Friday, October 23, 2009

Will Waltrip Draw Attention From The Chase?


In our constantly evolving media-driven world, the focus of national attention shifts seemingly by the second. Cable news networks one minute tell us that the H1N1 Virus is at crisis level, but then take two hours to watch a balloon float across the Midwest while Falcon hides in the attic.

Over the last several weeks, the mainstream media has become totally and completely bored with Jimmie Johnson and his Chase dominance. Even some NASCAR beat writers are having trouble figuring out what else there is to write about.

Well, enter Michael Waltrip. At first, the report of a fender-bender popped up on some NASCAR websites. Waltrip and a motorcycle had collided. Waltrip was not injured and the motorcyclist was slightly banged up. No big deal.

Then Terry Blount at ESPN put an article together with a headline that read "Waltrip Passes Field Sobriety Test." That ramped things up a notch and hinted that there were other pieces to the story. Blount reported Waltrip was tested and missed being arrested for driving under the influence by having a .06 blood-alcohol level. In North Carolina, the familiar .08 is the legal limit.

It was Charlotte's own WCNC-TV that took the story to the next level. Click here to read reporter Rad Berky's story. Here is a brief excerpt:

Mooresville police say alcohol was a factor in an accident Wednesday night involving NASCAR driver and team owner Michael Waltrip. The police report on the accident says Waltrip “was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol.” He was given a field sobriety test and passed a “walk and turn” test and a “one leg stand” test. “He did not meet the criteria for the DWI, however it was indicated as a contributing factor…on the accident report,” said Captain Phil Blocker of the Mooresville Police.

The story was reported Thursday on ESPN's NASCAR Now as a news item and on SPEED's Race Hub by reporter Ralph Sheheen. Not sure who really wrote the words, but Sheheen said "This is Michael's second serious auto incident to make headlines since 2007. Stay tuned to SPEED for more over the weekend."

Waltrip has been associated with SPEED for a very long time. He has done countless TV shows, including the long-running Monday show now called This Week in NASCAR. Waltrip is a color analyst for the Camping World Truck Series and will be in the TV booth for the Friday practice session at 1PM.

When the media gets ahold of something like this, there are two ways it can go. One, the reality is reported, the person involved apologizes and life goes on.

Two, the media uses the Internet to ramp up the hype avoiding the reality and concentrating on sensationalism. That might mean suggesting all kinds of things that might have happened or may have possibly happened in the past. In the media's New World Order, there are plenty of folks willing to do just that.

The first test of this will come at 11AM when John Roberts hosts the NASCAR Live show from Martinsville, VA. Randy Pemberton and Hermie Sadler will be reporting and it may well be one of those two that interviews Waltrip. Perhaps a good strategy for Waltrip would be to get it all out on the table Friday before the remainder of the media arrives for the racing weekend.

Since we don't know where this story will go or how it will be treated, we are going to use this post to ask for your contributions. Tell us where and when you saw the Waltrip story and how it was treated. No need to post a link, just your comments will be good enough. We can all comment on SPEED and ESPN as they go through the day.

To add your media-related comments on this topic, just click the comments button below. This is a TV and media site. Your comments about Waltrip personally or professionally will be deleted. Our goal is to watch the media coverage unfold and provide a place to discuss it.

This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. We will update links on Friday morning about this story should they keep appearing. Thanks for helping us keep a media watch on this topic.

70 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. Gary, I appreciate that but we try not to post links.

    Fans are pretty good at using Google and the other search engines.

    Lots of them just use Jayski!

    JD

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  4. Gary, this is not a forum for links. We would like your opinion on the topic that we are discussing.

    Just send me any link by email and I will review it to see that it is valid. Then, I will add it to the main post.

    I get too much traffic to deal with policing links in comments.

    I appreciate you trying to help and hope we get your opinion on the MW situation as things roll out in the morning.

