Rivalries in Racing

In any form of racing, from your local short track, dirt or pavement, up to the biggest tiers of racing like NASCAR and F1, there are rivalries among drivers. Some of these rivalries are friendly ones. One that I got to see in action last Saturday night was one between Shannon Babb and Billy Moyer, 2 outstanding late model drivers. They have raced one another a lot. They know how they will race one another. They always race hard and clean. They enjoy besting one another. That is what I LOVE to see in a rivalry. Good, hard, clean racing and afterwards they can laugh and joke about things and be friends. Another rivalry like that was the one between David Pearson and Richard Petty. They finished 1 and 2 63 times in their career. They almost always raced one another cleanly, and never had much of a bad word to say about the other. Another good, clean rivalry. Other rivalries have a lot more dislike and sometimes out and out hatred fueling them. One such example is that between Denny Hamlin and Brad Kesolowski. Brad has roughed up many drivers, Denny included. Denny didn't take it sitting down, and has dumped Brad in previous races. They don't really care for one another at this point in time. Another rivalry like this was between Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt, on track at least. They frequently had run ins between the two of them, and have had their off track altercations as well. They were good friends off the track however. This rivalry was between two driven, hard nosed competitors who hated losing. Another good example of a bitter rivalry was between Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher. Both were driven to win. Both hated losing, and both were among the very best. They had hellatious battles between the two. They got along ok outside of the track, but on it they hated one another. One of the most memorable here was between Dennis Erb Jr. and Steve Sheppard Jr., who has also been known as Super Shepp after jumping up on Erb's car in Highland, Illinois after an on track altercation between the two. He even won the SPEED Channel award called Temper, Temper because of it.
Rivalries in general are a good thing for racing. It adds another element of excitement to the sport. If it means seeing a better race overall, I say go at it boys and girls!!