Thoughts On Two Drivers With Opposite Fortunes

July 19, 2011 By 2 Comments

Observations on a driver who is a multiple champion – and has made a good effort for another title in 2011 – and a very popular competitor who hopes to, finally, be at the top of the points for the first time in his career.

The former driver, as said, is right in step. The latter, however, has slipped competitively in the last several weeks and is in danger of not making the Chase – again.

Jimmie Johnson is a five-time Sprint Cup champion who has parlayed his talent, the savvy of his crew chief Chad Knaus and the strength of his Hendrick Motorsports team into record-setting success in NASCAR.

He’s after a sixth consecutive championship in 2011 and, at this point, he’s in pretty good shape. He’s second in points, just seven points behind Carl Edwards, with just seven races to go before the Chase begins.

Given that he’s also earned a victory, which gives him a measure of insurance under NASCAR’s new “playoff” entry system, there seems to be little doubt that Johnson will again contend for a championship.

But many have said Johnson hasn’t been quite the force he was in the past. He seems vulnerable. He started the season in very good form but many times since has often been plagued by atypical problems.

There have been pit road miscues and at times he’s competed in a car that is clearly not the class of the field, as it has been many times in the past.

But Johnson and team have pressed forward with the kind determination and tenacity almost championship-caliber teams share.

They have, for the most part, overcome a myriad of problems to earn high finishes, and consequently more points, than most could have expected.

Instead of languishing back in the pack or sitting helplessly in the garage area, Johnson and the Hendrick team have overcome. So much so that it’s been asked, “Where the heck did they come from?”

A very good example of this came at New Hampshire. In that race Johnson had so many difficulties that he should have been down and out instead of doggedly pushing his way into a fifth-place finish.

He didn’t qualify well, settling for the 28th position. But he moved into the lead and hovered around the top-five until, while running second, he fell victim to a pit miscue – something, oddly, not all that uncommon for him this year – on lap 217.

He had to come back down pit road with a loose lug nut, which sent him back to 35th place with well less than 100 laps remaining.

Still, he rallied. He moved into sixth position by lap 241. Then while scrapping with Juan Pablo Montoya for fifth place there was contact between the two. Johnson’s No. 48 spun and was once again sent to the rear of field.

It’s not likely Johnson is going to invite Montoya to dinner any time soon.

Rather than accept an unkind fate Johnson showed he’s a competitor of true grit. Somehow – rest assured, it was mystifying to many – he was in fifth place race’s end.

What could have been a disastrous day in New England was avoided, and then some. Johnson, who has 54 career victories, overcame. He said, given the circumstances, he and his team did it the hard way.

Imagine the kind of day they might have had if things had been easy.

I’ve seen this type of thing many times before and have come to the same conclusion as other veteran NASCAR observers.

All teams face adversity. It’s the good ones that overcome it and the great ones do so routinely.

New Hampshire offered a good example of how great Johnson’s Hendrick team has been, and still is.

A sixth title is possible – in fact, very much so. Don’t think for a moment Johnson and team don’t believe that and have clearly demonstrated their desire to earn it.

 

** For quite a while it seemed Dale Earnhardt Jr. was well on his way to a spot in the Chase, which he’s failed to make in three of the last four seasons.

Earnhardt Jr., who is Johnson’s teammate at Hendrick, rose to as high as third in points until he went into a summer swoon. In the four starts before New Hampshire, he plunged to ninth in points.

Presently he’s only seven points within the top 10, just ahead of a resurgent Tony Stewart, second at New Hampshire, and Denny Hamlin, who are tied for 10th.

Earnhardt Jr. is the only driver among the top 10 without a victory, which makes things even more precarious for him.

The Hendrick driver averaged a 28th-place finish during his four-race free fall prior to New Hampshire, where he finished 15th.

That wasn’t great – yet another finish out of the top 10 – but under the circumstances and how his car ran, Earnhardt Jr. will take it.

But if he wants to make the Chase, which begins on Sept. 18 at Chicagoland, he cannot afford to run out of the top 10. Fact is, his situation would greatly improve with a series of top-five runs. Oh, and a victory – he hasn’t won since Michigan in June of 2008 – would well serve his cause, obviously.

It’s been suggested that the media makes too much of Earnhardt Jr., particularly now. But given his heritage and his massive popularity among NASCAR fans, it’s very hard to ignore him.

Plus, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a driver more excited or brimming with confidence than Earnhardt Jr. was when it was announced he would race for Hendrick starting in 2008.

In his opinion, he joined a team with which he could win races and championships. Many agreed.

However, now in his fourth season with Hendrick, there’s been only one win and one year in which he was a title contender.

His standing in points through most of the year suggested he was going to be in the Chase – and that certainly that encouraged his fans.

