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Tag: Marty Robbins

  • Hot 20 – Who will be left singing the blues at Darlington, where some memories just won’t die?

    Hot 20 – Who will be left singing the blues at Darlington, where some memories just won’t die?

    Who is the greatest country singer ever associated with NASCAR? There has been Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, Brad Paisley, Brooks and Dunn, Hank Williams Jr., Toby Keith, Cledus T. Judd, and lately Blake Shelton. That is a pretty impressive list of talent and it is far from complete. However, there is no question that the King of NASCAR Country was Marty Robbins.

    While he is best known for singing White Sport Coat, El Paso, and My Woman, My Woman, My Wife, among his 17 Number One hits and 82 Top 40 entries, Robbins raced. Between 1966 and 1982, he managed to get into 35 Cup events, claiming six Top Tens along the way. He drove them, Hall of Famer Cotton Owens prepared them.

    As the boys and girl head to Darlington for the Southern 500, we should remember that the singer once finished seventh in the iconic race back in 1971. A year later, he was ninth again behind the wheel of the No. 42 at the Lady in Black. When you race, you wreck, and he did. A pileup in Talladega in 1974 left him with some 37 stitches in his face. The same year at Charlotte, he deliberately wrecked to avoid a t-bone collision with Richard Childress, some saying the action may well have saved the future Hall of Famer’s life.

    He was a legitimate driver. His results were legitimate. Well, all but one. His Talladega result in the spring of 1972 was not. Robbins was disqualified. When they tried to give him rookie honors, he declined, then had the officials check out his carburetor. It was as illegal as it gets. He just wanted to know what it felt like to drive up front with the big boys. I do not believe NASCAR was terribly impressed as they dropped him to 50th. Finishing up front that day was David Pearson, and it marked the debut of one Darrell Waltrip.

    This weekend, Darlington features throwback paint schemes for both the XFINITY event as well as the Southern 500. Michigan winner Kyle Larson will be one of a half dozen Cup guys in that Saturday contest. His paint scheme in that race will honor Marty Robbins.

    As Chris Buescher attempts to stay in the Chase by keeping ahead of David Ragan in the standings, and while Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, and Jamie McMurray try to protect their own championship hopes, here is a look at whom or what our Hot 20 honor with their paint schemes heading into Sunday’s Southern 500.

    1. BRAD KESELOWSKI – 4 WINS (774 Pts)
    Original Miller Lite can design of 1972

    2. KYLE BUSCH – 4 WINS (696 Pts)
    Dale Jarrett’s No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet

    3. KEVIN HARVICK – 2 WINS (799 Pts)
    Cale Yarborough and the 1979 Daytona 500

    4. CARL EDWARDS – 2 WINS (724 Pts)
    Tony Stewart, who made his debut in 1999

    5. DENNY HAMLIN – 2 WINS (691 Pts)
    Darrell Waltrip, behind the wheel of the No. 11 from 1981-86

    6. JIMMIE JOHNSTON – 2 WINS (648 Pts)
    David Pearson and Dale Earnhardt of the late 1970s and early 1980s

    7. MATT KENSETH – 2 WINS (633 Pts)
    Ricky Rudd’s 1995 Tide ride

    8. KURT BUSCH – 1 WIN (721 Pts)
    The Haas VF-1 vertical machining center, introduced in 1988.

    9. JOEY LOGANO – 1 WIN (716 Pts)
    Bobby Labonte’s Busch series, Shell-sponsored car of 1996-98

    10. MARTIN TRUEX JR. – 1 WIN (652 Pts)
    Sponsor Auto-Owners Insurance’s 100th anniversary

    11. KYLE LARSON – 1 WIN (582 Pts)
    Chip Ganassi Racing’s IndyCar history, going back to 1990, with seven championships, 90 wins

