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Tag: NASCAR Hall of Fame

Mark Martin Returns Home to his Racing Family

During his career, Mark Martin exemplified the best of NASCAR. He was a rare combination of an intense competitive spirit tempered with a moral code that garnered respect both on and off the track. When he retired in 2013, the sport lost one of its most esteemed ambassadors.

Martin, however, will soon return to NASCAR in a different role.

On May 25, he was announced as one of five inductees into the 2017 class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. To celebrate the occasion, Martin traveled to a racetrack for the first time in two and a half years to drive the pace car for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a place Martin refers to as “my favorite racetrack.” While there, he spoke about the importance of safeguarding the history of NASCAR.

“The NASCAR Hall of Fame, I’ve been a big supporter of from the get-go,” Martin said. “It is so important to our sport as we move forward to preserve the history and the people that were there before us and the people that paved the way for the current competitors and the future competitors and fans, as well.

“There are so many people that are in the NASCAR Hall of Fame that are my heroes that it’s pretty incredible to think that I’m going to join them in that Hall. It’s something that I didn’t expect to happen in my lifetime so it’s happened sooner than I would have ever dreamed if it would happen at all.”

“It’s an incredible privilege, an honor and I’m extremely humbled by the opportunity to be a part of the NASCAR Hall of fame.”

Martin also admitted that while he has been enjoying his life since retirement, he has begun to miss his family at the track.

“I want to explain that for me, looking out my windshield is very exciting right now,” he said. “When I look in my rearview mirror it is a very, very foggy view of driving racecars. I’m cool with what’s in my windshield right now, really cool, really excited. That being said, I’m saying I don’t miss driving racecars, but I have missed the people. The longer it’s gone, the more I’ve missed.

“In the last two months, I’ve really noticed that I miss the fans, I miss the competitors and I miss the members of the media, the journalists and all that were around the racetrack that were my family.”

When asked about the greatest moment of his career, Martin went back to the start of his career before joining Jack Roush’s team.

“The greatest sense of pride I have is not what I accomplished when I started driving for Jack Roush to the day I hung the helmet up in 2013, it is really what happened before I got the ride at Jack Roush,” Martin explained.

“In 1981, the IROC Series, some of the crown jewels that made that possible especially the 1981 five Cup races, the car that we built. There are a lot of good old stories there that I like to tell because it’s fascinating. It’s quite different now because you don’t have the leeway.

“A guy from Indiana that was living and racing in Indiana could not do that today, build a Cup car and make it special and make it fast enough that it could sit on the pole in the third race they entered. That’s an interesting story and it’s something I’m really proud of.”

From those humble beginnings, Martin’s career in the Sprint Cup Series spanned 31 years and included five runner-up finishes in the championship standings. Although he never achieved championship status, Martin is proud of what he accomplished throughout three decades in the sport. He has 40 Cup wins, 49 XFINITY wins, seven victories in the Truck Series and he captured 13 checkered flags in the IROC Series.

“Look, I don’t have a Daytona 500 trophy,” Martin said, “and I don’t have a championship trophy, and I said many times that when people would complain about my not having one of those, I would ask the question, ‘How would my life be different if I had one?’ And, I truly believe that my life would not be very different. But my life will be different from now on because I’m in that Hall because that is my crown jewel.

“That speaks of not one year worth of success, not one great achievement, but a body of work, and that’s what I’m proud of.”

He may not have the hardware, but he is a champion in every sense of the word. Welcome home, Mark Martin, you have been missed.

June 3, 2016
NASCAR Must Drop Animosity Toward Smokey Yunick

Any race fan who has been around the sport for the past 20-plus years knows who Smokey Yunick was. He was a genius on top of the pit box and under the hood. He was a brilliant inventor, a crass scoundrel, a blunt straight-shooting American who loved racing. He had a keen eye when it came to true racers and knew what it took to make his cars fast. He had a huge role to play in the early growth of NASCAR, and without Yunick, there is no telling where the sport would be in this day and age.

Sadly, it looks like NASCAR hasn’t really recognized that and won’t be doing so anytime soon.

Anyone who has read Yunick’s tell-all autobiography “Smokey’s Best Damn Garage in Town” would see quickly that Yunick’s thoughts on the France family weren’t exactly rosy.

“During our first meeting, I decided [Bill] France [Sr.] wouldn’t make a pimple on a real mechanic’s ass. And I doubt he left singing the praises of Smokey.”

Despite all this, Yunick and France continued on a working, civil level that saw Yunick-powered race cars win championships with Herb Thomas and the No. 92 Hudson Hornet. He even won a Daytona 500 with Marvin Panch in 1961, furthering his status as a NASCAR giant. Yet following another quarrel with France Sr., Yunick quit the sport for good in 1970.

Among Yunick’s contributions to the sport (aside from legends and colorful stories), Yunick is well known for pursuit of driver safety, only to be met with resistance from the NASCAR sanctioning body. For example, prior to 2001, and prior to Dale Earnhardt’s death in that year’s Daytona 500, Yunick held a patent for a padded tire barrier, a precursor to today’s SAFER barrier. It was technology that he first experimented with in the 60s, using old tires between sheets of plywood. However, his idea was rejected by NASCAR.

Another major pursuit by Yunick regards fuel cells. In the early days of NASCAR, fuel tanks were made out of steel and were prone to catching fire in accidents. Initially, he installed a steel guard to protect the tank, but NASCAR didn’t allow it. So Yunick then tried to go with a rubber fuel tank with help from Firestone and Goodyear. Around this time, Fireball Roberts, a driver whom Yunick was very close with, was killed in a fiery accident at the 1964 World 600 at Charlotte.

“He expressed frustration with NASCAR and their refusal to make safety improvements, saying, ‘When the hell are they gonna get to doing something? Maybe after next Ace gets it?’” said Yunick’s daughter Trish. Roberts was set to marry her aunt, when he passed, making Yunick’s pursuit of safety both business and personal.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL- February 12, 1960: Glen Fireball Roberts led all 40 laps to win the first 100-mile qualifying race for the Daytona 500 NASCAR Cup event at Daytona International Speedway. Roberts was driving a 1960 Pontiac owned by John Hines and wrenched by Henry Smokey Yunick. (Photo by ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images)

He built the rubber fuel tank with a non-metal fuel line, in hopes of cutting down fiery accidents on the track. The design prevented leakage and minimized the risk of igniting a fire following an accident.

Yunick was a master regarding racing physics. He was often concerned with the undeniable physics of race cars in regards to driver safety and worked tirelessly to make the cars safer. He didn’t want to be responsible for the death of a driver and used that as a driving force throughout his time in racing.

History will always remember him as a precursor to Chad Knaus, always working within the gray area of the rules. He knew how to read between the lines of NASCAR’s rule book, and was the bane of the NASCAR garage. But that doesn’t mean he only won because of that savvy. He worked with some of NASCAR’s biggest stars, like Roberts, Curtis Turner, Paul Goldsmith, and Herb Thomas. He had the most talented of drivers running his cars, which meant he was no stranger to winning.

So despite all this, Yunick is continually slighted for a NASCAR Hall of Fame nomination. If he were here today, he might not have minded it as much. That’s understandable. But it would mean more for the sport as well as the fans if he were nominated and inducted into the HoF. But it’s because of the ill-feelings between the Frances and Yunick that he hasn’t had that recognition.

