Bring back the good old days of Earnhardt

If I hear one more whiny, stick-up-his-rear navel gazer go on and on and stinking on about racing the right way, I’m going to reach through my TV set and throttle him.

Screw the right way. Give me the wrong way all week and twice on Sunday. Give me aggressiveness, give me bare-knuckle driving, give me a guy who would run his grandma into the fence. Knocking somebody out of the way is not only OK, I highly encourage it.

NASCAR races are oppressively long, and there has to be give and take. But if a guy doesn’t want to give, I don’t want to hear some other driver crying about not getting to take. If the right way is to get out of the way when somebody faster is behind you, it’s not racing; it’s commuting. I didn’t see any HOV lanes at Bristol last weekend.

The late Dale Earnhardt became a legend by driving the wrong way. His nickname was the Intimidator, not the Racestherightwayer. People chuckle when they hear stories about him but get their undies in a bunch when drivers today emulate him.

Not me. I think Kevin Harvick should be fined after every race in which he does not flip somebody off. NASCAR needs another Man in Black to counter all the Men in Clothes Their Wives Picked Out. I think Jeff Gordon should be given a 25-point bonus for shoving Matt Kenseth after the race on Sunday.

Last season, everyone piled on Jimmie Johnson for having the gall to be in a hurry during races. This year, Kyle Busch has caught all kinds of grief for not getting out of the way and for trying to pass the leader in the Busch Series race at Mexico City. Pass the leader? How dare he!

It didn’t help that Busch took out himself and local hero Michel Jourdain, who happened to be leading, thus angering every fan in the country. Instead of complaining, let’s applaud Busch for revealing a great sign of NASCAR’s diversity: A driver of any nationality can get wrecked.

Detractors will say Busch wrecked his car, that he could’ve won if he had been more patient. Oh, blah.

By that logic, any move that doesn’t work can be called racing the wrong way. Besides, could’ve is not would’ve. I say, way to go, Kyle; thanks for trying to win. Now go apologize to your grandma.