We’ve all heard of soccer moms and little league dads – you know, the folks whose fervor and belief that Little Suzy or Tommy Junior are better than the rest of their teammates oftentimes collides head-on with reality and natural born talent … or lack thereof.
But Saturday at Auto Club Speedway of Southern California, we saw something NASCAR rarely sees – nor needs: a racing dad.
What’s more, and worse, a racing dad who went way too far over the line, making it understandable why NASCAR pulled his season credential as punishment.
I’m talking, of course, about Tom Logano, father of racing phenom Joey Logano. Instead of celebrating Joey’s win in the Nationwide Series race that afternoon, Tom took it upon himself to first mosey on over to Greg Biffle’s pit stall, allegedly mouthed a few choice words that we can’t print here and then allegedly gave Biffle a hand gesture … I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a “We’re No. 1”, either.
Okay, as a father who also has a 19-year-old son, I can kind of understand why Tom would be a bit incensed. After all, the Biff did put his son into the wall earlier in the race, yet Joey was able to rebound back to win the race, perhaps the sweetest revenge of all for Biffle’s actions – be they intentional or inadvertent.
But one thing I learned a long time ago when my son was in Little League: never, ever interfere with the manager, the umpires or players on the opposing team. It’s just not kosher, not to mention you really present a poor example of sportsmanship to your kid and other kids on both teams.
You may criticize a move in private, but never try to show someone up in public.
Yet, that’s exactly what Tom Logano did. He tried to show up Biffle, instead of celebrating his own son’s accomplishment, and in the process made himself look like a spoiled kid, not Joey.
Let me point something else out: Joey Logano is a frickin’ adult. He’s 19 years old. He doesn’t need daddy to go fight his battles for him. If Joey had a beef with Biffle, it was up to Joey to settle it, not dear old dad.
But given that Joey was celebrating in victory lane, I think confronting Biffle was probably furthest from his mind at that point – although, obviously, not his father’s mind.
I’ve met Tom Logano a couple of times, including sitting with him, his wife and Joey at a NASCAR dinner a couple of years ago and sharing some very nice conversation. They’re nice people, a nice family. Tom and his wife Debbie have sacrificed a lot to get Joey to where he is today – and where he’s going to continue to go tomorrow, next week, next month, next year and the next couple of decades – arguably the sport’s next big superstar.
But what Tom Logano did Saturday is inexcusable and unacceptable. If he got carried away in his fatherly role, I can kind of understand it, but I certainly can’t condone it.
Frankly, what Tom Logano did to Biffle would be like me going over to Jimmie Johnson after Sunday’s win in the Pepsi 500 and chewing him out for ruining the story I was pre-writing before the checkered flag fell that had Jeff Gordon winning the race, not JJ.
Tom Logano needs to realize that his son is now a man in an adult’s sport and world. The days of standing up for Joey are over. Now it’s time to stand in the background and admire, instead of trying to be your son’s bodyguard and enforcer.
You would never see Tony Stewart’s father, Nelson, do something like that. Nor would you see Gordon’s stepfather, John Bickford, do the same. They know their place and leave any complaints or retribution up to their respective sons.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Joey’s face was flushed beet red with embarrassment when he eventually found out what his father did. There’s a thing like a father standing up for his kid, but this was neither the way nor the place for Tom Logano to do it.
And what he did Saturday sure isn’t going to help Tom Logano win Father of the Year any time soon.
Pulling Tom Logano’s season credential, otherwise known as a “hard card,” which allows access to every track on the circuit, is admirable upon NASCAR’s part. Officials did what they had to do not to make an example of Tom, but rather to enforce sportsmanship and decorum both on pit road and in the garage.
But having his hard card taken away really has little impact upon Logano. He can still apply for race-by-race paper credentials, as he did for Sunday’s Cup race, so there’s really little punishment other than a slight inconvenience with the actions NASCAR took against him.
Since I don’t believe in spanking or physical abuse of children, what I would rather have seen NASCAR do to Tom is something I’m sure he did to Joey when he was growing up and misbehaved: stick him in a chair in the corner for a “timeout” so he could mull over the wrongness of his ways.
Maybe even put a repentant Logano in a chair in public, for the whole NASCAR world to see, to further shame him for his foolish action – and which hopefully will be the last time we see such an outburst.
After all, if you’re going to act like a child at a racetrack, you deserve to be treated and punished like one.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 10/11 at 08:42 PMJerry,
You can’t have it both ways? Two weeks ago you wrote how heartwarming, as a father, it was to see Tom running to the infield care center after what was a terrible wreck involving Joey; now this week you chastise him for confronting Biffle. I may not have all the information you have about what transpired in the pits, but I can say that no punches were thrown, and the Biff made a calculated mistake.
If we are to believe the team communication, NASCAR needs to impound his car for testing. Biffle flat ran the 20 into the wall on the back straight, but over the team radio the Biff was heard saying that “the car picked up an awful lot of side draft and was pulled into the 20”. Wow, if you believe that I have some Enron stock you may be interested in.
In the same way that his fatherly instinct took over, to run to the care center, so did they when an idiot tried to put his son in the wall at 190mph. (Yes, I said idiot.) At the same time, I actual will give Tom credit for only using words if that was my son that a competitor intentionally ran into the wall at 190mph, I’d have a lot more than words coming to mind. Did the Biff’s girlfriend at the time, now wife, Nicole Lunders, get sanctioned by NASCAR when she stormed down pit road to confront Kurt Busch’s fiancé, now wife, Eva Bryan in Texas back in ’06?
When this little spat broke out on pit road, it was caught on camera during the broadcast.
Steve Byrnes wrote:
“She wasn’t upset that her boyfriend crashed out of the race. She was concerned about his health and his safety. She’s taken a lot of kidding and criticism, and it’s really a big deal about nothing. The incident has been unfairly characterized by some as “cat fighting.” Significant others have shown their passion on pit road for years, and she didn’t do anything to embarrass Biffle or the sport. I would be proud if my wife stood up for me like she did.”
The Race track, full of adults, is not a good comparison to the baseball and soccer fields across this country, with parents jumping all over coaches and umpires about what little Jimmy did. As you point out, Joey is an adult, and he can take care of himself. But if I were Joey, I’d be glad to know my dad has my back when I need him.
Oh, I dunno, I think it’s sorta refreshing to see a dad rush to his kid’s defense, especially in Nascar the “family” sport.
But, personally, I would’ve liked it more if Joey’s mom went over to Biffle, smashed him a couple of times in the head with her purse and screamed in the Biff’s face, “You mean man! If you ever do that again, I’m gonna knock the braces right out of you mouth.”
Now that would’ve been cool.
I honestly don’t blame Tom Logano. Look at it this way: Joey had been involved in that horrendous accident where he rolled over about 7-8 times. I’m sure the other drivers figured that maybe he would be rattled and that they could use that to their advantage on the track. Nothing wrong with that. BUT, Biffle had been chirping BEFOREHAND on his radio about sending Joey into the wall. Then, he actually DOES IT and offers some half-baked excuse about a sideways draft. What does that say about Biffle both as a driver and as a man, that he would talk trash and then not have the stones to say “yeah, I did it”? What’s sad is that Tom Logano didn’t pull Biffle out his car and smash HIM into the wall.
And quite frankly, you wouldn’t see Tony Stewart’s or Jeff Gordon’s fathers do what Tom Logano did because no one would have the grapefruits to put either one of them into the wall. And if they did, they would have to deal with the repercussions, either after the race of the following week. Joey Logano doesn’t have the pedigree to do that YET.
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