This is unacceptable. For one, Yunick has all the qualifications of a Hall of Fame inductee. It shouldn’t matter if there was bad blood between the Frances and Yunick; this sport is bigger than the both of them. Therefore, this exclusion of Yunick seems petty after all these years. He held firm to his opinions on the Frances, and it’s understandable that they would be upset. But it would take a blind person to not see the good that Yunick did for the sport.

The Frances may have founded NASCAR and may have led the sport throughout the years, but it wasn’t built on the backs of the Frances alone. It was built on the backs of men like Yunick, men like the Pettys, the Earnhardts, the Allisons, the Flocks, and so on. That’s the main thing. Just because of that bad blood, they’re risking the credibility of the sport and the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

That’s not saying that the men already inducted into the Hall of Fame aren’t deserving. Junior Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, Wendell Scott, Richie Evans, and Jack Ingram are just some of the names in the Hall of Fame right now, and all are deserving of that distinction. But as long as the ill feelings towards Yunick and the continual slighting of him from inclusion into the Hall of Fame, then it is guaranteed that the facility’s credibility will never be 100 percent certifiable.

April 5, 2016
NBCSN’s NASCAR America To Unveil NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2017 Nominees

WHAT:

The 20 nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2017 and five nominees for the third Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR will be unveiled live on NBCSN’s NASCAR America.

Five of these nominees and one Landmark Award recipient will be voted in as the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s eighth class on Wednesday, May 25.

WHEN:

Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. ET

WHERE:

NBCSN’s NASCAR America

To locate NBCSN in your area, visit: http://www.nbcsports.com/tv-listings

February 23, 2016
The Class of 2016 Has Officially Taken Their Place

Five men will forever be immortalized among the greatest in all of NASCAR.

Today in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina, the class of 2016 was officially inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Each of their respective careers has, in part, laid the foundation for the sport of NASCAR. Jerry Cook was a decorated modified driver and competition administrator for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Series, Bobby Isaac was a champion in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and holds the record for most poles in a single season, “Texas Terry” Labonte was an accomplished driver in the Sprint Cup Series, Bruton Smith was a promoter who took our sport to new places and Curtis Turner was one of the pioneer drivers of NASCAR.

Ryan Newman started the ceremony by inducting Bobby Isaac. Photo: Bob Leverone/NASCAR via Getty Images

Isaac was the first to be inducted today by the driver of the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Ryan Newman.

“Winning a pole in NASCAR’s premier series means you’ve taken your race car right to the edge of mayhem,” Newman said. “One false move equals disaster. Perfection equals glory, and our next inductee did it better than anyone. His 19 poles in 1969 still stand as NASCAR’s single-season record. I know I’ve tried to beat it. Also a skilled racer, he won 37 races and took home the premier series championship in 1970. He sat on the pole many times, and now he stands at NASCAR’s pinnacle.”

Isaac’s wife Patty Isaac accepted the induction on behalf of her late husband who died of a heart attack on Aug. 14, 1977, just a day after competing in a Late Model Sportsman race at Hickory Motor Speedway.

Ironically, Hickory is where Isaac discovered his love of racing. Born into a poor family, Issac “attended a race at Hickory Speedway,” said Patty. “Not having enough money to purchase a ticket, he watched the race from a tree outside the track. He was inspired to believe that racing was his opportunity for a better life. Bobby soon realized that God had blessed him with the ambition and talent to be a race car driver. He loved to win, but he hated to lose, and he used this passion to drive his success.”

She then talked about how two events at Talladega Superspeedway changed Issac’s life forever.

“On September 14, 1969, he chose to compete in the opening event while most of the well-known drivers boycotted for safety concerns,” she said. “Mr. France recognized Bobby’s contribution to the success of that race and his speedway and rewarded him with a Rolex watch engraved with these words: “Winners never quit; quitters never win.” It became his most prized possession. The second event was on August 12, 1973, when midway through the race, a voice told him to park this thing. He pitted the Bud Moore car and announced his retirement.”

Jerry Cook joined fellow modified driver Richie Evans in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Photo: Streeter Lecka/NASCAR via Getty Images

The next to speak was three-time Sprint Cup Series champion, Tony Stewart.

“Any day, anytime, anywhere, and against anyone,” Stewart said. “That was the attitude that possessed our next inductee, and that’s why I admire him so much. His competitive spirit knew no end, and combined with ferocious talent, landed him six modified championships, and today one of my favorite drivers takes his rightful place amongst the immortals in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.”

After being introduced by Robin Pemberton, Cook took the stage to accept his induction into the hall, saying it was “a little overwhelming. This is the greatest honor in NASCAR, and to have a place in our sport’s house is the ultimate achievement. Congratulations to the other inductees, also.”

He talked about his beginnings and career in the sport. He even acknowledged that the stories of he and Richie Evans leaving town in different directions just so they wouldn’t let each other know where they were racing that night were all true. That got a huge laugh out of the crowd.

“I think the rivalry between Richie and I made us both better drivers,” he said. “From 1971 to 1985, we claimed all the NASCAR modified championships and were tied at six championships each when I retired in 1982.”

In 1982, he took a position with NASCAR as a competition administrator where he remains to this day. “I went to work with the weekly tracks and the modifieds that I knew so well. I launched what is now the Whelen Modified Tour along with the late, great Jim Hunter, and we restarted Busch North Series, which is now the K&N Pro Series East. I was even an interim pace car driver for the Cup races for a while until a new driver could be hired.”

Kevin Harvick inducts Curtis Turner. Photo: Streeter Lecka/NASCAR via Getty Images

After awarding the Landmark Award to Darlington Raceway founder Harold Brasington, 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick took the stage to induct Turner into the hall.

“Known as the Babe Ruth of stock car racing, this pioneer entertained NASCAR’s earliest fans with not only his ability to whip a car around the track but also with his colorful personality away from the wheel,” Harvick said. “More than 45 years since his final race, this sultan of speed remains the only driver to win two consecutive races from the pole leading every lap.”

Accepting the award on Turner’s behalf was his daughter Margret Sue Turner Wright. She said that despite his lack of education, her father “taught himself how to write a contract, and he wrote a lot of contracts, a lot of businesses, and his life became busier with traveling, and so soon he decided he really needed to fly in the air instead of on the road. He needed to take flying lessons. So he took some flying lessons, and I saw mom and dad studying. Ann Ross Turner, who’s our mom, she was his supporter throughout his racing career, and she was quizzing him in that living room just about every night on either law books or for the flying. He did pass the test, and he bought his first plane, a Piper Cub.”

She then told the story of how he “was going to go to Charlotte and wanted to know if I’d like to go along. I was about nine. He said he wanted to show me something he was working on. So we left Roanoke, and we drove towards Charlotte, and near it, we eventually got out on the side of a road. So we got out, and there was just this big meadow, and he said, ‘I want you to look at this big field, meadow, and this is where I’m going to build the best racetrack there’s ever been.’ And while he was showing me and talking about it, I could tell he was really seeing it. I could only see grass. I just couldn’t get that. So I realized later he was a visionary.”