But in the passing few weeks things have become grim.

For Earnhardt Jr., however, they are by no means hopeless. He may be hanging on by his fingernails now, but there is time – not much of it – for him to get the firm grip he once had.

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Busch Fulfills A Role NASCAR Needs: The Villain

June 9, 2011 By 7 Comments

Quite frankly, I’m glad Kyle Busch is who he is, at least in competition, and that he’s a part of NASCAR Sprint Cup racing.

No, really.

Yes, I know there are many fans who don’t care for Busch for reasons with which I suspect you are all too familiar.

But while I don’t want to come right out and say Busch is good for NASCAR – I’m not sure a guy who goes 80 mph over the speed limit on a public highway ever is – he at least provides a fan and media lightning rod, something the sport can always use.

This might be considered old school thinking, but I happen to believe that NASCAR needs a villain. It has to have someone whose words, actions or both, cause people to align against him.

It’s like one of those grade-B movie westerns of the 1940s. There was always the bad guy who was usually dressed in black who was booed and performed dastardly deeds until the hero, in white, brought him to justice amid cheers.

NASCAR needs someone whom fans can boo and vilify. It needs someone who performs perceived dastardly deeds on the track. It needs someone who radiates arrogance and a cocky attitude that make us want to slap his face off.

Busch fits all the requirements. And as NASCAR’s reigning bad boy he’s certainly created more interest in the sport – if for no other reason than fans are always eager to see him get his comeuppance, if possible.

That’s one reason a heckuva lot of folks were pleased when Richard Childress – who had a bellyful of Busch – tattooed the Joe Gibbs Racing driver after the truck race at Kansas.

Throughout its history, NASCAR has always been more fun when it has at least one smug competitor who wears the black hat.

There have been many such characters over the years but perhaps the two most prominent are Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt.

In the 1970s, Waltrip, long hair, sideburns and all, broke into racing when it was dominated by a small handful of guys who won, it seemed, nearly all of the races.

Waltrip, sure of himself, declared he could beat those guys. He said so to the media every chance he got.

Fans thought this was sacrilege. How dare this kid fail to show the proper respect for Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison and the other admired stars of the day?

They wanted to see their heroes teach this upstart a thing or two – and cheered mightly every time they did.

But Waltrip never missed a step. He parlayed his villainy into a successful career. He was self-promoting, at ease and glib with the media and seemed to revel in the fans’ disdain.

He’d hear the boos at driver introductions and then, as the years passed, go out and beat the old-line heroes more times than not.

Which, by the way, didn’t sit well with them. Given his challenge to their dominance, actions and personality, Waltrip wasn’t exactly No. 1 on the competitors’ hit parade.

Yarborough is credited with giving Waltrip the nickname “Jaws” because of his “mouthiness.”

As reviled as Waltrip was at the start of his career, in time he became accepted and even well-respected. That’s because he could back up his words with achievement on the track. He said he would win and he did.

When he came on the scene, Earnhardt never declared he would win. It wasn’t his mouth that put him at odds with fans and fellow competitors.

It was his style of driving.

Earnhardt quickly established himself as perhaps the most aggressive driver on the track. He had no problem grinding into or bumping other competitors to move them out of his way.

Many times that created problems – yes, Earnhardt caused plenty of wrecks – that did nothing to endear the Kannapolis, N.C., native to fans, competitors and NASCAR.

As much as the rough-and-tumble Earnhardt was liked by fans who thought he was the embodiment of what a stock car driver should be, he was reviled by others who felt he was nothing but a menace on the track.

Earnhardt never offered any excuses. He said his driving style was cultivated during his youth, when he saw his father Ralph go head-to-head, with no quarter asked, against others in the bull rings.

As it was for Watlrip, Earnhardt earned fan support and respect with deeds. He won races and championships without sacrificing who he was or his style of driving.

He became “The Intimidator” and an icon.

It’s far too early to tell if Busch will eventually earn fan respect and, for the moment, hey, who cares anyway?

But Busch already shares a trait with fellow villains Waltrip and Earnhardt: He can drive a race car.

Like the bad boys before him Busch has immense talent, something he’s already proven and cannot be denied. He’s won in nearly everything he’s raced and will soon be a part of the NASCAR record book.

No doubt this fuels his cockiness. It also increases the disdain fans have for him because it means this villain clearly has the ability to get the best of their heroes. That doesn’t sit too well, does it?

Don’t misunderstand what is meant here. None of this is intended to promote Busch or get anyone to change their opinion of him. Hardly.

He is who he is, which is, right now, NASCAR’s bad boy – and he knows it.

For the sport to have a bad boy, a villain who polarizes fans and media alike, is a good thing.

It makes things all that more interesting – and even fun.

