I'm Pretty Sure It Was The Alcohol Talking

NASCAR fans probably got a laugh out of this during this past weekend's road course race at Watkins Glen, NY:

Fan arrested after going on the track: The sports marketing folks will tell you NASCAR has become a Big Four sport in the country because easy access to drivers makes them seem like ordinary people. Very easy access, one fan proved on Sunday afternoon when he simply walked onto the track for an autograph. During a late-race, red-flag period, a man ran up to Matt Kenseth's #17 Ford, reached through the passenger window and asked the driver to sign his hat. "He just said, 'Will you sign this?'" Kenseth was heard saying to his crew over the driver radio. "I'm like, 'I'm a little busy right now.'" The man, half inside the car window, asked again but Kenseth refused. The man finally gave up and ran — in a far from straight line — back toward the fans' area. He was soon arrested. The man apparently gained access to the track by climbing over the large wire fence, ran across the grass, then stepped over the blue barrier at trackside.

A road course is probably the only place something like this could happen. The tracks are very long and there are lots of places where an inebriated fan could jump a small fence and get onto the track. Back in 1986 a fan actually stole the pace car and began turning laps at Talledega Superspeedway. The security guys there eventually blocked the track and pulled him out of the car and pretty much beat him up. With all the cameras at Watkins Glen, they couldn't really pound the guy like they would probably have liked to.

This should cause some nervous moments for NASCAR because if a guy can come out on the track and ask for an autograph, someone could also come out to try and pick a fight or otherwise attack a driver. They may have to rethink how they handle red flag situations at road courses.