Tick, tock

It's only a matter of time before Stewart explodes

Winston Cup's resident ticking time bomb, Tony Stewart, says he needs help with anger management. So, what was his first clue?

Certainly it couldn't have been the latest hand-slap handed down by NASCAR. After all, it's not the first time Stewart has run afoul of NASCAR.

Stewart was twice fined $10,000 last year, once for bumping Jeff Gordon on pit road at Bristol (he also received probation). Then again after NASCAR tried to black-flag him in the Pepsi 400, where Stewart had to be restrained by team owner Joe Gibbs and crew chief Greg Zipadelli during an argument with a NASCAR official. He then slapped away a reporter's tape recorder and kicked it when the reporter tried to pick it up.

Stewart was fined $10,000 for that -- and even had the probation he was already on (double-secret probation, we assume) extended for the remainder of the year and was ordered to publicly apologize to the reporter.

His latest outburst -- Stewart hit a photographer following the Brickyard 400 -- resulted in a $10,000 fine and probation. NASCAR also told Stewart to formally apologize to Gary Mook, a freelance photographer for The Indianapolis Star.

For his part, Stewart says the reality of his temper tantrums have set in. "I need to do something to make it to where I can control my anger better," he admits. "It's obvious over 3 1/2 years, I can't do it on my own, so I'm going to seek professional help and get somebody that can help me learn how to control my emotions."

No one argues that Stewart isn't talented -- or tempermental. He's both. And honest to a fault. "I don't think you ever want to take that [natural personality] away from an athlete but at the same time it's a process, a learning process," says Gibbs.

"I think Tony has gone through a lot. There are times he's done things I wished he hadn't have done it and he probably tells you he wished he hadn't but it's learning how to go through that."

Earlier this year, Stewart told The Charlotte Observer: "I hate to say I'm growing up because it scares me to think I might be but maybe I'm starting to realize there are more things to life than driving a race car."

If Stewart continues his current path, driving a race car will be the least of his worries. Gibbs admits Home Depot, sponsor of the No. 20 car, is "concerned" following Stewart's latest tirade, but is not contemplating forcing the issue of having Stewart removed as the driver.

Home Depot should contemplate that action. It would be a wake-up call to both Stewart and the sport's other hot-heads, because measley fines are not the answer no matter how many times president Mike Helton says it is "imperative that we protect the integrity of our sport."

Helton added that, "This type of behavior cannot be tolerated and is in no way indicative of the manner in which our drivers, teams, tracks and sponsors interact with the media."

Kudos to the good ol' boys for pointing out that Stewart isn't the poster boy for NASCAR (wink, wink), but it rings hollow when it continues to happen. Then again, it seems all too often in this sport, any publicity is good publicity. And for his troubles, Stewart is out $30,000 -- a pittance of the $5,862,409 he has won since the start of the 2001 season.

If NASCAR wanted to make a statement, it should have sat Stewart for this week's race at Watkins Glen; it already set the precedent by benching Kevin Harvick earlier this year. The fact that Stewart has hit two members of the media -- not a fellow driver or a car on the track, as Harvick did to Greg Biffle and Coy Gibbs, respectively -- and received a lesser punishment sends the message that off-the-track antics are better out of sight, out of mind.

Stewart and NASCAR both are to blame for the lastest fiasco, and the clock continues to tick. And until someone gets their attention, it's only a matter of time before that bomb explodes.

B. Duane Cross is a senior producer for CNNSI.com.

 

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