She referred to how her father had plans that would lead to what would become Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Bruton Smith, accompanied by son Marcus, took his place in the hall. Photo: Streeter Lecka/NASCAR via Getty Images

The next inductee, hands down, stole the show. It was fitting that the man to induct Bruton Smith was a driver who’s never shy on giving his opinions, 2012 Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski.

I’m not going to give away too much of his speech if by chance some of you missed it. If you did, you can listen to it on nascar.com. However, here’s a little taste of his speech.

After his proposal to Pepsi to be the exclusive soft drink provider at Charlotte Motor Speedway for 50-years was rejected, he then said in the way only he could that he “sold an awful lot of Coca-Cola. I mean, we have sold millions and millions of cans of Coca-Cola. As a matter of fact, if we had all the money we took in from selling Coca-Cola, we would have plenty of money and I could give y’all some money tonight because we took in lots of money there. We were selling Coca-Cola.”

He then said what I think was the line of the night.

“So Coca-Cola is still there,” he said. “Coca-Cola is at all eight speedways. We love Coca-Cola. We love what they do, and God bless Coca-Cola and all the employees.”

It should be noted that Bristol Motor Speedway is the only track of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. that sells Pepsi products.

I’ve always joked that Bruton Smith is a “brilliant madman” who could talk until the end of time. If Marcus hadn’t stopped him from doing so, I think he would’ve kept his speech going until the Coca-Cola 600 weekend on Memorial Day.

“I’m losing my bet on your speech,” Marcus said. “I told them you’d be less than eight minutes.” “Well, I apologize,” Bruton said. “Rick Hendrick said if I carried on out to 12 minutes he’d pay me for it. I’m trying to get there, Rick.”

Terry Labonte shakes hands with 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, Kyle Busch as he is inducted into the hall. Photo: Streeter Lecka/NASCAR via Getty Images

Last up was reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch to induct two-time Sprint Cup Series champion Terry Labonte.

“My first full-time season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, I had the pleasure and pressure of following in the footsteps of a living legend,” Busch said. “Saying I had huge shoes to fill was an understatement. Early in his career, the two-time series champion, known as the Ice Man, for his coolness under pressure, later, though, the Texan became known as the sport’s Iron Man when he set the consecutive starts record. Now we have an even better name for him: NASCAR Hall of Famer.”

Labonte took the stage to thank all of those who helped him along the way such as his family and Rick Hendrick. He then transitioned to taking his children Justin and Kristy with him to the race track. He said he wasn’t sure if Kristy liked being there and how he made a terrible mistake when he let members of his pit crew take Justin through Talladega Boulevard. Any NASCAR fan worth their salt knows that some things in the infield at Talladega Superspeedway should forever remain unseen. “I’m not sure exactly what they saw or what they did, but from there on, about every Saturday night when we were at a racetrack, Justin would say, ‘Dad, can we take the golf cart through the infield?’”

He then said that while few drivers get to race in the Sprint Cup Series, even fewer get to race with their brother like he did with 2000 series champion Bobby Labonte. “I’ll tell you what, we had some great years we raced together,” Terry said. “We have some memories that will last a lifetime, and I love you too, buddy.”

He then spent the rest of his time talking about the events in his career that led to this moment. ” You know, I got to do a lot of cool things, got to go a lot of places, and be introduced as a two-time NASCAR champion. But I’ll tell you what: It’s going to be a whole lot better introduced as a NASCAR Hall of Famer.”

January 23, 2016
Finley Factor: Putting A Muzzle On The Dog

The lottery is really just a volunteer tax. Every week thousands upon thousands of people attempt to win it, in spite of the one in million(s) odds. Every week, these same thousands upon thousands of people don’t win the big money and decide to try again next week.

NASCAR’s version of the lottery? The free lap rule.

It’s a fairly easy rule to explain – like the lottery – to explain to those playing. If a caution comes out and a driver is the first a lap or more down (and they did not cause said caution), they become the “lucky dog” and gain a free lap.

Like the lottery, most “lucky dogs” win it by pure luck with no actual indicator of skill. They are simply lapped right before the caution comes out and if it had been even another lap, the leader would have lapped yet another driver. And if there are multiple cautions in a single period, congratulations, everybody gets their lap back!

The reality is that no driver has won a race after winning the free pass in five years now. Kevin Harvick was the last to do so, at Daytona in 2010, and only eight times in the 12-year history of the rule has a driver won after being the “lucky dog”.

If anything, the only factor the free pass rule has on most races is that lapped cars now have extra incentive to “race” each other. This is a code word for “ignore other cars and just get in the way of lead lap cars.”

Other than that, it has no real effect on racing and only serves to make racing sound better in PR statements – “We’ve had X amount of cars finish on the lead lap this year, we’re at the most competitive point in racing history”- and overall is just a waste of time.

Like the lottery.

Sonoma Raceway Preview:

Favorite

Jeff Gordon has to be the favorite this week. Even though he has not won at Sonoma in the past five years, he has an incredible 3.8 average finish over that same period, making Sonoma his best track on the Cup schedule.

Sleeper

Jimmie Johnson only has a single win at a road course but it came here, and like Gordon, he is riding a streak of five top-10s in the last five years here.

One to Watch

I’m interested to see how Kevin Harvick does this week. This is a good track for him, but he only finished 20th here last year. Now that this team has some experience together, they should definitely improve on that.

I’m getting tired of writing about Danica Patrick, especially because I feel she is performing decently this year, but here we go again.

I would like to provide a rebuttal to an article posted on motorsport.com, in particular, one written by news manager Steven Cole Smith about Danica Patrick possibly being a future Hall of Famer.

Overall I feel Mr. Smith didn’t exactly provide a good argument, as there are plenty of holes in his article that should be pointed out. The Orlando Sentential has already looked at one of them, I’m going to do the rest of the hard work.

“And while she may not yet have compiled sheer statistics that would send her to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, the fact that she has been the first female driver to prove that a woman – particularly a woman that isn’t built like a roller derby jammer – can survive season after season in what has always been, and still is, a man’s sport.”

Granted she has finished no higher than 27th in practically Hendrick equipment the last two seasons, but hey, it isn’t like her boss is doing a lot better this year.

“All that said, yes, Patrick doesn’t have a win, but look at her stats this season: As we approach the halfway mark, she is 19th in points, ahead of Greg Biffle (20th), Sam Hornish Jr. (25th), her car owner, Tony Stewart (26th), and her boyfriend, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (28th).

That shows competence. And for a slot in the Hall of Fame, I contend that’s plenty for a pioneer. I’m not remotely saying that her situation mirrors the struggle that Hall of Famer Wendell Scott faced as the first black driver to make a living in NASCAR, but there are similarities.

But Scott’s first real season with NASCAR in 1961 when he competed in 23 of 52 races that year, winning $3,240, came a stunning 52 years before a woman ran a full season, when Patrick did in 2013.”

Competence should never be the skill level of a driver in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The reality is that Wendell Scott was a good driver; he didn’t have the hard stats (i.e. wins) to prove it, but you have to remember his situation. He was running cars out of his backyard and had his children as his primary crew working on them.

Just the fact that he was able to make it to the racetrack was remarkable, never mind his three top-10 points finishes and an average finish of 15th throughout his career.

Granted, those results were a little inflated due to smaller fields and fewer drivers running full time versus today, but Scott still had 147 top-10 finishes in 495 starts, roughly a top-10 every 3.3 races.

