It’s a scene from Days of Thunder that most who have watched the movie a time or two remember well.
The main characters Cole Trickle and Rowdy Burns are wrecking each other regularly and they get sent to visit with “Big John”, who is the Bill France Sr. type character of the movie.
Big John tells them: “If you want to become a greasy spot on a country road, go ahead. I don’t give a shit and I don’t think anybody else does. But you’re not going to do it on my racetrack.”
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour team owner Tommy Baldwin Jr. said he was taking on the “Big John” role Friday in response to issues between Jimmy Blewett and Doug Coby Thursday during the Phoenix Communications 150 at Thompson Speedway.
Blewett and Coby have both played integral roles this year for Tommy Baldwin Racing in putting the team in position to win the owner’s championship. Coby has started six races for the team this year with a pair of victories. Blewett has one win for the team and was making his third start of the season for Baldwin Thursday at Thompson. Coby was driving at Thompson for his personally owned team.
With Coby and Blewett clawing back through the field at the back end of the top-10 on lap 99, was a three-wide situation off of turn four also involving Spencer Davis. Contact between Coby and Blewett put Blewett hard into the outside wall on the front stretch and sent his right front tire over the wall.
Blewett blamed Coby and vowed revenge. Coby blamed Blewett and said he should have backed out.
Baldwin told RaceDayCT Friday morning that he didn’t talk to Blewett or Coby about the incident after the race Thursday.
“The plan for today is to give them both the old Days of Thunder speech,” Baldwin told RaceDayCT. “A lot of people don’t understand, a lot of people don’t know because it wasn’t on TV, the wreck actually started happening in [turns] one and two. With [Spencer Davis] being so slow up top, Jimmy had to get below him somehow or else he was going to get freight trained. We had the freshest tires at the time, we were in a good position to have a really good night. Obviously we had a fast car all night. The thought process of a race car driver is ‘You’ve got to get by him, it’s fresh tires, it’s go time.’ So he went down and tried to get below [Davis]. At the same time Doug was pretty much underneath [Blewett] already. So here they go three-wide off of [turn] two already. Now Jimmy is doing what Jimmy does and Doug needs to do what Doug needs to do there. And Jimmy obviously brought Doug lower going into [turn] three, which he should because it’s racing. And at that time, that’s when the helmets tighten up and the heads don’t think anymore and it becomes a competition.
“So that was it. And Doug tried as hard as he could underneath to get by, Jimmy tried to get to the position and the end result is I believe it started in [turns] one and two, and Doug ended it off of [turn] four getting loose underneath [Blewett]. That’s a hard a place to be with all the dirt and gravel. He got loose, hit us, overcorrected, got loose again and finished us off. But I’m chalking it up as a racing wreck. I can’t do anything about it. Right now I’ve got a wrecked race car. I’ll have it fixed by Langley on [Aug. 27]. The most important is we’ve got a championship to win. We’ve all got to do it together. They’re going to have to talk about it today. They’re going to have to be men and talk about it and understand that the No. 1 goal that I have, and if they can’t work it out I’ll have to make decisions heading into Langley. They’re good friends, I think they trust the process and we’ll get through it.”
Coby said he was planning to be in the car for the event at Langley Speedway in Hampton, Va. on Aug. 27. Baldwin said Friday that he’s not sure what his driver lineup will be for the final five races.
Blewett ended up with a 21st place finish Thursday. Baldwin’s team remained at the top of the owner’s championship standings. The Baldwin owned team holds a 24 point lead over the Tim Lepine owned No. 79 team with driver Jon McKennedy. The Tyler Haydt owned No. 16 with driver Ron Silk sits 29 points off the lead in the owner’s championship standings.
“It is what it is,” Baldwin said. “We’ve still go the points lead. We’ve got five races left and we’re going to go do the best we possibly can and hopefully they can work it out today.”
To hear more from Baldwin from Friday morning and also hear from Coby, Blewett, Jon McKennedy, Ron Silk, Craig Lutz and Eric Goodale, listen to the latest Unmuffled podcast.
Well, for sure Dug Koby is going to say, in a really whiny, snivel, juvenile sing-song tone, “HE STARTED IT!!” The 10 broke loose and hammered the 7NY. And didn’t back off.
Roll the video, Dug Koby did it. Like Trump on the Entertainment Tonight video, (Grab ’em by the 🐈) caught and recorded being an idiot.
Told you he can’t drive in traffic. He doesn’t have the flux capacitor anymore to get his ride out and away from traffic. And he doesn’t have Phil Moran. So now he has to drive, and this is what it looks like.
I can’t wait to see what Blewett does to him.
Coby was a pinball all night running guys up… it IS accurate Jimmy is a hard head. the issue is your on the BOTTOM …his buddy , team mate in the middle.. move down.. lose some spots you get them back. now you got some wrecked race cars …. or remember next time you will get raced the same way…(that’s what Blewitt implied) .good job by lutz. silk and mckennedy are even as I see it . move on .PS without the tour the show(s) would have been a disappointment ..sorry just saying . if you wanted action you got it..