    JD

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  5. Ok where did I first hear of it ?
    First hint of it was MW's own tweets about a rough day and everybody being OK. A quick search brought me to Bob Pockrass's article on SD ,then the WSOC TV9 story. Which in my opinion painted this as a simple traffic accident.

    It wasn't until I read Terry B's story and his immediate jump to MW's 2007 SUV crash (and dismissed charges) that I saw this making an evil turn.

    I was honestly pleasantly surprised given the past that MW was given about 10 minutes of Wednesday's NascarNow for his swap jobs for a day. That good will did not last long when the guys at ESPN saw a chance to selectively report their version of the news of Michael's "incident" .

    So now does ESPN take this opportunity to bury Michael? Do they just ignore him like they have in the past? Do they take the high road and give a full unbiased report of the known facts and let the readers/viewers make their own decision (unlikely)? Given the comments by ESPN reporters today it does not look good for Michael.

    Then MW's own Speed network ends its broadcast by taking a quick dig at him with "details to come through out the weekend".

    I agree that he needs to jump on this himself asap before it is too late and this turns into his last big Hurrah before retiring from Nascar

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  6. I found out on Twitter. The story I read had a copy of the T/A report listing both drivers' personal information. I don't know why it wasn't redacted.

    I think this should be a non issue in the media. Yeah, maybe Mikey had a beer but, I'm sure he did not mean to cause an accident. Unfortunately, motorcyclists aren't seen even without alcohol involved.

    I don't think Mikey will overshadow JJ and Chase.

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  7. I read Mikey's comments on Twitter thanks for all the support and then heard SPEED commented on NHub.

    I skipped tonights Hub show so don't know if they threw Mikey under the bus or what. BSPN tried to ruin some other drivers in the past so I am not putting much stock in their manner of reporting.

    I am saddened to hear of this but glad nobody was hurt.

    I really don't want to comment to add fuel to any hype that might be read here to be honest.
    I am kind of tired of seeing people ripped to shreds over things BEFORE we know the facts.

    I'm glad the motorcyclist was not injured.

    With the whole Jiffy Pop Balloon Boy family hoax, I am not having a whole lotta faith in ANY media/News outlet to get the real story to us in a timely manner. :(

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  8. I feel bad for MW. The guy wasn't drunk according to the law, but he's still getting dragged through the mud like as though he was Kurt Busch yelling at the cops the other year.

    That's pretty low even for the sports media.

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  9. I saw a headline about MW and an accident with a motorcycle, but did not read.

    I guess if you have little news, anything to grab some attention - but then EESPN has there own skeleton hanging on the fence right now. Not sure whether EESPN might want to try to distract attention from their own "scandal," but raising the issue of the pecadillos of on-air people might just remind people of the current scandal at EESPN, which I did read about on AP from a headline on MSN.

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  11. I first read about it when a Michael Waltrip Yahoo group emailed it to the group. I am glad everyone is ok.
    Fact is, the alcohol was NOT a factor or he would have been arrested. The media is playing it up(John & I have discussed this a bit on Twitter) It's ridiculous.
    The haters are going nuts referring back to the 2007 accident. All they can spew is the usual BS about him being "drunk" simply because he went home instead of calling the cops. Hello. I can totally understand why he did that. In some states you don't have to call the cops for a single car accident. He thought NC was the same way. He was mistaken and learned from that.
    Yesterday's incident was just an accident. Hey, don't forget, the motorcyle driver admitted to having 2 beers himself and driving. Why aren't the people ranting about that? Oh yeah, it's not Michael. Geez.

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  12. I saw it on Twitter.

    I think it'll be mentioned briefly but not harped on. BSPN has a huge lovefest to deal with this weekend.

    @Sophia-I missed the wall to wall Jiffy Pop boy coverage but after seeing some tweets from JD did a search. Yes it's sad what's "news" and what isn't. Or what's made to be "news" and turns out to be nothing.

