy Cousin Carl?

Rumors Flying
After Carl's bizarre behavior at Martinsville it didn't take long for the whispers to begin asking the question, "So is it the cream or the clear?" While I think most of this was done with tongue firmly implanted in cheek if you look at the details it makes you wonder. Carl Edwards was not this super specimen of physicality when he came into NASCAR just a few years ago. Maybe this is just a reflex action of our sporting world nowadays to always wonder whether someone is accomplishing things naturally. NASCAR gets some of the blame here because they are one of the very few sports without some sort of mandatory drug testing. Many of the drivers voiced their support for drug testing yet NASCAR says we don't need it. They said their current program is just fine. Yet their current program didn't catch Fike! Now I am NOT suggesting that Crazy Cousin Carl is on something. Reality is that we just don't know! Head into the corners at Atlanta pushing 200mph and wouldn't it be nice to know that the other 42 drivers are clean? While the rumors fly I am left to ask once again, what is up with Crazy Cousin Carl?

In this day and age of NASCAR nothing goes unseen or unheard. A driver or crewman can spend 364 days doing all the right things but that one day they go off cameras and reporters will jump all over it. This is the cost of fame and fortune. Back in the day when these guys made less money than some of the fans they got more of a free pass. Now that the sport earns more money per year than the gross national product of some third-world countries everyone is under the microscope! Sponsors demand their drivers to behave but also to have that intense never accept second place attitude. Perhaps it is amazing that more of these guys don't have a weird meltdown as Carl Edwards did last week. But when your teammate has a look on his face as if he just saw "Chuckie" coming at him, you have to ask the question what is up with Crazy Cousin Carl?