 

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Richmond Is Old But It Has Been “New” For Years

April 26, 2011 By 1 Comment

What was once known as Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway became a part of NASCAR in 1953. That makes it the third-oldest track in the sanctioning body’s history, behind Martinsville and Darlington.

At that time, Darlington was a one-mile paved track created by Harold Brasington, a man who envisioned for South Carolina something close to Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Darlington was never close to Indy, but it was unique, and remains so to this day.

Martinsville and Richmond started out as half-mile dirt tracks.

In time both converted to asphalt. Richmond did so in the fall of 1968, many years after Martinsville, which was paved in the autumn of 1955.

For many years, when it came to growth, modernization and additional amenities, Darlington and Richmond lagged behind Martinsville – which was always somewhat more progressive under the guidance of its headstrong owner, the late H. Clay Earles.

But, in time, Richmond metamorphosed into something few could have expected, and on a scale that few could have imagined.

One who did was Paul Sawyer.

As I grew to know him, I learned that the late Sawyer, the man who directed Richmond’s fortunes, was always forceful and passionate about his track.

He once threatened to whip my butt after I wrote that his speedway, with steel guardrails instead of concrete walls, was little more than a death trap.

But Sawyer was smart enough to know that his track, and as humble as it was, could not survive without changes.

Many of us wondered what he could do. We assumed – again, assumed – he was still supervised by the authorities of the Virginia State Fairgounds.

Perhaps it was the force of Sawyer’s will. Maybe it was Virginia’s recognition that a major, redesigned track on fairgrounds property would be far more lucrative than a bull ring.

It doesn’t really matter. In the fall of 1988, Richmond was dramatically altered. Instead of a 0.542-track, it became a 0.75-mile facility.

Seats and VIP boxes were added. The garage area, press box and media center expanded. Tunnels allowed vehicles and people to pass unimpeded.

In 1991, the second Richmond race of the season was the first held under new lights and was won by Harry Gant.

Eight years later both of Richmond’s two events were held at night, as they are to this day.

What makes all of this significant is this: While many tracks have grown and altered themselves over the years, Richmond went at least one step further.

It not only added amenities, but it also changed the length and shape of its racing surface.

Today, it’s the only 0.75-mile track on the NASCAR Cup circuit. It is unique.

And it has all paid off. Richmond races are popular among fans and competitors alike, simply because the style of racing combines short-track action with a sizable amount of big-track speed.

Competitors will tell you there’s room to race, room to pass.

Here’s a piece of Richmond – and NASCAR – lore.

The first race at the “new” Richmond track, now 0.75-mile, was held on Sept. 11, 1988. That was the year of the “tire wars” between Goodyear and Hoosier.

After qualifying for the Cup race, crewmen turned out in force to see what would happen in the Saturday 200-mile Nationwide Series race – and for a good reason.

Every car in that event was shod with Hoosier tires. The Cup teams wanted to know how they would hold up.

The answer was: not much. Tire wear was so obvious that Cup guys dashed into the garage area and wheezed, “We gotta run Goodyears!”

Which the teams did. However, those that changed after qualifying on Hoosiers had to drop to the rear of the field, per NASCAR rules, before the Miller High Life 400 began.

It looked like a massive exodus from front to back.

To give you an idea of the enormity of the transition, Alan Kulwicki, who qualified second, started the race in the 31st position. He was part of what looked like a retreating army.

Davey Allison, then driving for Harry Ranier, was cagey. He started the first six laps on Hoosiers, built up a sizable lead and then pitted for Goodyears.

He led most of the laps and won the race by 3.37 seconds over Dale Earnhardt.

That race was, at the least, a most interesting debut for the new Richmond.

Much has happened since, of course.

We can expect more from a track that has altered itself, perhaps, more than any other – and for so much the better.

 

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Leave Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Alone

April 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

It’s been far to long that the media, NASCAR and its fan base has pushed and pulled on Dale Earnhardt, Jr. trying recapture some of the aura from his Father. The driver has a right to his own life without the consistent and unreasonable expectations placed on him. www.motorsportsunplugged.com/NASCAR

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When It Comes To “Streakers,” Bristol Has Had More Than Its Share

March 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you take a look at the history of Bristol Motor Speedway – and it’s a long and colorful one – something you might notice is how, from time to time, a single driver has gone streaking there.

No, no, not that – wow, the vision that just flashed in my mind was rather ugly.
It means that one competitor seems to win the majority of the races conducted over several years. He, or a team, thus establishes a victory streak.

Don’t think I really needed to tell you that.

It happens at every track, at least for a while, but at Bristol it appears to have gone on routinely since the track opened in 1961.

There were four different winners in the speedway’s first four races. But then, in 1963, Holman-Moody, the powerhouse Ford team, took over.