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  13. Looks to me to be much ado about next to nothing. Media and fan reaction to things like this will almost always be out of proportion to the facts.

    As someone who once had an accident involving a parked car about 5 minutes after finishing a single can of beer, I was run through the physical tests. No problem.

    I was lucky: If I'd been asked to blow into the meter, I might have blown a falsely high reading due to the recent consumption, and to my job, which involves painting. Residual ketones are known to be capable of generating a false positive.

    One investigator has reported that alcohol-free subjects can generate BAC readings of about .05 after eating various types of bread products (State University of NY/Potsdam research website).

    So let's all "take a deep breath" and try to refrain from blowing smoke ;-)

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  14. Earlier in the afternoon when this incident happened Michael was on the tv (on NN) at a contest winner. And he was making dinner and I'm sure he said he was drinking wine and eating spaghetti. I think this was the same day. Poor Michael, anyone in the spotlight gets attention although an important/famous person seems to manage to get the easy way out too.

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  15. No new morning news links and no new information.

    What should be interesting is to see if the motorcyclist speaks to the news media on Friday.

    Thanks for the good comments, keep them coming. SPEED hits the air at 11AM from Martinsville.

    JD

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  16. Ghost of Curtis TurnerOctober 23, 2009 at 8:11 AM

    JD,
    Thanks for having the stones to write this article, I'm sure that NA$CAR will put a gag order on the lame stream media's reporting. They will put out an announcement with their official spin. So I don't think this will steal any thunder from Jimmy's Chase.

    It's a shame it happened, As a motorcyclist any time one of us gets hit it's a shame. The truth is people do not look out for motorcycles and this type of accident happens all the time, alcohol or no alcohol.
    This will hurt Mikey for sure as this is his the second accident to fall under suspicion.

    I just want to know.... was there a can of coke in the front seat of the car????
    I'm not say'n... I'm just say'n

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  17. Why just skip over the point that he WAS cited for the illegal Uturn, which is what caused the accident??

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  18. Michael could have seriously hurt this guy--sorry to disagree, Renee, but alcohol, even if it isn't at the limit, *can* affect your judgement and if police determine it's a factor on the record, then it is (same would be true of sun glare or a slick road). He made an illegal turn and hit someone; fortunately no one was seriously hurt. Like many, I was lucky I never had anything bad happen in my younger days, but I'm sure there were times when I could have been in that situation. I do not think it should be a big story, but I don't see how they can avoid mentioning it altogether. I do think Michael will be upfront about this one himself. But I'd be lying if I said it wasn't making me wonder about him.

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  19. I don't put a lot of faith in what the media reports or what law enforcement does when a celebrity is involved. A fan will spin the story and results in a positive way and a detractor will spin it the opposite way. An ojective report from the police and media would have simply said that an alcohol test was given and he passed. I am not a MW fan but fair is fair.

    People who are involved with vehicles and alcohol ALWAYS have two beers regardless of the truth (I heard that hundreds of times in 30+ years as a claims adjuster). Also, as a motorcycle rider of over 40 years, one sip of beer is to much when riding. The rider may not be at fault but the ability to avoid accidents fall with the consumption of any alcohol.

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  20. I just want to get back to the focus that we are trying to keep.

    So far, the media has been pretty good on this one. No new stories and little discussion.

    Let's keep the focus on the media coverage of this issue.

    JD

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  21. Meanwhile,the France family incident gets treated with kid gloves.

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  22. I know we need to get back to the media coverage but he was drinking enough at 7:49AM to have a .06 level? Given the time of day and his prior incident, he may indeed have a problem that needs a closer look.

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  23. Saw the blip on Twitter yesterday. I just shrugged. To me it's a non-story. Compared to NFL player offenses, it's the equivalent of reporting a stubbed toe.
    Don't drink and drive.

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  24. The France family thing is one reason we wanted to make sure and watch how the media treated this issue.

    Nothing has faded faster than the racing Frances of Daytona Beach.

