JR Hildebrand – Keepin’ it Classy

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In all of the time I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve never once even dabbled in writing about motor sports of any variety. That said, as I watched Sportscenter this weekend I couldn’t help being impressed by JR Hildebrand’s interview after the rookie driver unnecessarily crashed on the final turn of the Indy 500, thus loosing the race. Hildebrand had the race in the bag when he tried to pass a slower moving car on the outside on the final turn of the race; essentially his crash was completely unprovoked and falls completely on his own shoulders, which has to be tough to swallow. Nonetheless this kid showed a ton of class in his interview immediately following the race – if I owned a racing team or any other sports franchise this is exactly how I would want my driver or player to respond. In an era where so many athletes look act like punks, I think the good guys should be celebrated from time to time. Although I’ll never watch racing, I hope this kid wins a big one soon.

Dan Wheldon eventually won the race, capturing $2.6 million to Hildenbrand’s $1.1 million for second place – adding $1.5 million of salt in a rookie’s already horrific wound.