The organization won four straight races from 1963-64 with drivers Fred Lorenzen and Fireball Roberts.

Over a period of seven seasons, 1963-1969, Holman-Moody won eight times at Bristol.

Then came the 1970s through the early ‘80s. As has been recorded often – and yet again this season – this was Junior Johnson’s era.

Actually, Johnson’s first Bristol victory came in 1965 in his own Ford. Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s he won 15 more times as an owner with drivers Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip.

Johnson cars were virtually unbeatable. Yarborough won five of six races from 1976-78. Waltrip did even better with seven straight wins from 1981-85.

Waltrip holds the record for most Bristol wins with 12, 11 of which he won with Johnson.

Here’s an interesting tidbit. Although Johnson is credited with 16 Bristol wins as a team owner, he was part of five more victories.

From 1971-74 cars owned by Richard Howard and driven by Charlie Glotzbach, Bobby Allison and Yarborough won five of six races at BMS, including four in a row.

At that time Howard had partnered with Johnson in an effort to bring Chevrolet back to NASCAR.

Howard was listed as the team owner. But he never turned a wrench on the cars. That was Johnson’s responsibility – and all the work was done in his Ronda, N.C., shops.

Seems Johnson’s dominance of Bristol is greater than the record books indicate. He’s part of an astounding 21 victories at the track.

Starting in 1985 it was Dale Earnhardt’s turn. Ironically, he won his first career NASCAR Winston Cup race as a rookie at Bristol in the spring of 1979.

He won the same race in 1980, the year in which he earned his first career championship.
By ’85 he was starting to hit his stride with Richard Childress Racing and it showed, especially at Bristol.
He swept both events in ’85 and did it again in 1987. He earned another victory in 1988 to give him five wins in four years. Ultimately, he won nine times at Bristol, second only to Waltrip.

No driver established such dominance throughout the 1990s, although Rusty Wallace took the lion’s share of victories with seven in a decade.

It seems, however, the pattern has returned over the last 10 years or so – at least somewhat.

Kurt Busch won for the first time at Bristol in 2002 and then went on a tear. He won three straight races from 2003-04 and then won again in 2006, which means five victories in as many years.

Bristol has become a Busch brothers’ playground. Younger brother Kyle won at the track for the first time in 2007, swept both races in 2009 and won the summer night race last year. He’s won three of the last four BMS races.

You might say he’s our current streaker.

Oops, just had another horrid mental image.

Make no mistake, he’ll be a solid favorite to win the March 20 Jeff Byrd 500 at Bristol.

So will Carl Edwards, who has won three of the last five Sprint Cup races, dating back to 2010. He’s also been victorious twice at Bristol since 2007.

Other than Kyle, he’s the only driver to earn multiple Bristol victories in the last five years.

As said, there are several tracks at which drivers display a keen propensity to win repeatedly.

It just seems that Bristol, over the years, has seen far more than its share. And it seems it still does.

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Thanks To Martin Odds Beaten At Vegas – Once, Only Once

