There are two types of racing. There's racing in the form of confined, highly controlled, track-born races. Think of your MotoGPs, your Formula 1s, and your NASCARs. And then there's racing. The italicized form of the word connotes pure chaos on the order of potential insanity. We're talking about the World Rally Championship, Erzbergrodeo, and the Dakar Rally.
And then there's the Isle of Man TT.
It doesn't subscribe to either of those two definitions, as it defies everything. It defies all logic. It defies all common sense. It defies the ability to conceive of what each of these motorcycle riders go through while braving the Snaefell Mountain Course. It's one of those relics of a long-forgotten past. Something akin to a coelacanth, you know, the supposedly extinct fish they recently discovered was still around after 175 million years. A remnant. One that's positively batshit in every sense of that word.
So what you don't expect to read in the headlines is someone attempting to cross the live 33-mile circuit while motorcycles speed past. Yet, you'd be underestimating a human's ability to get so drunk, all of the above knowledge goes out the window.
Maybe people were a mistake?
According to our friends over at Visor Down, Christopher Crellin streaked (literally) past the TT Classic's marshals, hopped the fence, and crossed the live track, braving motorcycles that were clipping well past 180 mph. Yeah, you read that speed correctly. This section of the track is stupid fast.
"Despite the shouts from the marshals and the public," states the outlet, "Crellin continues to cross the road, with somebody opening the barrier on the opposite side. Apparently unaware of the danger he put himself, the riders and the other spectators in, he even takes time to argue with fans as they berate him for his actions." Thankfully, no one was injured, including Crellin, who took not only his own life in his hands, but that of the motorcycle riders on track.
Unfortunately for Crellin, however, he's now heading to jail for the next six months.
The site reported that Crellin appeared in court and was played the now-viral video, showing him both acting extremely irresponsibly, very drunkenly, and without pants... Kinda hard to argue against anything in that situation, and the judge rightly threw the book at him. He pleaded guilty to "entering onto a closed road, provoking behaviour, and being drunk in public."
Again, thankfully, Crellin and the motorcycle racers who were racing at the time weren't injured. But come on, dude, how freakin' drunk do you have to be to hop a fence to cross a road while the most dangerous race in the world is going on? I don't think I've ever been that drunk, and in my youth, I've been drunk. Maybe the marshals need tasers next year?
