Fathers, Sons, Apples and Trees

Ronnie Schreiber
by Ronnie Schreiber

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
Ronnie Schreiber

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, the original 3D car site.

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  • Lorenzo Heh. The major powers, military or economic, set up these regulators for the smaller countries - the big guys do what they want, and always have. Are the Chinese that unaware?
  • Lorenzo The original 4-Runner, by its very name, promised something different in the future. What happened?
  • Lorenzo At my age, excitement is dangerous. one thing to note: the older models being displayed are more stylish than their current versions, and the old Subaru Forester looks more utilitarian than the current version. I thought the annual model change was dead.
  • Lorenzo Well, it was never an off-roader, much less a military vehicle, so let the people with too much money play make believe.
  • EBFlex The best gift would have been a huge bonfire of all the fak mustangs in inventory and shutting down the factory that makes them.Heck, nobody would even have to risk life and limb starting the fire, just park em close together and wait for the super environmentally friendly EV fire to commence.
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