March 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I am not much of a gambler but I admit that each time a race at Las Vegas rolls around I like to check out the driver odds. It’s kinda fun to learn what the bookies think.
I’ve discovered they have a pretty good idea of what’s going on – at least if the posted odds are any evidence. I checked ‘em out a day ago and really didn’t find anything unusual.
For example, Jimmie Johnson was the favorite at 9-to-2 and, given that he’s won four of the last six races at Vegas, that’s logical. Carl Edwards was 15-to-2, Kyle Busch was 6-to-1, Jeff Gordon 7-to-1, Denny Hamlin 11-to-1 and Tony Stewart 12-to-1.
At the other end, there were several drivers listed at 300-1, among them Landon Cassill, Andy Lally, Joe Nemechek and Michael McDowell. Well, that’s not really surprising, is it?
If I had some spare money, I think I might have put it on Jeff Burton and Kasey Kahne. Burton was listed at 25-to-1 and Kahne at 22-to-1. I think they’ve got better shots at victory than the bookies think.
Of course, I realize the odds will change by race day. They always do.
They did in 1998, when NASCAR came to Vegas for the first time, but only after some of us made some good money.
At the time a few motorsports writers – the older guys – had been to Vegas more than once. We’d leave for the race at Riverside, Calif., a few days early and drive over to Sin City, only to return to California practically broke and with severe lack of sleep.
In ’98, however, the entire NASCAR press corps descended on Vegas. While it certainly anticipated covering a new race at a new venue, the appeal of experiencing all the city had to offer – particularly gambling – was greater.
A group of us had already devised a plan. As soon as we checked into our hotel the first thing we’d do would be to head for the casino’s Sport Book. There we would get the driver odds and make our bets.
We checked into The Mirage, went to our rooms and threw down our luggage. Then we beat feet for the Sports Book.
We saw the driver odds. We were delighted because what we saw provided proof of our theories.
We figured the bookies wouldn’t know all that much about NASCAR and perhaps even less about the drivers. It followed, we reasoned, that the odds would be somewhat askew.
And they were. Dale Earnhardt and Gordon were the favorites, no surprise there, but listed at 15-to-1 were Mark Martin and Jeff Burton, then teammates at Roush Fenway Racing. Between them they had won seven races in 1997, all but one on tracks of a mile or more in distance. Vegas was a 1.5-mile facility.
“Guys,” I said, “those odds are too high for those two. Let’s pounce on it.”
They eagerly agreed and we placed out bets. We put $10 each on Martin and Burton.
Real high rollers, weren’t we? Please remember we were sports writers, not oil barons.
At the track, I sidled up to Burton and said, “Hey, I put some money down on you.”
“Don’t jinx me!” he hissed.
“I put some down on Mark, too,” I said.
“We’re ruined!”
Dale Jarrett, driving a Ford for Robert Yates Racing, won the pole. Martin took the seventh starting position while Burton could do no better than 15th.
“Good lord, I’ve jinxed him,” I thought. I made it a point to stay away from him for the rest of the weekend.
As race day approached the odds at the Sports Book changed dramatically. Jarrett was listed as one of the favorites while Martin and Burton both dropped to 5-to-1. The oddsmakers had gotten wise.
The race couldn’t have gone better for those of us who had leapt on the long odds for Martin and Burton.
Martin led 87 laps, more than any other driver, and beat Burton, who led 37 laps, to the finish line by 1.605 seconds. It was a Roush sweep. In fact, the team’s two other drivers, Ted Musgrave and Chad Little, finished among the top 10.
When the checkered flag fell a few of us were giddy. We were rich! Well, at least by our standards. And, no, we did not cheer in the press box.
We all swore we were going to keep our winnings. When you get ahead at Vegas that’s the time you should quit.
Of course, we didn’t.
My profits were soon returned to The Mirage. I left Vegas practically broke and in severe need of sleep.
I told myself there was always next year.
When it comes to Vegas, I’ve told myself that same thing for many years.

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Cope Admits 500 Victory Gives Him Some Clout

February 12, 2011 By 1 Comment

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Because NASCAR dramatically changed eligibility requirements for the Budweiser Shootout, old-line driver Derrike Cope, and some others, were afforded what Cope called “a golden opportunity.”

The special event used to be reserved only for pole winners from the previous season. But in 2011, NASCAR expanded the eligibility requirements. One of them declared that past Daytona 500 winners could compete in the Shootout.

Cope is one of them. He raced in the Shootout in Larry Gunselman’s Toyota and finished 14th of the 14 cars remaining in the race.

Cope was eligible for the Shootout because he was the winner of the 1990 Daytona 500 in one of the most improbable finishes in the race’s history.

Dale Earnhardt, at that time winless in the 500 although he had earned victories in every other race at Daytona International Speedway, was leading the last lap in Richard Childress’ Chevrolet.

Everyone believed he was at last destined for victory.
Cope, driving for the fledgling Bob Whitcomb Racing team, also in a Chevrolet, ran second. It was going to be a good day for him.
It got better.

As the two cars sped down the backstretch, Earnhardt suddenly slowed and drifted low on the track – allowing Cope to pass. Something was wrong.

Cope, as stunned as everyone in attendance, had only to keep all four wheels on the track to secure the victory.
Earnhardt suffered a cut tire after he ran over a piece of bell housing. Cruel fate had denied him again.

Dutifully, the media reported Cope’s victory. But not one of them thought it was anything less than a fluke – even though Cope, in second place, had run very well.

Earnhardt probably received more attention than Cope simply because the man known as “The Intimidator” had failed to win the Daytona 500 – again.

Cope was in only his third full year of Sprint Cup competition when he won the 500. Later in the year he won at Dover, which was not a fluke.

Those are the only two victories of Cope’s career.
He hasn’t raced full-time, or something close to it, on the Cup circuit since 1998.

But he still races now and then. And, except for a three-year period from 2006-2008 during which he didn’t compete, he’s always shown up for the Daytona 500.

However, the last time he actually drove in the race was in 2004. It’s been rough going since. He failed to qualify three times, in 2005, 2009 and last season.
He’ll try again this year, again in Gunselman’s Toyota.

The fact that he’s continued to simply find rides, much less race, amazes some. They reason he’s gotten a lot of mileage out of his Daytona 500 victory.

Cope heartily agrees. He believes that any driver with a 500 victory has some power – bargaining and otherwise – that can produce benefits.