Scott was a very consistent driver, similar in many ways to other “strokers” in Cup at the time, including James Hylton and Richard Childress. Nobody had the money the big teams had; they only raced out of pure love for the sport.

Meanwhile, Patrick, save for a fuel mileage win in IndyCar at Motegi, hasn’t won a professional race in 10 years of trying. And for at least the past 10 years, from Motorola to GoDaddy to whatever will be on the No. 10 next season, she has always had big money sponsors.

In seven years in IndyCar, she had an average finish of 10.6 in usually a 20 or so car field, only seven podiums, and a pathetic 124 laps led.

The fact is that she has been a journeyman driver, and as I’ve said, I think her peak is ultimately going to be at the Paul Menard level, she is an incredibly average driver that will contend for a spot in the Chase but probably won’t get it.

“Add to that the attention Patrick brought, and is still bringing, to stock car racing. She arguably brought along her IndyCar fans, as well as female fans who identified more with her than, say, Jimmy Spencer.”

How long did these IndyCar fans stay? Apparently not very long since ratings were down in 2014 after being slightly up in 2013, her rookie year. And even then, with the introduction of the Gen 6 and a few other things, the rating increase in 2013 may not have been only because of Patrick.

Not to mention – what IndyCar fans? NASCAR has been heads and shoulders above IndyCar when it comes to the pure number of fans for many years. IndyCar has been stuck on Versus/NBCSN for years and the only reason NASCAR is going on that network to begin with is to build said network up to someday compete with ESPN. And, of course, I’d cite attendance numbers, but NASCAR doesn’t publically give them out anymore. mainly because of how embarrassing the numbers are, nd are actively tearing down grandstands to reduce seating capacity.

None of this is Patrick’s fault of course, but she definitely brought in either no fans, a miniscule amount of fans long term, or the people she brings in are being outpaced by the people not caring about racing anymore, which is pretty frightening if true.

As far as female fans…. There has always been roughly a 30-40 percent female audience for NASCAR since the 90’s. I’m not going to argue that there are women who became a fan of Patrick when she made the switch, but that doesn’t make a huge difference when the overall number of fans is going down.

“And speaking of IndyCar, no migrant to NASCAR has been able to duplicate the success of Tony Stewart, including Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti and Indy 500 winner Hornish, who is still struggling to establish himself. Patrick has.”

Hold up, hold up. Granted Montoya didn’t “duplicate the success of Tony Stewart,” but he still won races and made the Chase in 2009. Somehow he isn’t as successful as Patrick, who did “duplicate the success of Tony Stewart.” By this point in his Cup career (97 starts), Stewart had 10 wins and 33 top-fives, with a highest points finish of fourth and was in the middle of a season where he’d be the runner up for the championship. Patrick has no wins, no top fives, has a highest points finish of 27th and is on track to finish the current season in the high teens in points. Granted this is a very unfair comparison but I’m not the one making it, I’m just adding numbers to said comparison.

“Is there anyone who can say Danica Patrick hasn’t been very, very good for racing in general, NASCAR in particular?”

Ford has been very, very good for racing in general but I don’t think we’ll be seeing anybody from the Ford family inducted into the Hall of Fame anytime soon.

“Based on what she has done up to now, Danica Patrick is Hall of Fame material. But she’s young (33) and still has time to wow us, possibly by doing the Memorial Day double – the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600.”

To begin with, doing the double is nice but I don’t see Robby Gordon getting the nod to go into the Hall of Fame, and both Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart will go in for their overall body of work.

If I were judging today’s drivers based off of Hall of Fame merit, only 8 full time drivers come to mind as being Hall of Famers as of right now. These drivers are:

Jeff Gordon

Jimmie Johnson

Tony Stewart

Matt Kenseth

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Kevin Harvick

Kurt Busch

Kyle Busch (Remember it’s a NASCAR Hall of Fame, not just Cup merits matter).

Bobby Labonte (Not full time but should be mentioned as he will be going in with his brother whenever he decides to hang up the fire suit for good).

After that there are a few borderline candidates, such as Brad Keselowski or Carl Edwards. But the reality is that it’s unfair to judge all but these select few, because their careers are in progress.

Who really knows what could happen from here on out. Patrick could go win five races and win the championship this year. But you can’t judge careers now, and even if you want to, Danica doesn’t come close in my opinion.

But don’t just take my word for it. Read both mine and Smith’s articles and come to your own conclusion on the matter. My own conclusion is that Danica should not be put into the Hall of Fame simply for having something no woman before her has ever had in NASCAR… money.

All stats cited in the Finley Factor are as per Racing Reference unless otherwise noted.

June 23, 2015
Finley Factor: Class of 2016 Hall of Fame Votes

This week’s Factor will be a little different than normal. I’m going to be going over my votes for the NASCAR Hall of Fame fan vote, which anybody can vote for right here- http://www.nascar.com/halloffame . Because NASCAR loves not to actually promote it (last year I didn’t know it was active until it closed), I feel I should do my part and reveal my votes for the Hall. Agree or disagree, I hope that you can take the time out to cast your vote this year.

But First, Three Honorable Mentions:

Ray Evernham– What kills him being in right now is the general uncompetitiveness of Evernham Motorsports. If Evernham had won a championship or was even still around today he would definitely get a vote from me.

Evernham, while having a remarkable career with Jeff Gordon (being the Chad Knaus to Gordon’s Jimmie Johnson), his lack of success with anyone or anything else leaves him on the outside looking in for me so far. It’s like if Hendrick himself had just stopped in the late 90’s- sure he’d be in eventually, but he doesn’t have the longevity a Jeff Gordon has that shoots him ahead of most nominees.

Curtis Turner– The field of nominees right now is just too good. If there were six able to go in no doubt he would be my sixth.

Turner was the Babe Ruth of stock car racing, and although more popular drivers have come along since, few can match the antics and personality of the moonshiner from Roanoke, Virginia. If you think Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Tony Stewart are characters, Turner could impress you just by using his pinky.

The first NASCAR driver on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Turner’s meager Cup stats only tell one side of the story. Never full-time, he was the king of the short-lived convertible series and his commitment to getting Charlotte Motor Speedway on the ground set the stage for numerous events, such as the rise of Bruton Smith as one of the most powerful men in sports. Having long since passed away after a strange plane crash in 1970, Turner was the poster child for a race car driver before the 1970’s, a wildman who didn’t care to run a full season in anything, picking and choosing big money or just fun races to do on the side of his real job. One of these off weekends I’m going to devote an entire Factor to Turner stories, like the time he landed a plane on a street in a town just to get liquor, or becoming the only pace car driver in history to lead the field under the green flag.

Alan Kulwicki– So I might be just a little biased. Kulwicki is such an underrated driver and he did something nobody will probably ever do again. He came into Cup racing owning his own team, turned down all offers to race for everybody, even when he had no sponsors, then ended up winning a championship. Just doing the last part is difficult for many drivers; Darrell Waltrip’s team failed, Ricky Rudd’s team failed and Geoff Bodine’s team failed. But to waltz into Cup and within five years hoist the championship with the team you built is like a joke you tell to friends.