    12. TONY STEWART – 1 WIN (420 Pts)
    Bobby Allison and his five Southern 500 victories

    13. CHRIS BUESCHER – 1 WIN (334 Pts)
    Tribute to sponsor Love’s Travel Stops, in its original 1981 colors

    14. CHASE ELLIOTT – 628 POINTS
    NAPA’s delivery trucks of the 1960s

    15. AUSTIN DILLON – 622 POINTS
    Saluting first Childress win, with Ricky Rudd, in 1983

    16. JAMIE MCMURRAY – 616 POINTS
    Bill Elliott in his 1997 colors

    17. RYAN NEWMAN – 601 POINTS
    Ricky Rudd’s first Childress win of 1983 at Riverside, California

    18. KASEY KAHNE – 564 POINTS
    Tribute to Terry Labonte and his 1982 J.D. Stacy-sponsored Buick

    19. TREVOR BAYNE – 558 POINTS
    Mark Martin, 619 Starts, 35 wins in the No. 6 from 1988 to 2006

    20. RYAN BLANEY – 545 POINTS
    David Pearson’s 43 wins during the 1970s piloting the No. 21 for the Wood Brothers

  • NASCAR, we have a problem

    NASCAR, we have a problem

    It has been said that there has been cheating going on in NASCAR since they first started. Yes, advantages were sought, but usually it was to make the car go faster in order to win, not to throw the race in order to fix an outcome.

    Richard Petty, the King himself, got caught winning with an engine that was not just a bit too big but more like super sized. Country singer Marty Robbins turned down rookie of the race honors after racing at Talladega in 1972 as he had modified the restrictor plate just to see what it was like to run like Richard Petty. Some boys have run with nitrous oxide bottles, some with expanded gas tanks, others with modified car frames, and the list goes on and on.

    So, what is the big deal? Well, fixing the outcome of a contest gets you tossed for life out of baseball. Shoeless Joe Jackson would have been in the Hall of Fame 60 years ago if not for that 1919 World Series. Fixing the outcome in NASCAR should come with consequences, as well, if you do not want it to go the route of professional wrestling. Goodbye six figured prize money, multi-million dollar sponsorship deals, national television contracts, and goodbye to all those fans who expect to see a real contest presenting an outcome not fixed before or during a race.

    If not for Michael Waltrip Racing, Joey Logano would probably have finished 25th instead of 22nd at Richmond. If he had, Logano would have needed to use his wild card eligibility to make it through, beating out both Martin Truex Jr and Ryan Newman, with Jeff Gordon advancing by finishing 10th in the standings. If not for David Gilliland, Logano would have finished 23rd, tied with Gordon in points but still finishing tenth due to having a win, something Gordon does not yet have this season.

    From listening to the in-car radio, it appears Logano’s team big wigs made a deal with Gilliland’s outfit to allow Joey to move past and into 22nd spot on the final lap. Just some insurance, as in the end the spot was not crucial to deciding the final pre-Chase standings. Still, the fix was in, even if it turned out to be unnecessary. Of course, it become unnecessary only because of Bowyer’s spin and the fact both his car and that of Brian Vickers made, some contend, very unnecessary pit stops to allow Logano to move up a couple of spots in the first place.

    More worrisome, there was already chatter to play “Let’s Make A Deal” between Penske and Front Row before Bowyer even went for his slide. That should be a huge red flag for anybody. It may have turned out to be unnecessary in the end, but that was not the case when they started talking.

    Just as you can not fix a baseball game, in this day and age you can not fix a NASCAR race. If you do not believe me, check out the reaction of those MWR sponsors who do not seem very happy about all this. If I have not yet made my point, imagine a major league baseball player going on Twitter to even jokingly discuss fixing a game. That boy’s ass would be grass and the Commissioner would be just jumping at the bit to take his mower to that lawn.

    Can we stop cheating in NASCAR? Nope. Can we make damn sure those on whom we have evidence that they did cheat pay the price? Damn right we can. Cheat if you must, bu if you get caught cheating there should be hell to pay. If NASCAR prefers to continue having its big awards banquet at venues like the Wynn Las Vegas Luxury Resort and Casino instead of the Economy Motel in Rockingham, North Carolina, they damn well better make sure that is the case.