“Well, it got me to this dance (the Shootout) didn’t it?” Cope said. “You bring a lot to the table when you put ‘Daytona 500 winner’ next to your name.

“It indicates competitiveness and the ability to perform at racing’s highest level. So when you are in a boardroom, applying for some money, it’s the kind of thing that can put you right back at Daytona, so that’s a good thing.

“And you can keep racing here and there.”

Over the years Cope has established a successful shock absorber shop and has been a television commentator. He’s also run some Nationwide Series races.

Starting at Daytona, he’s scheduled to do so again in Jay Robinson’s cars.
So he keeps on racing.

Since Cope is now 52 years old, that he keeps on truckin’ begs the question, why?

“I physically love to drive a race car,” Cope said. “At places like Daytona, Talladega, Michigan, Atlanta and Charlotte – the fast places – the speed is just the draw for me.

“You get challenges like the one here at Daytona with the new pavement. That’s just another aspect you want to experience. You want to absorb everything you can while you can.”

So when does Cope cease the absorption process? It’s not likely to be soon.

“Mark Martin and I talked last night,” Cope said. “And we agreed we aren’t going to let anyone else dictate to us when we should retire.
“We are going to keep doing this as long as we want to keep doing it. We are going to absorb it for as long as we can.

“And, when it comes time to make that conscious decision, then that’s when we’ll do it.”
Looks like Cope is going to put a few more miles on that 1990 Daytona 500 victory.

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A Remembrance Of Earnhardt The Man, Not The Driver

February 8, 2011 By 2 Comments

As we all know it has been 10 years since Dale Earnhardt’s death on the last lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001.

Much has already been written about the driver, who he was, what he meant to the sport and the icon he became. He was, perhaps, a true hero to racing fans not so much because he was a great competitor, which he was, but also because he represented the everyman.

He was one but he transcended that. He was a blue collar guy who lifted himself, through many struggles and sacrifices, to the top of his profession.

In doing so he asked no quarter and gave none. To many he was the purest image of the rugged stock car driver. Certainly he had his detractors. But no one, not even his rivals, could deny his skills. Nor could they ever question his leadership in the garage area and beyond.

None of that need be repeated here.
Instead I would prefer to reflect on Earnhardt the man, a part of whom most were not privileged to see. I was.

It can honestly be said that when Earnhardt considered someone a friend he was generous and caring – almost to a fault. I was able to learn that firsthand.

I initially encountered Earnhardt through a good friend, the late Joe Whitlock, who, over 30 years ago, was Earnhardt’s confidant and public relations representative.

Earnhardt had just begun his career in Winston Cup racing. He won the rookie of the year title in 1979, the same year he won for the first time. I – and many others – had written much about him.

Through Whitlock I got to interact with Earnhardt away from the track. I got to know him as a person. He shared his personal thoughts with me and me with him.

In 1980 Earnhardt won the Cup title. He was invited to be Grand Marshal of the Concord, N.C., Christmas parade that year. He would be driven down the city’s main street as something of a conquering hero.

I drove from Roanoke, Va., to Lake Norman, N.C., his home, to join in the celebration.
I had no expectation of what was to happen.
“Listen up, Waid,” Earnhardt said. “I want you to drive the car I’m in during the parade.”
I didn’t ask him why for a simple reason. He had asked me. By the force of his personality I was required to do it.

And so it was that I drove Earnhardt, who basked atop the T-roof Pontiac Grand Prix that I guided through Concord, in the Christmas parade of 1980.

It was a very pleasant journey. The Charlotte Observer’s Tom Higgins was in the back seat serving as, uh, our bartender.

I cannot begin to tell you the attention and admiration Earnhardt attracted. Men, women and children were thrilled by his attendance.

During the route of the parade I often stopped so fans could get his autograph.
After a while Earnhardt told me to keep going.
“Waid if you keep stopping we will never get through this,” he said.
So I didn’t.
But when the parade ended Earnhardt steadfastly signed every autograph opportunity extended to him.
In 1981 I came from Virginia to North Carolina to join a publication then known as Grand National Scene.
The very day I arrived I was informed that Earnhardt wanted me to join him for a cookout.
I went to his handsome home in Doolie, N.C., on the shores of Lake Norman.
After I had dinner with several of his friends, Earnhardt took me aside.
“Look,” he said. “I’m pretty sure you don’t have a permanent place to live here yet.”
He guided me to the lower level of his house.

“Look at this,” he said. “I have all of this I don’t use. You can have your own bedroom, your own bathroom and even your own private entrance into the house.

“Live here with me. It won’t cost you anything because I don’t use it. I’m not even here most of the time. Take it.”
I couldn’t. I told Earnhardt it just would not be right for an editor of a NASCAR newspaper to live with its reigning champion.
He understood.
But I realized then the kind of man he really was.

