Smashing the Race Trophy You just Won = No Class

I watched Kyle Busch lead practically every lap at Nashville on Saturday night.  For me, it was a rather boring race until I watched the victory lane celebration.

Nashville has long awarded a custom Gibson Guitar as a trophy for the winner of it's biggest NASCAR event.  This particular guitar was hand painted by popular artist Sam Bass.

Kyle Busch took the guitar and smashed it to smithereens.

I'm beginning to realize the genius in Kyle's sometimes bizarre behavior.  Acting the way he does keeps him in the news.  Even bad press is still press, and Kyle Busch appears to be using all the press he can to perpetuate the legend that Kyle Busch seems to have running through his head.

When I was a kid, I had a neighbor who was possibly borderline psychotic.  He was a nice kid, but he kept up a running radio show in his head about his own exploits, and would often recite them, as would a radio announcer, while he was playing various games.  "And here comes Jack [not his real name] to the plate.  Jack's been batting .765 this season, and has 400 home runs.  Can Jack hit number 401?"  In his head, Jack was the greatest athlete that ever lived.  In reality, Jack couldn't hit even a very slow underhand pitch.  

Jack ran his own radio show playing football or basketball as well.  Jack often tackled himself, simply getting his feet tangled up while trying to run.  Jack often busted himself in the mouth trying to dribble a basketball.  But in Jack's mind, he was the greatest.

I have this mental image of Kyle Busch pretending he is the biggest rock star in the world, and smashing a guitar on stage is a dream of his that he finally fulfilled last night.  He said on his radio that he wanted every member of the team to have a piece of that guitar.  

Even after smashing the custom Gibson to the asphalt 3 or more times, the guitar was still mostly intact.  

I'm a guitar fan.  I currently own a Fender Stratocaster with a sunburst finish, and it's one of my prized posessions.  I can't play it worth a darn, but I do love to look at it.  To me, it's a work of art.

I would love to own a Gibson Les Paul, any year, any model.  To me, the Gibson LP is one of the sweetest sounding guitars ever made.

Watching Kyle smash that beautiful guitar last night was a little like watching a mother drown her own child.

Personally, I wonder what the people who worked so hard to put on the show at Nashville Super Speedway thought when they saw their carefully crafted trophy smashed.  That the beautiful guitar was going to get beer, Gatorade, Coke, etc. on it during the victory celebration was a given, but how did they feel to have to watch that beauty smashed on the asphalt?