And he never sat on his laurels either. This is a man who, the month before his tragic death in a plane crash, was working on his car in an Atlanta blizzard when nobody else was in the garage, using his helmet to protect him from the conditions. Kulwicki’s thing that is killing him, like Turner, is the unimpressive stat line and just how good the nominee list is. I also feel like Kulwicki needs to go in with Davey Allison. Although both drivers had little in common, both will always be forever linked, and with Tim Richmond, their deaths will always be regarded as the great what-ifs of 1990’s NASCAR.

Texas Preview

The Favorite

I think this will be the week Matt Kenseth makes his return to victory lane. This is one of his best tracks, and JGR seems to be improving every week.

One to Watch

It will be interesting to see if Ryan Newman can continue his constancy run with the dark cloud of those penalties looming. Let’s see how this team performs under pressure.

Dark Horse

David Ragan did well here before leaving Roush Fenway Racing. Now that he’s in a car that has some power to it again, I don’t doubt a good result will come on Saturday.

Oh, and to those who actually still care about the Keselowski-Gordon fight from last year… Really? Don’t sit around and create stories for no real reason other than to stir the pot. And I doubt either man is going to drink from said pot this time around.

The Votes: (Ranked in no particular order):

Raymond Parks

If there was no Raymond Parks, there would be no NASCAR. Before Parks, all stock car drivers were disorganized with little consistency in who they were running for, or if they were running for themselves, wrecking their car and never being heard from again. Parks brought to the sport uniformity and set the stage for today’s car owners in Rick Hendrick and Joe Gibbs. Paul Brown before Paul Brown, the “moonshine baron” of Atlanta created a winning formula that still works- buy the best cars, hire the best mechanics (Red Vogt), the best drivers (Lloyd Seay, Roy Hall, sometimes the Flock brothers, and most famously Red Byron among others), then collect the trophy and the check after winning the race.

Red Byron

If there was no Red Byron, there would be no stock car racing, or if there was it would be about 30 years behind the times. After World War II, stock car racing, after establishing itself in the late 1930’s as the southern sport on the rise, looked like it was going to struggle to catch open wheel racing. Most of its biggest stars were no longer around. Roy Hall was in prison. Lloyd Seay was dead. Bill France Sr., a fine racer and generally regarded as the unofficial 1940 overall stock car champion, had retired to focus on promoting the sport. Not only that, but many involved in the sport were simply criminals, hard-nosed moonshiners who were not exactly people that would appeal to the police, politicans, or other powerful figures willing to take the sport down.

Enter Red Byron.

The World War II vet, with a bum left leg due to shrapnel from the war, was a racer. He never hauled moonshine. He had never done a “bootlegger’s turn”. But he was a racer, and he was exactly what the sport needed at the time, a solid and relatable man who, like Mark Martin many years later, wasn’t everybody’s favorite driver, rather at least their second favorite. Byron, also, as a seasoned open wheel driver, helped provide legitimacy to many who looked down on the “good old boy redneck show”.

Byron’s stats are horrible compared to many on the ballot, but what he did for the sport at the most chaotic time of its existence, plus his distinction as the first NASCAR champion (in the modified series in 1948) and the first Strictly Stock (now known as the Sprint Cup) champion in 1949 definitely make up for it.

Benny Parsons

Parsons is definitely debatable right now. I’d guess the class cut-off will come down to Parsons and Terry Labonte. While it is true Labonte has another championship and better overall statistics in play than Parsons, the impact Labonte has had on the sport simply has been minimal, if at all. Rather, Parsons’ impact can still be felt today.

I’m taking what Parsons did for coverage and media into account, simply because the Hall itself already has had displays for Darrell Waltrip and Ned Jarrett’s media careers following their driving days. Parsons, in many ways, is the hallmark for what an announcer should be. He had the Larry McReynolds gift of being able to tell the viewer what was going on during a race without dumbing it down or being too technical. His pairing with Jarrett will go down as one of the greatest in the sport’s history, and his announcing could turn a boring race into something exciting to watch and think about.

Parsons was also a great driver. In 1964, Benny seemed to have gotten his big break into the Grand National (now Sprint Cup) series. He was getting the chance most drivers could only dream of, a race at the old Asheville-Weaverville Speedway in a Holman-Moody Ford. Success could lead to a full-time ride in the best equipment around. However, he had two little problems that day. The first of which was an overheating issue that knocked him out of the race prematurely. The other problem was that Ford was trying out another driver that day, who, although he only lasted nine more laps than Parsons, had impressed the Ford brass more than Benny could.

That other driver was called Cale Yarborough.

Benny would eventually have his day in the sun nine years later, beating Yarborough in a now famous points battle that spoke to the kindness and respect Parsons had and gave to the garage area.

In 1973’s final race, Parsons came into Rockingham needing to complete a specific amount of laps to win the championship due to the way the points worked back then. Parsons wrecked early, and seemed to be doomed to once again come up short to Yarborough. However, men from every crew came down to the No. 72 garage and helped fix the car enough for Benny to come back out onto the track, winning the 1973 championship and etching his name into history. Benny ended his career with 21 victories, only one off from Labonte’s 22. Benny also only has roughly 100 less top-tens than Labonte, impressive considering the Iron Man had over 350 more starts than Parsons.

Rick Hendrick

There is literally only one argument one can make for Hendrick not to be in the Hall of Fame- he’s still active.

If he wasn’t, we’re talking second class inductee here.

There’s really not much I have to say here. It’s really just some numbers with some words:

232 victories.

202 poles.

11 championships. Four straight in 1995-1998, five in 2006-2010.

His engines/chassis have won three other championships, in 1989, 2011 and 2014.

Quite simply the greatest car owner of all time. No argument.

Mark Martin

Quite simply the greatest driver to never win a championship. But, to be honest, would a championship really make a huge difference?

The king of consistency, Martin finished second in points five times, far and away the most in history among those never to hoist the Cup. Easily his most impressive season was 2009, where at the age of fifty he won five races and in an unlikely twist, filled the void the underperforming Dale Earnhardt Jr. made for many in the fanbase.

Why would anybody hate Mark Martin? As far as I can remember, I’ve never heard of him being rude to fans. I can’t recall him ever making a fellow driver mad. Starting in Cup racing as a young 22-year-old in 1981 and ending his career as an old man at 54 in 2013, Martin remained constantly consistent and, outside of two winless seasons in 12thand 17th place in 2001 and 2003 respectively, never finished outside of the top-ten in points from 1988 to 2006. He helped build Roush Racing from being a new team to, at the time of his departure in 2006, a five car organization, having won championships in 2003 and 2004. They also won 18 races in 2005, a good enough record to force NASCAR to enact a four car team limit that same year.

He also hold the distinction of having raced against every NASCAR champion since the start of the modern era in 1972, and at times bested all of them. His work with Michael Waltrip Racing in the last three years in his career helped to get the team into high gear, and his loss has definitely stung at MWR the last two years.

Mark Martin is definitely a Hall of Famer, and there’s no doubting that. So what if he didn’t win a championship? Let’s not pretend Bill Rexford is going in anytime soon….

April 10, 2015
2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Honors Five Iconic Wheelmen

Elliott, Lorenzen, Scott, Weatherly, White Officially Enshrined

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 30, 2015) – Five legendary drivers with distinct styles and contributions to NASCAR were enshrined into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina tonight during the Induction Ceremony held in the Crown Ball Room at the Charlotte Convention Center.