Over the years Earnhardt and I interacted over many matters – most of them racing, to be sure, but we also talked about life, politics, relationships and so much more.

He often asked me for advice. I did likewise and he gave it freely.
For some reason he began to call me “Wages.” He did so until he died.
There is one thing that I have always remembered.
It happened during the Concord Christmas parade.
I stopped the car. Earnhardt disapproved.
A kid, maybe 15 or so, ran up and extended a piece of paper and a pen for an autograph.
He said, “Dale Earnhardt, you really got it made, don’t you?
I don’t know if Earnhardt thought that at the time.
But that kid knew.
And now, years later and after the passing of an icon, we all know.

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Is 2011 The Year Of Gordon’s Redemption?

February 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

By this time many of us might have thought Jeff Gordon would have already won perhaps 100 races and matched Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt with seven career Sprint Cup championships.

After all, he averaged over eight wins per season during the first five years of his career and, at one time, was so singular in his performances on the track that many thought he might well eclipse anything NASCAR has ever known.

Think of it. From 1994, just one season after he first competed on the full schedule with Hendrick Motorsports, until 1998, Gordon won a remarkable 42 races and three championships. In the year he did not win a title, 1996, he finished second to Hendrick teammate Terry Labonte.

He was so astonishing on the tracks, and at such a tender young age, he earned the nickname “Wonder Boy,” given to him by the late Dale Earnhardt. Don’t think Gordon was overly fond of it.

I remember Gordon’s unheralded debut in Atlanta in the fall of 1992. It was the race in which Petty made his last career start and Alan Kulwicki ultimately won the championship by 10 points over Bill Elliott, the closest margin in NASCAR history. Gordon finished 31st.

I also remember the first time I saw Gordon away from the track. It was at a cocktail party in downtown Charlotte thrown by Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Tom Higgins, then with the Charlotte Observer, and I were standing at one of the many bars. A baby-faced Gordon, with his wispy moustache, walked in somewhat wide-eyed.

He stepped up to the bar and ordered a Coke – as you might expect. When served he asked, “How much?”

Higgins and I knew we had just seen someone who had never been invited to a cocktail party.

“There’s no charge,” we said.
“Good evening, Mr. Waid and Mr. Higgins,” Gordon said.
“Son, Mr. Higgins is my father,” Higgins said. “Call me Tom. This is Steve.”

At that time, which was well before Gordon made his victory and championship runs, neither of us had any idea of what he would achieve – or did anyone else, for that matter.

As Gordon accomplished what he did during the first half-dozen years of his career some fans grew to resent him.

They felt he was a driver simply handed everything needed to succeed. He hooked up with one of NASCAR’s best teams, armed with top equipment and personnel. Anyone with a modicum of talent, they said, could win in such a situation. He was a driver who had a silver spoon shoved into his mouth. He never paid his dues.

This is balderdash, of course.

Gordon’s talents were honed from the time he was barely able to walk. With the guidance of his family he raced open-wheel and Sprint Cars all across the country – and very successfully.

It was only after team owner Rick Hendrick, who has always had an eye for talent, saw him drive the wheels off a Nationwide Series car that Gordon got his break to enter the top echelon of NASCAR.

Let’s move forward in time. Gordon is now 38 years old. He hasn’t been called “Wonder Boy” in years. He’s an established NASCAR star. He won his fourth, and to date last, title in 2001.

But as quickly as his career soared early it has since fallen back to earth.

Other than in 2007, when he won six races and finished second in the Chase, his career has been far less productive than it once was. He didn’t make the Chase in 2005. His last victory came at Texas in the spring of 2009, which means he’s won just once since 2008.

Mired in a victory drought, Gordon undoubtedly views the 2011 season as one of redemption. He’ll compete with a new crew chief, Alan Gustafson, who came aboard after an off-season Hendrick shuffle. Gustafson was formerly Mark Martin’s pit boss.
Gordon hopes to find chemistry with Gustafson but nothing is guaranteed.

Gordon also feels there is nothing seriously wrong with his team. It doesn’t need sweeping change. He thinks with some small alterations; some tweaking, it will get better. And he knows it needs to be. The competition is stronger than ever.

Gordon maintains age has not diminished his skills nor has fatherhood dulled his competitiveness. He feels he still wants to win as strongly as he did in his youth.

But, as he said during the Sprint Cup Media Tour, he can’t make things better by himself – nor can his crew chief.

“We have to capitalize on opportunities to get wins, to create chemistry and confidence and keep that going all year long,” Gordon said. “That’s going to take teamwork.”

