NASCAR Drivers Keep Getting Hurt Hilariously: Denny Hamiln Tears ACL Shooting Hoops

It’s not nice to laugh at others’ misfortune. But when those others are millionaires who drive cars for a living and then jeopardize that cushy little existence by extending their athletic prowess to other fields, I think we’re allowed to chortle.

So Denny Hamlin tearing his ACL after playing pickup basketball is worth a chuckle or two. Hamlin, who had surgery on his right knee in December and injured his left ACL in this incident, says he won’t have surgery to repair the tear until after the 2010 NASCAR slate. I’m sure that won’t give any ammunition to the folks who assert that drivers aren’t athletes.

Then again, NASCAR’s finest haven’t been all that athletically competent in their recent off-track exploits. Carl Edwards fractured his foot playing Frisbee last year, and Jimmie Johnson broke his wrist while riding atop a golf cart in 2006. Since Johnson’s injury, though, all he and Edwards have combined to do is win 36 races, garner over $45 million in earnings, and win all three Sprint Cup titles. Those titles are Johnson’s alone, but Edwards is no slouch: He hasn’t finished lower than 11th in the points since 2007.

Perhaps, then, this is a blessing in disguise for Hamlin? He finished 2009 hot, and wire reports about his injury threw in the phrase “popular preseason pick” to describe his future. If Hamlin does start rolling off victories this year, I fully expect Edwards to over-rotate a signature backflip sometime this season, not enough to cause paralysis, but enough to earn some bruises and the karma that comes with them. He would be tempting fate to not be hurt at that point, right?

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