And then, the post race interview. Dug Koby has quite the set, is brainless, or both. More balls than brains. A common malady.
To say Blewett was in the wrong place is profoundly audacious.
Dug Koby lost the car, it then went up into the 7NY, I counted numerous shots. Dug Koby couldn’t get his car under control after the first shot and before he walled the 7NY. That’s significant since the 7NY had to get pushed out of its inside line and then into the outside line, and then into the wall. And the 10 ended up in front of the 7NY in the OUTSIDE line!!!!! The 10 just drove into and shoved the 7NY aside.
This is going to be so exciting!!!!
So impressed with Tommy Baldwin. He’s the guy with the wrecked car, he’s the guy that will be doing all the work, he’s the guy spending the money for replacement parts and he’s philosophical about the incident. Seems like he’s mostly ticked at Coby for not thinking about the bigger picture at “competition” time but not grudgy either. Very impressive.
Sidebar: Baldwin heaped tons of praise on PSR for fundamentally changing the 7ny over the winter and providing the jump in performance. Will they be doing the repairs?
Of course they’ll put it behind them probably have already. If either or both don’t man up and move on realizing TBR is the one paying the price that’s a character deficit in my view.
Not lost in this is the fact the big money for the championship goes to the owner which is as it should be. McKennedy and Silk garnering the lions share of the attention but it’s TBR’s year at least so far. Even Silk recognizes that, less focused on the championship and says he mostly wants to win a race or races.
Where are all the Dug Koby lemmings???
C’mon… step out into the light… try to defend the indefensible.
The rest of the season is gonna be lit!
Yes the 10 broke loose but the 7ny sticking it 3 wide sure didn’t leave any margin for error! I get it they’re both trying to win, let’s chalk it up to “just one of those racing deals” and move on boys!
Sure hope Dug Koby can practice what he preaches… back out.
Live interviews sums it all up. JB swearing like a trucker, and DC giving his side professionally even if you think he was wrong. JB will never he DC’s league. 6 tour titles vs winning a few races here and there.
Yeah, it “started” earlier, where JB got himself in the legit low line position, and Dug Koby was running to the inside of the 7NY, an imaginary third line on the apron. Koby was the odd man out. When someone is running that extra low apron line and someone is in the *NORMAL* low line, you can’t say that the car in the normal low line made it three wide. Running the apron is abnormal and risky. That’s just not going to work at Thompson because the engine loses too much RPM on the extreme inside like that and can’t get out of its own way. The higher line is preferred because the car can carry much more RPM on exit. And as TB said, there’s marbles in that apron.
Koby pretty much said it in the interview he was waiting for someone to back out and give him room to get off the bottom. But instead, he boinked it and walled the 7NY. When you are in that extra low line, you are hung out to dry… unless you make your problem a problem for others and take them out.
Dug Koby did what Dug Koby does. 💥 BIFF! POW! POP! 💥 💣
Can somebody check to see if any of the local nut houses have vacancy. Dafella may need an extended stay. Haven’t seen him like this since… Well since anything speedbowl.
Goodfella what ever you say lol you forgot at NS in Florida when the 10 lifted Preece was loose in front of him and Jimmy hits the 10 and junks it Goodfella knows everything
Goodfella what ever you say lol you forgot at NS in Florida when the 10 lifted Preece was loose in front of him and Jimmy hits the 10 and junks it Goodfella knows everything
So while i am No Doug Coby Lemming i will say that all the Dadumb usual hate comments as usual make no sense, i will just say 265 starts, 33 wins, 111 top 5’s 166 Top 10’s 5782 laps led and 6 time WMT Champion speak more than ALL the hate from DADUMB.
Maybe Dennis the bicycle racer is still all upset by Melissa’s fantastic 18th place finish… Go girl, go!
I can hear the spotter for coby…” 7 outside,,,,, 7 still outside ,,,,, blewitt outside !!!,,,,, 3 wide ” …Coby he of multiple championships does what other champs do when they aren`t winning anymore on a regular basis ..ignore everyone else including the spotter and common sense and put them selves first at all costs cause they can .. oh well ..its junk … cant admit he made a mistake or take any accountability …. must be the real estate agent in him that thinks he matters in the process. all those accomplishments dont mean a thing if you don’t exercise humility or learn from your mistakes. I dont see any way blewitt could lift / check up on that lap at any point without possibly wrecking the field with where he was running . fuggget about it !!
Right on cue… the cockroaches and lemmings arrived.
Dug Koby has the record he has because of MSRIII and Phil Moran. Conclusive and irrefutable. He completely owns his reputation as a pinball and wrecker… all his own doing.
It would have been any car in the same position the 7NY was in… the 10 was going to kill it. It just so happened to be Blewett in the 7NY, a teammate. There were the two normal lines, the usual freight train going on, the 7NY was covered on front and rear, right and left, he had nowhere to go, and Dug Koby, the odd car out, sticking out on the apron looking like a prolapsed hemorrhoid.