    Aven, it was evening. You might be looking at the time a story was posted. It was Wednesday night.

    JD

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  25. Here we go again. The media has nothing to write about with the Chase, so let's beat up on Waltrip. Now I bash him alot, but in this case the news people show no bounds. Folks have beers and drive all the time, like it or not, and that will not change as long as alcohol is sold and served. The rub is, that people make stupid driving errors whether a beer or two is involved or not. I wonder if a wreck is excusable if you hadn't had a beer. Maybe Mikey should just confess to liking wine and apologize and go on. After all, he was "under the limit"

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  26. JD, come on. What another of the wall headline so your column will draw attention?
    What do you mean by:
    "Will Waltrip Draw Attention From The Chase?" It is a stretch to go into what happens in the chase just because Mike had a fender bender. You used to report good stories and news about TV Broadcasts and not speculate about the chase or what happens on a Speed show just because someone had an accident and a minor one at that with no charges. It seems you never learned anything from your audience from your poorly written and very poorly timed Jamie France story so what's up with you man? Has your creativity dried up? Try writing again about what you say your column is all about so we all will continue to read your stories otherwise you are becoming the Perez Hilton of NASCAR journalism.
    Maybe change the banner to:
    THE DALY PLANET
    WHERE NASCAR FANS TALK TV (and now gossip) ALL THE TIME

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  27. Saw it on Twitter, early in the day Thursday.
    Clicked on the link, read story.
    My first thought was, "Wow, Michael in another wreck, with alcohol use suspected as in 2007."
    I haven't seen the race shows during the week, but haven't seen anymore about it.
    Glad to know that the Frances treat him like family, huh?

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  28. Aven @ 10:05 AM said
    " I know we need to get back to the media coverage but he was drinking enough at 7:49AM to have a .06 level? Given the time of day and his prior incident, he may indeed have a problem that needs a closer look."

    The accident happened at 7:49 PM, not AM

    See even here, with mistaken facts people run with and make judgements.

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  29. I thought Nascar Now (Thurs.) did a responsible job of stating that it happened, the sobriety test was passed, and the ticket was for the u-turn.
    Then, like all of today's media, the "smirk line" had to be added: "There will be more about this later."
    Well, there shouldn't be more, but there will, and Michael will be pursued by reporters all week.

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  30. Anon 11:06, this is a legitimate column due to the fact that we all know the media is pulling hard to find stories about Nascar. With Jimmie puling away and the Chase being a big bore, it is appropriate to speculate if an incident like this will be highlighted more BECAUSE the media knows the Chase is boring and no one is interested. So TDP is NOT out of line with this because it is media-related and it is interesting to see how the media will handle it due to the snooze fest we know as The Chase. BTW, why don't you use a real name like most of us here do?

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  31. You can't have it both ways. Mikey is given a lot of leeway on speed and espn hawking his sponsors. But when a boneheaded move is made by a celebrity it should be reported. Think about how many months in 2005 Kurt Busch had to endure the media in his Arizona caper or how many months after Tony Stewart says something that's controversial that the subject is brought up again and again by the media. But I bet you that this will go away very very soon since Mikey is very much a member of the media.

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  32. More tabloid stories for the Daly Planet. What a rag this blog has become. You come here to read about the media and racing and you end up with is drunks, arrests, drug addicts as your top story. What trash!!!

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  33. JD,

    I need a clarification regarding your blog with regards to your stance on this. Are you saying that the media has handled this appropriately or that they have blown it out of proportion?

    As far as I'm concerned if the media reports what is public information (police report), then everything is good. If they speculate, then it’s not good.

    M. Waltrip is a NASCAR driver and car owner, who is highly visible in the sport. That alone means that NASCAR media should cover the story. In this case, the fact that he was cited means that the state of North Carolina holds him responsible. Therefore he broke the law, caused both property and physical damage to another individual. Finally, he was intoxicated enough for the police officer to mention his blood alcohol as being a "contributing factor" to the collision. All of the above is public record, so there's nothing wrong with reporting it. There is also the bizarre accident he had where he walked home and left the vehicle. Past behavior is always fair game.