Those who added their names to the list of now 30 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees, included: Bill Elliott, Fred Lorenzen, Wendell Scott, Joe Weatherly and Rex White.

The group makes up the Hall’s sixth class in its history.

Bill Elliott – a fan-favorite with a record 16 NASCAR Most Popular Driver Awards – compiled numerous accolades that put him near the top of many all-time NASCAR lists. In his 37-year driving career, “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville” notched 44 wins (16th in NASCAR history) and 55 poles (eighth), but his most prestigious accomplishment came when he won the 1988 premier series championship. Elliott always performed on the biggest of stages, winning the Daytona 500 twice and the Southern 500 three times.

“One thing I look at out here today is one common bond with all these racers, it’s the hard work and the dedication all these guys had,” Elliott said. “I mean, for me to stand up here among the guys that have already been here, it’s just totally incredible.”

Fred Lorenzen – one of the first “outsiders” to capture the fancy of NASCAR’s early southeastern crowds – was one of the sport’s first true superstars, even though he never ran more than 29 of the season’s 50-plus races. The Elmhurst, Illinois, native won 26 races from 1961-67, with his best overall season coming in 1963 as he finished with six wins, 21 top fives and 23 top 10s in 29 starts. The victor of the 1965 Daytona 500 and World 600, Lorenzen boasts the fifth-highest career winning percentage (16.86) in NASCAR history.

“Dad always said, ‘The sky is the limit and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,’” said Lorenzen’s son, Chris, who spoke on his behalf. “That has been dad’s most important saying in life, and he certainly lived by it. He also believed people made their own luck and that luck just doesn’t fall upon people.”

A true trailblazer, Wendell Scott was the first African-American to race fulltime in NASCAR’s premier series, as well as the first to win a NASCAR premier series race. Scott posted 147 top 10s in 495 starts, as well as finished four seasons in the top 10 of the championship points standings. He won more than 100 races at local tracks before making his premier series debut, including 22 races at Southside Speedway in Richmond, Virginia, in 1959 en route to capturing both the Sportsman Division and NASCAR Virginia Sportsman championships.

“The legacy of Wendell Scott depicts him as one the great vanguards of the sport of NASCAR racing,” said the late Scott’s son, Franklin, who accepted the induction on his behalf. “Daddy was a man of great honor. He didn’t let his circumstances define who he was.”

Joe Weatherly claimed consecutive premier series championships in 1962-63 and won 25 career races before his untimely death in January 1964 at Riverside (Calif.) Raceway. Known as the “Clown Prince of Racing” due to his jovial personality, Weatherly displayed impressive versatility beyond his premier series dominance. A decade earlier in 1952-53, he won 101 races in the NASCAR Modified division, capturing that championship in 1953. He even tried his hand in NASCAR’s short-lived Convertible Division from 1956-59, winning 12 times.

“He loved his family and he was very generous, but I am sure there are many memories the fans could share as well, maybe ones of the practical jokes he enjoyed playing on fellow drivers,” said Joy Barbee, Weatherly’s niece. “He definitely had a sense of humor, he loved a good laugh and he loved to have a good time. He always had a big smile on his face; he was a character to be around and definitely lived up to the title given to him – the ‘Clown Prince of Racing.’”

One of the greatest short-track racers ever, consistency was the hallmark of Rex White’s NASCAR career. He finished among the top five in nearly half of his 233 races and outside the top 10 only 30 percent of the time. Of his 28 career wins in NASCAR’s premier series, only two came on tracks longer than a mile in length. Driving his own equipment, White won six times during his 1960 championship season, posting 35 top 10s in 40 starts. He finished in the top 10 six of his nine years in the series, including a runner-up finish in 1961.

“Words can’t express how honored I am to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame along with the other Hall of Fame members, especially my 2015 fellow inductees,” White said. “No driver wins a championship by himself and nobody enters the Hall of Fame alone. I am the symbol of a team effort.”

Each of the five inductees had an inductor who officially welcomed them into the hall. The inductors for the five inductees: Ray Evernham for Bill Elliott; Amanda Gardstrom (daughter) for Fred Lorenzen; Wendell Scott Jr. for Wendell Scott; Bud Moore for Joe Weatherly; and James Hylton for Rex White.

Active drivers introduced each inductee during tonight’s program: Kasey Kahne for Bill Elliott; Tony Stewart for Fred Lorenzen; Jeff Gordon for Wendell Scott; Brad Keselowski for Joe Weatherly; and Kevin Harvick for Rex White.

In addition to the five inductees enshrined on Friday night, Anne B. France was awarded the inaugural Landmark Award for Outstanding Contributions to NASCAR.

France, paired with her husband, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., created what today is one of the largest and most popular sports in the world. Anne played a huge role in the family business. “Big Bill” organized and promoted races; she took care of the financial end of the business. She first served as secretary and treasurer of NASCAR, and when Daytona International Speedway opened in 1959, served in the same roles for the International Speedway Corporation. She also managed the speedway’s ticket office. France remained active in family and business life until her passing in 1992.

Prior to tonight’s Induction Ceremony, long-time Charlotte Observer reporter Tom Higgins was awarded the third Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence.

Higgins was the first beat writer to cover every race on the NASCAR schedule, a role he held from 1980 until his retirement in 1997. He started his journalism career in 1957 at the weekly Canton (N.C.) Enterprise where he covered racing for the first time. Higgins joined the sports staff at The Observer in 1964 as an outdoors writer and soon began covering stock car racing as well. He has continued to write motorsports nostalgia columns for the newspaper and its website ThatsRacin.com since his retirement.

About NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc. (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States. NASCAR consists of three national series (the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series), four regional series, one local grassroots series and three international series. The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) governs the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, the premier U.S. sports car series. Based in Daytona Beach, Fla., with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races in more than 30 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico and Europe. For more information visit www.NASCAR.com and follow NASCAR at www.Facebook.com/NASCAR and Twitter: @NASCAR.

About NASCAR Hall of Fame
Conveniently located in uptown Charlotte, N.C., the 150,000-square-foot NASCAR Hall of Fame is an interactive, entertainment attraction honoring the history and heritage of NASCAR. The high-tech venue, designed to educate and entertain race fans and non-fans alike, opened May 11, 2010 and includes artifacts, hands-on exhibits, 278-person state-of-the-art theater, Hall of Honor, Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant, NASCAR Hall of Fame Gear Shop and NASCAR Media Group-operated broadcast studio. The venue is opened 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. seven days a week and has an attached parking garage on Brevard Street. The five-acre site also includes a privately developed 19-story office tower and 102,000- square-foot expansion to the Charlotte Convention Center, highlighted by a 40,000 square-foot ballroom. The NASCAR Hall of Fame is owned by the City of Charlotte, licensed by NASCAR and operated by the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority. www.NASCARHall.com.

January 31, 2015
Odds and Ends as the New NASCAR Season Prepares to Crank it Over

A new season, with a new defending champion, will be soon upon us. Kevin Harvick and the rest of the boys, and girl, will be in Daytona in less than a month to kick things off. According to Jayski, 43 teams have dreams of running full-time in 2015, with more than a dozen seeing drivers with new crew chiefs, and a handful of wheel men changing seats.