There was a time when we’d never hear those words from Gordon. But things change.
And every top driver has gone through a slump. The great ones break out of it.
It’s very likely Gordon looks at 2011 as his chance to do just that.

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When Sabates Speaks His Mind Everyone Listens – Or Should

January 25, 2011 By 1 Comment

Felix Sabates, co-owner of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (now there’s a mouthful) is never shy about expressing his opinions.

He is one of the most outspoken people in NASCAR. He unabashedly says what he feels. If you listen to him and don’t get his point, well, you’re not really listening.

Sabates is not only informative, he’s also entertaining. He can be very funny and often is. But make no mistake. He’s from Cuba and has displayed the quick temper associated with the Latin heritage.

Following an incident involving one of his drivers, I’ve seen Sabates throw down his headset, stalk down pit road to the offending competitor’s stall and heatedly speak his mind – with finger waving.

Much more often, however, Sabates is downright engaging and is quick to flash his singular smile.

Sabates’ natural talents have obviously served him well. He started to build his fortune decades ago as a car salesman – and I’m sure you know how verbally persuasive those guys can be.

He’s still selling cars. But he’s long since moved from Dodge to Mercedes. Oh, and he can tell you how to acquire a handsome new yacht, if that’s your wish.

Sabates broke into NASCAR in 1989 with a new Winston Cup team called Sabco Racing and driver Kyle Petty.
As time passed he and Ganassi became partners and then merged with Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Sabates is, as you might suspect, a media magnet. He knows the value of a good relationship with the press, to which he’s always been accessible. I’ve been doing this a lot of years and Sabates is the only team owner who has not only given me his cell phone number, he’s also always – always – returned my calls.

Being who he is, a couple of days ago Sabates was a target at the Sprint Media Tour Presented by Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Surrounded by reporters and their digital recorders, Sabates was in his element.
He was asked about various subjects. And he responded in true from. Here are some of his comments:
– About the new point system NASCAR will, reportedly, enforce in 2011:

“If NASCAR changes the point system, I think that’s great. The system we got now, well, Einstein couldn’t figure it out. If anyone says they understand it that’s b.s. They’re lying.

“I think 43-1 in points is great. But I also think NASCAR needs to throw away a driver’s four worst races of the year so all that count to the Chase are 22 instead of 26. That would change the whole dynamics of the Chase.

“Say, if you have a wreck or the driver does something stupid in the car or the crew chief makes a bad call and you lose a lap. One bad situation or call shouldn’t make a season.

“As for paying extra points for winning, I have a theory. If you pay 10 points for first place and five for second and third, so they pay something, I think you’ll see different and better racing.”

– On the impending 10th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s death in the Daytona 500:

“I think Dale Earnhardt getting killed has forced NASCAR to make a lot of improvements in safety, but then, it was going in that direction anyway. But after the accident NASCAR put in some systems that are pretty darn good today.

“Dale and I had a good relationship away from the track. He would stay with me on my yacht at Daytona and we’d wake up at 5:30 every morning and have coffee.

“He would be so pissed off over the changes today. He wouldn’t have liked any of it. He was from the old school and probably would have driven without seatbelts if they’d let him.

“To him a race car had four wheels and it was up to you to drive it. He would probably say the cars of today drive themselves but, of course, they don’t. You still have to have someone mashing the gas. I think he would have a hard time adjusting to the things we have today.”

– Sabates did, at times, go chin-to-chin with the late Bill France Jr., the former CEO of NASCAR with whom he was friends. His son Brian has taken over and made many sweeping changes.

“The big difference between today and the days before Brian is that Bill Jr. was a benevolent dictator. It was his way or the highway.

“Brian has always tried to get input from a lot of people and he does. I don’t know if that is good or bad but I like the way he does things. I also liked the way Bill Jr. did things – you don’t like it, get the hell out of here. You don’t have to race.

“But, to be honest, the whole economic situation has changed over the last four or five years. It was nothing Brian did wrong, the whole world went to crap.

“Over the last two years I think the economy has been the culprit for all that has happened in NASCAR. I really do. I don’t think it had anything to do with anyone in NASCAR, it was just that the economy put the sport behind the eight ball.

“It’s a different situation for different teams. Rick Hendrick has a large network of auto dealerships. If he never made a dime in racing it doesn’t matter to him.

“I think if he had to pull $20 million out of his own pocket that wouldn’t matter to him. I don’t think there are a lot of owners who put their own money into their teams, especially over the last two years. Jack Roush hasn’t done it because he can’t afford it.

“As I’ve said, what’s happened has nothing to do with Brian. But in the next two or three years we will be able to tell if the changes he’s made will hold up.”

Feel free to agree or disagree with him, but you have to admit Felix Sabates makes, without reservation, his opinions known.

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