Max Papis Slapped By Fellow NASCAR Driver’s Girlfriend

Max Papis got slapped in the face by a fellow NASCAR driver’s girlfriend on Sunday after competing in the Camping World Truck Series race.

Kelly Heaphy, the girlfriend of driver Mike Skeen, was less than pleased by the fact that Papis tangled with her beau on the final lap of the race in Ontario.

USA Today notes that the on-track altercation happened while the pair were racing for third place. Skeen slid into Papis and knocked both trucks off the track and out of the race.

At the time of the now-infamous slap, Max Papis didn’t even know who Heaphy was. He conducted a TV interview about the incident and was still standing there when she walked up to him and started yelling at him.

Then it came. Papis recalled, “I had my mouth open a little bit and I didn’t even see things coming. She hit me so hard with an open hand. My ear is still ringing.”

And, according to his interview with ESPN later on, Max Papis’ jaw was also dislocated in the slapping incident. But despite the pain he was in, Papis commented that he went up to Skeen and said, “I guess we know who’s the man in the family here, because the guy didn’t even have the [guts] to talk.”

The drivers did exchange hand gestures during the cool-down lap. However, he was never approached by Skeen. Skeen commented on the incident as well, saying that Papis entered his team’s hauler after the incident and attempted to pull Heaphy down the stairs to get past her while looking for him.

Papis explained that he “moved her aside.” He also approached Truck Series director Chad Little to ask NASCAR to take action against Skeen’s girlfriend for the slap. He explained, “It needs to stay between drivers… Drivers can have arguments with each other — but it shouldn’t affect what other people do.”

There was no word on how long Max Papis will be recovering after he was slapped by Skeen’s girlfriend.

[Image via Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com]