Former Daytona winner Trevor Bayne goes full-time with Roush, returning in Mark Martin’s old No. 6. Sam Hornish Jr. makes a return to Cup driving the Petty No. 9. Carl Edwards moves on to Gibbs and the No. 19. Brian Vickers is out of Waltrip’s No. 55 until he mends from a heart repair. Nineteen-year-old Chase Elliot should get some seat time with Hendrick, while driving for Junior in the minor series. In the trucks, Junior will have soon-to-be 17-year-old Cole Custer running about 10 races. Cole Custer. If that isn’t the best damned name in NASCAR, I don’t know what is.

Danica Patrick will be back. She will continue to be back regardless as to what she does, or does not do on the track, as long as fans and sponsors love her and pay her way. You could say she is a lot like Dale Earnhardt Jr. in that way, albeit minus the iconic father, the two Daytona 500 wins, five Talladega triumphs, 23 career victories, and seven appearances in the season’s top ten rankings.

As I mentioned, while Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus continue their most successful racing marriage, others will be in new relationships. Danica, Junior, and Cousin Carl will be amongst those with new crew chiefs. So will Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr. and both Busch brothers. That could prove interesting, especially in the early going.

Some get going, some get gone, and sometimes somebody is not happy the ways things turned out. As none of us were witness to the alleged altercation between Kurt Busch and his ex, we are left following along the court case. To be honest, as long as the guy is shown not to be a menace to society, as long as what may have happened is all that may have happened, I really do not care. As much as it is serious business for the principles involved, it is nothing more than a sideline event for the rest of us. An outcome to take notice of if we so wish, but not much more.

It would be nice to owe millions, if only for having the chance to have spent millions in the first place. We try to live within our means, so that means my family is not bogged down in debt. Still, it would be nice to know that if I completely blew it there might be a bank or two willing to forgive millions in loans they gave me. It must be sweet to be in a position to forgive such a loan.

The NASCAR Hall of Fame has been a white elephant from the beginning, with even its location suspect. It would seem the 25 minute drive from the track in Concord to downtown Charlotte is a trek many are not interested in making. Even the Daytona Experience, rejected as a site for the Hall, closed its doors and it was located right beside that track. I understand it will re-open again next year as the home of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. That is irony. Oh well, all is forgiven, I guess, to the tune of nearly $20 million. Now if they can only attract some paying customers, or the Convention Center there might wind up with tons of space for it to expand.

It would be nice to say the new season means a change in the seasons, but for those of us in the lands of snow and ice, it does not. At least it gives us an idea what clear pavement, green grass, and shirt sleeves might look like. That, and a return of our favorite drivers, is good enough.

January 13, 2015
‘You got to learn how to be a good loser and it will make you a better winner.’ – Rex White

Recently, I was honored to hear NASCAR Hall of Famers, 1960 Grand National champion Rex White and 1988 Winston Cup champion Bill Elliott, speak in the media center before the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. After the tumultuous events at the end of the race that resulted in behavioral penalties for Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart, I couldn’t help but remember some timely words of advice from these two legends.

“Any driver is going to lose more races than he wins, White said. “You got to learn how to be a good loser and it will make you a better winner.”

While today’s corporate sponsored NASCAR often bears little resemblance to its blue collar beginnings, the essence of racing remains unchanged. There is only one goal; to win. It’s that competitive passion that grabs you and doesn’t let go until the checkered flag waves. But therein lies the rub; there can be only one winner each race.

Bill Elliott put it another way, saying, “Some days you just got to take your licks and go on to the next race.”

But what does being a good loser mean?

It’s a concept that most athletes and particularly racers, simply don’t understand. They are taught that winning is everything and in their minds, losing equals failure. Accepting a loss gracefully means acknowledging defeat. Or does it?

Dale Earnhardt is famously quoted as saying that “second place is just the first loser.”

The seven-time NASCAR champion, however, was no stranger to losing. Over the course of his Cup career he competed in 676 races, winning 76 times but losing 600. It took 20 attempts before he finally won the coveted Daytona 500 in 1998.

Earnhardt earned the title of The Intimidator on the track and was arguably one of the most aggressive drivers in the history of the sport. No one hated losing more than him but he learned to accept the losses as a necessary evil and move forward once the checkered flag flew. A perfect example is his 19th heartbreaking loss of the Daytona 500.

In 1997, Earnhardt was running second in the final laps of the Daytona 500 when he wrecked. Jeff Gordon, in third place, was trying to pass and Earnhardt made contact with the wall, got sideways and flipped his car in the chain reaction that ensued. After repairs, including taping the back deck onto the No. 3, Earnhardt was back in the car.

“I got in the ambulance and I looked back at the car,” Earnhardt said, “and I said ‘man, the wheels are still on that thing.’ I got out of the ambulance and asked the guy inside the car that was hooking it up and said, ‘see if it will crank’ and he cranked it up and I said, ‘get out, give me the car back.’ So I drove it back around here and we taped it up.”

“I don’t know that we could have won the Daytona 500,” Earnhardt continued, “but we was sitting there, ready for a shot. I think Gordon was a little impatient at that point but still he went on and won the race, he was running his race. That’s the way it goes.”

The most passionate and successful champions in any sport refuse to be defined by their losses. Instead of placing blame on others they look inward, dig deeper and refuse to give up. No one expects these fierce competitors to accept losing gracefully but when a bad finish causes a driver to lose control of his emotions and engage in potentially dangerous behavior, it only compounds the significance of the loss.

Michael Jordon, six-time NBA champion once said, “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Six-time Sprint Cup champ Jimmie Johnson, who has been eliminated from this year’s championship battle, echoed those sentiments, saying “I truly believe that those moments make you stronger.”

“It’s great medicine for the 48,” he elaborated. “I don’t want to be in this position. But it’s great medicine to sit and watch this championship unfold. It’s going to motivate me, Chad (Knaus, crew chief) and the team, all of us on the 48 team. We’ll come back next year and be ready to roll.”

Perhaps it’s all about perception. Loss is inevitable but it is also transitory. It can be viewed as failure or as an impetus to future success and that mindset is what truly separates the winners from the losers.

October 22, 2014
NASCAR Champions Featuring Richard Petty

Cup Champion: 1964, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1979
Born: July 2, 1937
Hometown: Randleman, North Carolina
Career: 1958 – 1992

Premier Series Stats:
Starts: 1185
Wins: 200
Poles: 123

With his tall, slender frame, signature feathered cowboy hat and sunglasses; he is easily one of the most recognizable figures in the racing world. His accomplishments on the track will likely never be equaled and a worthy successor may never be found. There has only been one king in NASCAR and that king is Richard Petty.

His success in the Sprint Cup Series is unparalleled and includes the most wins (200) and the most poles (123). He is tied with Dale Earnhardt for the most championships (seven) and holds the record for most Daytona 500 wins with seven. In 1967 he set two records with the most wins in a season (27) and the most consecutive wins (10). His 1,185 starts set the bar for the most starts in the series.

Petty retired from driving in 1992 and assumed the role of car owner with Petty Enterprises. The organization won a total of 268 races before they merged with Gillett Evernham Motorsports in 2009 to form Richard Petty Motorsports. In 2010, Petty was inducted into the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

With Petty at the helm, Richard Petty Motorsports currently fields two cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with Marcos Ambrose and Aric Almirola and a Nationwide Series team with Dakoda Armstrong.

