Could Clarence Have Handled Virgil?
This crossed my mind recently while watching this scene. I really think that had Clarence been in that motel room, things would've instantly gone south real quick for him. It's expressed many times in the film that when it comes to pulling these things off and covering his tracks, he's not a smart cookie at all (i.e, leaving his license in Drexyl's hand - I wonder if Clarence ever even realized it was missing). He also always acted like he had something to prove - he wanted to prove to Alabama (and Elvis) how loyal he was by killing Drexyl, and that really only worked in his favor because Drexyl happened to be sort of a mirror image of him and let his 'loose canon' tendencies get the better of him, and also because Marty was a bumbling idiot. I have no doubt in my mind that Clarence would've been totally caught off guard by Virgil; physically, Drexyl would've broken Clarence in half, and his cunning and wit was sharper than Clarence or Drexyl's.
I know that Virgil's downfall also comes down to him being a brash, egotistical *beep* (him getting up to check himself in the mirror), but I honestly think that Clarence wouldn't even notice the wine cork like Alabama did. It helps that Alabama is a woman, so she could appeal to Virgil's primal sensibilities and keep their little game going on a little further (I think the film tries to subtly point out that Alabama is really smarter and craftier than Clarence is, despite his grandiose posturing).