No relief in sight for this issue

By DAVID GREEN

Much of the debate going into this weekend's Neighborhood Excellence 400 was about whether the injured Tony Stewart should have to start the race, should be allowed to start the race, should be permitted to race, and so forth and so on. Let's take a look at how the system works and discuss another angle.

Let's consider not who should arbitrarily receive credit, but who has earned it.

According to the rules as they now apply, Stewart needed only to take the green flag in order to receive credit for the car's finish. As it turned out, he got credit for finishing 25th, two laps off the pace, even though he drove only 38 laps before he was replaced in the cockpit by Ricky Rudd.

Too bad Rudd couldn't have won the race, just to force debate of NASCAR's policy about drivers of record.

Had that happened, who would have deserved recognition as the winning driver -- Stewart or Rudd? Smoke would have gotten credit. But who would have deserved credit?

Put yourself in Stewart's Nomex shoes for a moment. Is this victory one that you deserve and can really celebrate, with anything resembling the gusto with which Stewart exulted after his Pepsi 400, Brickyard 400 and other wins last year?

First, let's acknowledge that all wins are not created equal. They all count the same, but some of them are simply more satisfying than others, and we all know it. A win in one of the sport's "majors" is more meaningful than that one in various other events on the schedule. A hard-fought win surely is more satisfying than one that falls into your lap because of someone else's mistake or misfortune; likewise, one of those magical days when everything is perfect and you absolutely, completely kick everybody else's butt is gratifying, too.

A victory that comes after somebody else drove your car 362 out of 400 laps would simply have to rank at the bottom of the list.

Once upon a time, in various racing series including NASCAR, credit was given in some way or the other (and championship points, too) when multiple drivers put together a winning effort. Two of the most significant examples are the 1924 Indianapolis 500, won by L.L. Corum and Joe Boyer, and the 1941 Indy race, won by Floyd Davis and Mauri Rose.

In each case, the two drivers each had significant contributions in putting the car into victory circle. Listing them as co-winners seems to me the right thing to do.

There should be some way to recognize everyone's legitimate contribution, not merely designate someone as NASCAR's present system does -- especially in the event of a victory (unlikely as that might be nowadays).

Raise your hand if you've heard of Raymond "Friday" Hassler, a blue-collar short-track racer, a little guy, an independent in the days when there was such a thing in NASCAR racing. Before he was killed at Daytona in 1972, Friday made it to victory lane one time -- at Bristol, on July 11, 1971. Trivia buffs may recognize that as the Bristol race that, incredibly, went from start to finish without a caution flag. As a result, the winning average speed of 101.074 mph still stands, 35 years later.

Charlie Glotzbach is listed as the winner, but Hassler is the guy who took the checkered flag in the No. 3 Chevy Monte Carlo. One of six drivers who relieved others on a blistering hot day, Hassler drove most of the second half of the event.

Both drivers, not just Glotzbach, deserve recognition. As professorial actor John Houseman of the old Smith Barney television ad might have said, "They did it the old-fashioned way -- they earned it."

Instead, Hassler's career shows no victories to his credit. That's not quite right.

Perhaps we ought to place more emphasis on merit. Then, we could do away with ridiculous things like the Lucky Dog Award and guaranteed starting spots for 35 team owners.

And if we divided the championship points based on the number of laps completed by multiple drivers in a single car, perhaps controversies such as the one surrounding Stewart would go away, because there would be minimal incentive for an injured driver to make a token start in a race.