    Based on the facts of this story, I'm not sure I would characterize this as "no big deal" as you did. The man is a professional racecar driver and he has had two suspicious accidents on the roads of North Carolina. One time may be an anomaly, two times is a trend.

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  34. The notion that this will somehow draw attention from the chase is ludicrous, in my opinion. I don't care how much JJ runs away with the chase. This just isn't headline news. While Mikey may be well known in the NASCAR world, he's not that well know outside of it. Prior to becoming a fan in 2007 I wouldn't have known him nor cared about an incident like this.
    And for fans, is this really going to draw attention from the chase? Now if JJ ran into a problem like this, different story.
    In my opinion the headline of this blog is doing exactly what the writer typically preaches against.

    John In Va (since Darbar will insist)

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  35. darbar said... BTW, why don't you use a real name like most of us here do?
    October 23, 2009 12:05 PM

    How does making up a name make a post more relevent?

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  36. I saw it on Jayski. The headline has to be short on Jayski's site, but the full article gave the pertinent information - that Michael was involved in an accident while doing a U-turn in front of an on-coming motorcycle, that Michael was OK and that the motorcycle rider was taken to the hospital, and that Michael blew a .06 where .08 is legally drunk.

    I would say the reporting I saw was fact-based and unbiased. No sensationalism. I would also say that if I were Michael, I would come right out and say that - even though I was 'legal' - I now realize that I should not have been operating a vehicle and that I am going to change my personal choices so that this doesn't ever happen again.

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  37. So far, the only repeated stories on this topic have been from the Turner guys at NASCAR.com.

    This post is to follow the media coverage of this topic, not to create it.

    Not too sure what those comments about tabloid journalism are about. Waltrip is being treated very well right now and Mayfield's comments will not be heard until Sunday.

    There is little doubt that this is the underside of NASCAR TV. Remember the Hornaday issue that came along right when ESPN needed more attention on the sport?

    Going to be an interesting couple of days....

    JD

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  38. Ditto what Ritchie said and he said it very well.

    Public figures are always in the news and since it is no secret that Mikey is always all about Mikey, then it is fair for the media to talk about it.

    I read about it on the net. Then heard it on NN.

    Detract from the JJ craze by the media? Never....

    Missy

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  39. I was on my way home last night when my wife told me about it on the phone. Upon getting home I seen the jayski article and Mike's twitter blurbs. Haven't seen too much media wise about it, but visit any racing message board and it's the greatest thing that ever happened and another reason to view Michael Waltrip as a laughing stock. Can't really see this drawing attention away from the Chase. If it does, then you just gave the best reason to scrap the chase ever.

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  41. JD- 2:09PM, "Mayfield's comments?" Am I missing something?

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  42. First time I've heard about it at all and I read Jayski every day. I guess since I try and avoid all things Mikey, that's probably why I missed it. Glad to hear that the motorcyclist was OK -- my brother rides, so it makes me cringe to hear about someone getting hit on one. I guess my feeling on it is that it wouldn't be news if he weren't a NASCAR driver/owner. Although the whole H1N1 deal and the great balloon hoax makes me not pay any attention to the media. These days, I seldom watch much news programming. Too sensational, too "opinion-oriented" and not enough facts for me.

    At this point, I would think that NASCAR is desperate for something to engage the fans, but I can't imagine that making MW's accident a cause celebre is a good idea. Yep, I am bored by the chase already, just like I have been for the last several years, but Mikey having an accident isn't the sort of thing that will engage my attention.

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  44. If he did have a BAC of 0.06, NASCAR needs to suspend him immediately for the remainder of the season.

