Fathers, Sons, Apples and Trees
In the 1982 German Grand Prix at the Hockenheim racetrack, driving a BMW powered Brabham Nelson Piquet Sr. was leading 18 laps into the 45 lap race. As he passed backmarker Eliseo Salazar to lap him at the new Ostkurve chicane, Salazar turned into Piquet, wrecking the two of them. It was a relatively low speed collision and neither was injured but both of their races were over. An enraged Piquet was already gesturing angrily at Salazar as he got out of his car. Piquet then pretty much charged at Salazar, stiff armed him, then hit him with a left right combination of punches to the head followed by a karate kick towards Salazar’s groin, which missed. Next time some hoity toity F1 fan mocks NASCAR and the Allison brothers versus Cale Yarborough throwdown, remind them of Piquet’s kick.
Speaking of NASCAR fights and kicking Piquets, a series of events started with some on-track bumpin’ and bangin’ between Nelson Piquet Jr and Brian Scott during the Nationwide Series race this past weekend at Richmond International Racewa, and continued into the cool down lap. It finally ended when two Richard Childress Racing employees were arrested for assault, reportedly on Piquet Jr in his motorhome. That alleged assault was presumably provoked by what Piquet Jr did to Scott on pit road after the race. After the drivers exited their cars, Piquet Jr approached Scott and after some back and forth shoving, Piquet Jr emulated dear old dad and tried to kick Scott in the crotch. Unlike the senior Piquet, though, Junior hit his mark. Scott called it a “chicken move”. On his part, Piquet tweeted an apology to his fans, sponsors and team, and then tried to laugh off the kick with a comment about his allegedly poor soccer skills.
The Piquets are originally from Brazil, where not only soccer is popular but it’s also where mixed martial arts originated. Kicks are standard fare in MMA. Some have compared NASCAR to professional wrestling, specifically WWE. If the Piquet family’s method of brawling catches on in NASCAR, perhaps the UFC might be a better analogy.
Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can dig deeper at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS
Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, the original 3D car site.
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Gotta love Murray Walker. My favorite quote: "And now, excuse me while I interrupt myself."
You call that a fight? They would be laughed out of any NHL rink.