Petty’s legacy and influence, however, extend beyond mere statistics. It cannot be truly measured by numbers in a record book but rather is reflected in the lives he has touched.

In 2003, John Force (16-time NHRA Funny Car champion), was asked what kind of legacy he wanted to leave in drag racing.

“Hell, that’s an easy one to answer,” he said. “I want to be the guy that signed more autographs for the fans than anyone else. When I was first getting into this sport I watched Richard Petty. I watched the way he treated his fans. He would stand and sign autographs as long as people wanted them. I never saw him refuse to give a fan an autograph. I saw the love that his fans had for him and the way he seemed to really like them. I want to be like Petty except I that I want to sign even more autographs than he has. I want to take care of my fans the way he has.”

For some fans, it was Petty’s prowess on the track that inspired their allegiance. Jimmy Taylor shared this memory from August 1979 at Michigan International Speedway.

It was “20 laps to go,” he told me. “Petty is following Baker lap after lap. They take the white flag coming down the back stretch. Baker goes low to block the slingshot. Petty goes high instead, coming off turn four, side by side, screaming to the checkered, Petty wins by four feet! This 13-year-old boy cried like a baby with joy, the second greatest moment of my life besides my child’s birth.”

For Mike Neff, Senior Writer at Frontstretch.com, it was a chance encounter that left a lasting impression.

“In 2003 the fall Nationwide race at Charlotte was scheduled to run on Friday night but it was rained out,” he explained. “Saturday morning I packed up the kids and the wife and headed to the track. When we got there we stopped at the restroom for mom and the kids to take a break before we went to our seats. As I waited on them I saw Richard Petty leaning against the wall waiting for Lynda to come out of the restroom as well. I took the opportunity to shake his hand, having never met him before.

“The family comes out of the restroom and we head down to our cheap seats, three rows up from the track at the flag stand and settle in to watch the race. As the pace laps are going on, who comes to sit directly behind us, in the cheap seats, but Richard Petty. Couldn’t believe he was sitting in such crappy seats.

“Throughout the race people come by and talk, take pictures, get autographs, tell stories and just get their own little piece of the King. We did get to talk a little about racing during cautions and spent the whole race just being fans. It was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had at a race track.

“When the day ended I wished him well, he thanked me for spending the race with him and we went on our way. I can’t imagine Dale Jr. or Jimmie Johnson sitting four rows up at a Nationwide race and spending 75 percent of the time interacting with fans. There is a reason he’s called The King.”

Randy Claflin’s favorite story is about a special birthday present courtesy of Petty.

“In October of 1988, some of my family went to Florida on vacation,” he began. “On our way back home to Michigan, we stopped at the Petty museum for my birthday. While watching a movie in the museum, I heard a race car start up. Soon you could hear it moving around the building I was in. I went running through the museum with my camera (an old 110 film camera) out the front door. Here is Richard driving one of his Pontiacs around the parking lot. When he saw me and my camera, he stopped so I could take a picture. I went over to him and introduced myself to him and he shook my hand. He wished me a Happy Birthday, started the car back up and drove off. I lost the picture long ago but the memory of a great birthday present will live forever.”

Terry Strange recounted a touching memory from Bristol about how a small gesture from Petty had a huge impact on a young boy.

“Many years ago, the infield at Bristol was grass, and racers, their families and some fans could drive their own vehicles inside to park. My wife and I were sitting in our car eating a sandwich before we pushed the cars out to line up pre-race. A lady driving a pickup with a disabled child in the back (in a wheelchair) drove into the infield. She couldn’t find a place to park, as all the spaces in our section were full. A yellow tape separated us from the press parking, which was half-full. I held the rope up and let the lady come through.

“She thanked me, and said that her son loved Richard Petty, and that his dream was to one day meet him. I had talked to him earlier,” Terry said, “and knew where his truck was parked. I walked over to his truck, where he was eating his own sandwich. I told him about the young man, he promptly put the sandwich down and told me to take him to the boy. As we walked across the infield to the truck, the boy lit up with a huge smile, Richard got up into the back of the truck and sat and talked with the youngster for quite a while. The boy’s mother cried. I waved and walked back to my car, then to work. I knew that afternoon why they call him The King.”

Many drivers look at signing autographs as an obligation. Today’s fans often have to jump through hoops just to be part of autograph sessions that are first come, first served and limited to a strict period of time. Petty is a different breed of driver and as Bob Waas discovered, “He is the real deal.”

Bob was an official from 1967-1977 at the now defunct, Islip Speedway in New York and his story dates back to July 5, 1967 when he drove the pace car for a NASCAR event.

“Back then when the Sprint Cup cars (Grand National) visited Islip they didn’t have their own pace car driver,” he revealed, “so they entrusted the local officials with the duty of driving the pace car.

“At the conclusion of the race I had the pleasure of driving the winner around the track so he could wave to the fans. It was a convertible in case you were wondering. On this night Richard Petty won so I picked him up at the start/finish line and took him around the track a few times. They told me over the radio to bring him to the press box afterwards so he could sign some autographs.

“I was standing next to Richard when he signed his first autograph and it seemed to take a very long time. I looked over his shoulder and noticed that his autograph had lots of swirls and circles and other lines that I think would be hard to duplicate. I said to Richard, ‘You’re not going to sign all of them like that are you?’ He gave me that dumbfounded look and said, ’Of course I am Bob, it’s my autograph!’ I replied, ‘But, look at all the people!’ By now the line had grown so long it went down the entire length of the stairs and wrapped around the corner. Richard said to me, ‘It’s okay, I’ll stay here all night to sign autographs for the fans.’”

Bob’s story doesn’t end there. A year later he was walking through the pits and passed by Petty and his brother Maurice who were sitting on the tailgate of their truck.

“I kept walking as I gave a wave in his direction while shouting out, ‘Hi Richard.’ When he replied, ‘Hi Bob,’ it floored me. All those miles traveled between stops at our little track and somehow, he remembered my name.”

These are only a few of the stories that came pouring in when I asked Petty fans to share some of their favorite moments. There were far too many to share them all but there was one sentiment expressed throughout. Richard Petty may be called The King because of his achievements on the track but it is his actions off the track that make him NASCAR royalty in the hearts of the fans.

Accomplishments:

All Time Wins Leader: 200
All Time Poles Leader: 123
1959: Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Award
1962, 1964, 1968, 1974-1978: Sprint Cup Most Popular Driver Award
1964, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1979: Sprint Cup Champion
1964. 1966, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1979, 1981: Daytona 500 Winner
1967: Most Sprint Cup Wins in One Season – 27 Wins
1967: Most Sprint Cup Consecutive Wins – 10 Wins
1973: North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Inductee
1989: Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Inductee
1992: Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom
1997: International Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductee
1997: North Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame Inductee
1998: Named One of NASCAR’s Greatest Drivers
1998: National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame Inductee
2010: NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee

John Force Quote from dragracingonline.com June 16, 2003

Special thanks to Randy Claflin, Mike Neff, Terry Strange, Jimmy Taylor and Bob Waas for their contributions.

July 18, 2014