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  45. A so-called professional race car driver runs into a motorcycle while making a u-turn! LMAO! You bet the police suspected he was drunk! But again, we are talking about the WORST DRIVER IN NASCAR, PERIOD!

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  46. I seen it on the television last night. I ain't surprised since it happened to Waltrip before, but I'm sure by the time Sunday comes them ESPN people gonna be talking about nothin but Jimmie and Jeff again.

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  47. Anon, I agree. Is there anywhere Motormouth can drive without wrecking?? The NASCAR "media" will do their best to cover for one of their own buffoons.

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  48. So, I'm confused. Where else is this story supposed to go? If .06 is legally under the limit (I'm pretty sure for a guy his size that would = one or two beers) and he passed all sobriety tests, what else are we supposed to do or say? I think the NASCAR media is desperately looking for another story because NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE CHASE. Frankly, I'm getting so disgusted with all forms of journalism, as the tabloid stories are all that matter anymore. Everything becomes some ridiculous feeding frenzy. And, I'm sorry, John, but you're doing the same thing.

    Michael WAS NOT CHARGED WITH DUI or DWI. Period. End of story. Move on.

    -DC

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  51. If it's in the public record and reported accordingly, then there's nothing wrong with that.

    The problem comes with preferential treatment by the media and how quickly this will get swept under the rug like they did with JC France.

    When one of Bill Davis' drivers was nailed for DUI several years ago, the media wanted his head on a silver platter.

    With plans to step down from being a driver next season and Speed TV normally dumping retired, semi-retired, or out of a ride drivers from shows like TWIN, this could be the excuse they need to dump Motormouth Mikey from their programming.

    As to this over-shadowing the race events, nah, it won't. Too much hype has been expended on promoting the failed play-off system.

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  52. I first read about the MW accident on TOPIX quoting ESPN. I believe it is a legit story to say that he was drinking while driving and the police suspected alcohol was a contributing factor in the accident. I also think it is fair game to mention the 2007 incident. MW fans can put any spin they want on that sorid affair, but leaving the scene, not answering the door when the police arrive at his home, not talking to the police until the next day smells like alcohol involved. MW is a public figure and is always on the media selling his sponsor, kid or anything else he can think of. He will have to put up with the stories.

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  53. "A woman of average health that weighs 140 pounds is legally intoxicated after three drinks in one hour—though her impairment begins with the start of her second drink. For an average healthy man weighing 170 pounds with a full meal in his system, four drinks in one hour will put him at the legally intoxicated level."
    I found this on the Web, but it's not the article I remember in Car and Driver. In their research, it took a tremendous amount of alcohol to blow .08. You had to be really drinking seriously.

    I hope Waltrip is embarrassed and will STOP this behavior. I for one am glad it was reported, but let's not get into overkill. Saw it on Jayski, hope it will serve as a reminder to not drink and drive - anyone, ever, anywhere. Now it's time to move on.

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  54. Well I do find it somewhat curious. It would appear that Mikey might be the one and only black sheep of the entire NASCAR world in N.C. since it would appear that no one else invovlved with NASCAR has had any sort of traffic violation this year, at least none I can recall being reported. OR, it's not news if no one would know who you are?

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  55. No Mention yet of Mikey's incident on NASCAR Now, 20 minutes into the show, Interesting

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  56. MW will not be harmed by this , he's the teflon NASCAR driver. I'm sure SPEED will definitely give him his usual free pass just as in previous incidents. As usual Ritchie is the one voice of reason on this blog.

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  57. Ouch, hate to see the snarky comments against MW go on here but feared this would happen.

    If drinking and driving is against the law, why do bars have parking lots?

