The Legendtorial tonight is inspired by a week of e-mail exchanges with a young man in Mumbai, a city on the west Coast of India, which was once known as Bombay. Sandeep Banerjee, and Sandeep I hope I came close to pronouncing your name correctly, is a huge fan of NASCAR racing, both the current day and the historic days. I asked him how he became such a fan and he told me it started with racing simulators in the 90s and then one afternoon he happened to catch “Days of Thunder” on television and by his own admission, quoting now “After learning about the heritage of the sport and the characters in the sport, I was sucked in like a black hole and still spinning around like a Kyle Busch burnout” He is a member of RacersReunion and often makes very pertinent comments to Forum posts. After the exchange of e-mails this week, I am thinking that perhaps he should consider writing some articles for the homepage because he is quite descriptive when turning a phrase.
Anyway, the e-mails exchanged started with Sandeep’s concern that we often say here on site that “today’s drivers could not handle the old cars without power steering, etc.” and that “today’s drivers are less fit than back in the day”. Of course, being one that has espoused the theory that drivers of today could not compete with those who built the sport, I was right ready to jump on that issue, but the way Sandeep presented the topic, I took some time to reflect and consider the statement he had made before I answered. He has a very good point in what he says. In fact, when you really stop and think about it, most of the guys in the sport now came up through dirt tracks and weekly races in their part of the country, as did the drivers back in the day. So, in a manner of speaking, they have proved, to a degree, that they could handle the dirt, handle the short tracks, and handle the cars not quite the caliber of what is racing Cup today. That sort of flies in the face of what I have felt all along about the current crop of celebrity drivers but, when given deeper thought, I came to several conclusions which, I admit are personal observations and may not be applicable to every situation.
First, we all know that money drives the sport today. All facets of the sport. For a young driver to get a Cup ride, it requires more than being a good driver capable of winning. The driver not only must have the personality sought by sponsors and be good in front of a camera and a microphone, but he or she must also bring a sponsor to the table. How many drivers of today, in Nationwide and Cup, are there because they could bring the “big bucks” to the table? I can think of at least TEN, although I decline to name them here. When this sport started, drivers earned their way into the sport by their abilities, and granted, some by family connections, but regardless, they worked very hard to make it and the monetary rewards were limited... very limited.
Secondly, the pioneers of the sport knew how to work on their cars. They could do more than tell the crew chief what was needed, they could actually get out of the car and make the changes. Those guys had grease under their nails. They did not have the manicured nails seen today to hold up the sponsor’s product on TV ads. Not only did they know how to work on the cars, THEY WORKED ON THE CARS! I remember the story of Rex White actually falling asleep inside his race car after working on it all night.
Next, think about this. In the early days, with the exception of only a few instances... Carl Kiekhaefer comes to mind... drivers ran the full circuit with ONE car. Wreck it, you beat it out and repaired it and raced it again. If I remember correctly, The King had that fantastic 1967 season with 27 wins with only TWO cars. Just look at the cars these teams have now. The look inside Michael Waltrip Racing on Sunday’s pre-race show looked like a Toyota dealership lot.
Money drives it. Money, I think, is the object of today’s drivers. They want the money and what that money buys. It wasn’t like that in the beginning. I remember a conversation with Tiny Lund when I used to hang around his shop here in Columbia, when he told me that the trophy for winning was what he wanted. He didn’t mention money; he wanted the satisfaction of knowing that on that given day, or night, at that certain track, he was better than the rest, that he was a winner, and that money was not the object, although I’m sure it helped. I remember a story I heard once, where Lee Petty and a couple other drivers pooled their money to buy one hot dog and one Coke to share at a track, because that was all the money they had between them.
I am very fortunate to have spent almost three years around Joe Penland before he died. For those of you who don’t know, Joe was the ONLY driver back in the late model sportsman days, to win the State Championship in two states in one year. It was 1964, and he won both the South Carolina and Georgia State Late Model Sportsman Championships. He would sit around and tell us stories of how it was back then, when everyone shared everything, from food, to parts, to working on the cars, to motel rooms. There was a camaraderie then that just doesn’t exist today, in spite of press efforts to make you believe it’s so.
Today’s drivers stay in million-dollar motor coaches in the infield. Most of them fly in and out by helicopter. By the time they get to Cup, it seems as though they have forgotten, with a couple of exceptions, what it took to get them there. The “lip service” they give to fans, is just that. A couple of races back, one of the drivers was walking through the crowd, totally ignoring requests for autographs until he saw the ESPN camera. He very noticeably turned back and started signing autographs because the camera was telling on him. Back in the day, no cameras were there, but we got our autographs.
I do not think it is the fault of us, the fans, that things are this way. I think it is the fault of NASCAR and the Sponsors for making the entire sport so money dependent. But, I guess, in the long run, money will now rule until the day all the sponsors have had enough and decide they are no longer getting the bang for the buck they anticipated.
I realize it is unfair for me to lump all of today’s drivers in the same box and for those unfairly criticized here, I apologize. I don’t know your personal reasons for wanting to be a race driver. I have never divulged my reasons for wanting to race and I don’t ever plan on doing so, but I can assure you that the prospects of riches never entered into it. Good thing too! I respect the right of each of you drivers to keep your reasons to yourself.
So, Sandeep, thanks for the lively and informative discussion this week. I certainly see your points and concede that my judgment to wrongly estimate the ability of today’s drivers to handle the cars of the past is out of line. I therefore, officially admit here and now, that today’s drivers can handle the cars from the early days. They have the ability and the physical fitness to do so. My other observation to that point is to question whether any of the pampered and spoiled egos of today would have raced three or four times a week, all over the country, having to work on the cars themselves and tow them to the races. Would the trophy have been enough? I know we can’t go back and re-cage the money monster... sort of like old Pandora’s Box. My fear now is that the money monster may be headed to another venue as NASCAR is pulling its leash too tightly.
When all is said and done on this subject, the bottom line for the true race driver, was more than adequately expressed by Sandeep. He said , quoting now, “Getting to the very top, and staying there, will always be driven by the raw passion for the sport”. I totally agree with that well presented statement, Sandeep. The downside for me, to that statement, is knowing several young men with more than enough raw passion to be champions, but who do not have the financial backing to make it happen. In the early days, their talent would have put them in a top ride. Not today, and that is sad.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Sandeep Banerjee for his contribution to this Legendtorial. We truly have a global sport now.
-Tim
Email: legendtim83@yahoo.com
Twitter: @legendtim83
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