    Seriously, if Mikey wasn't charged with OVI or DUI or whatever...why take a swing at the guy. :-(

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  59. I've only been a NASCAR fan for a few years, and I race in SCCA myself, but what blows me away about NASCAR fans is how they can think that anyone who has made it to Sprint Cup level driving is a "terrible driver". That idea is so completely foolish ... these men are among the best drivers on the PLANET. Michael Waltrip does not deserve the beating he takes from the fans and the media: he is a funny, important part of the fabric of NASCAR and one of the personalities that drew me into watching stock car racing from F1. I could care less about ethnic and gender diversity in NASCAR, but I want lots of diversity in the personalities. These men are also human, and things happen to them like they happen to the rest of us ... why is that so hard to accept? PS- this story is totally valid as a TDP headliner, because the racing media is starting to have a field day with it. Keep up the good work, JD.

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  60. I see the suckups in the NA$CRA media have tried as hard as they can to ignore the Waltrip drunk driving incident. You normally can't make it through any practice or qualifying or talk show without Waltrip getting his mug on TV to hock something for a sponsor. Of course now they are going out of there way not to cover him for fear they would have to actually...report!

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  61. Typical of today's media... too much information without integrity to go with it.

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  62. So, a very interesting day. No Waltrip accident on SPEED or ESPN, including today's NASCAR Now.

    The motorcyclist is not in front of his house talking to CNN and local media, he has never said boo.

    MW gets a pass on SPEED all day long after the Race Hub challenge that more was coming.

    ESPN breaks out good old Jeremy Mayfield with a promise that he will sling some mud on Sunday morning (to help sagging NASCAR ratings). Hornaday anyone?

    Thanks for all the various comments and opinions.

    JD

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  63. I am not suprised at all that you removed my comments since it relates to the Good People of NC and it doesn't have some kind of spin making "your boy" look like he was out saving the world.
    Your spin is a joke!

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  64. Well Big E,

    I moved to Florida from Charlotte, where I was the VP of Production for the company that is now the NASCAR Media Group.

    This is a TV blog and your comment had nothing to do with TV or the media.

    This is not a driver or team blog, so please go to another site for team and driver talk. Thanks.

    If you want to talk about how the media treated MW today, that would be great.

    Thanks,

    JD

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  65. I personally don't see why the big deal of the news story. MW was in a fender bender and the illegal u-turn caused the accident. I will admit he should not have been drinking any alcohol, but in light of the France family fiasco, this is really a non-issue and should just be dropped.
    I heard about it on NN last night in passing at the end of the show.

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  66. I wonder if Despain will say something.........He is a lifelong (40+yrs) motorcycle rider, used to commute to the studio on one. If ANYone has the stripes to say something negative/constructive (don't blame motorcycles for being hard to see, dammit!) it woudl be Dave D.

    BTW it takes more than 2 beers for a 6'5" 230lb person to blow a .06...........did he have shoes on this time?

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  67. Since John brought up Mayfield and the upcoming Outside the Lines show on Sunday morning, it seems appropriate to ask why Mikey is not being treated like Jeremy? After all, if he thinks it's OK to drive into a motorcyclist after two beers, and has a history of hitting trees, we just may have an explanation for why Mikey drives so poorly on the track these days...

    ...heck, at least NASCAR claimed to treat the last substance violator, JC France, the same as they do "everyone else"--yet that name has not been in the press as much as AJ Fike, Tyler Walker, or Kevin Grubb were in the days after they got suspended.

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  68. Anon, just so we are all on the same page...the motorcyclist said that he has the famous "two beers" before getting on his bike.

    The amount Waltrip drank was not disclosed. What was provided was the info that he blew .06 in a state where .08 is an arrest for DUI.

    Waltrip was impaired, but not under the influence. There is a very big difference.

    JD

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  69. Back to the original question. will Waltrip draw attention from the chase? I say no. Does anyone still believe it will? If so, in what way exactly?

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  70. Forget the rest of the posts here and read the ones by Sue and Ritchie.On this issue they hit the nail on the head, common sense must prevail once in a while. MW should be embarrassed by this and his previous behavior, but I'm sure SPEED will once again be easy on him.I wonder if he realizes how lucky he is, I'm sure Scott Wimmer does.

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