Silly as it sounds, there is way more personality involved in having a partially or fully fake name. Legend has it that one Louis Krages of Germany was a successful sports car racers known as "John Winter." It worked until he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and was seen in newspapers all over Europe!
Europeans like their fake names better: Umberto Calvo (Hubert Bald), James Bald, Pierre Chauvet (Peter Bald) [those first three were all the same person], Jimmy, Amphicar (yes, Amphicar!), Black & White, White, Popsy Pop, PAM, Snoopy, Pal Joe, Victor, The Tortoise, Eldé, and others grace the racing pages of history.
There is something about the name with which a driver races. Having that nickname or entirely fake name (like old "Amphicar" there) makes the name carry a certain mystique to it. I like it. My mother has called me "Bubba" and "Buddy," and one of my friends just says, "Thanks, Bud," so much that if I ever do get into that Pirelli World Challenge Car, I will be "Bubba Nickerson," "Buddy Nickerson," "Bud Nickerson," or maybe just for laughs "Tortoise Nickerson."
That mystique I speak of deepens the personalities. It gives that slight bit of... pizzazz. The drivers suddenly become... approachable. I'd feel much better speaking with a guy like Darrell "Bubba" Wallace than I would with people with names like Chase Elliott or Gray Gaulding. It just feels... forced. I talk to peers with names like John, Will, Kurt, Andrew, Zach, Joe, Patrick, and James. I turn on the TV to find these sort of names with Chase, Gray, Korbin, Dakoda, and Brennan mixed in with the Timothy's and Chris's of the word.
That's not to say you can't be nice and have a name like that, but it has always to folks like me added an air of snob to the name. We live in a world where people make up names purely for the sake of being "different." And boy how far different has carried thing! Names like "Gray" usually trace themselves to Hollywood actors who named their kids something weird to be different. People named Brian Z. trace themselves to the latrine.
Nicknames are something that should describe the person. It was fantastic to get to speak to Johnny Allen and learn the origins of "Spook" Crawford's nickname. I have never gotten to ask "Brownie" King or "Blackie" Wangerin, amongst others, where they got the nickname from, but I'm sure it's a neat story!
Of course there's the media applied, usually unapplicable, and usually so stupid it's mindnumbing: "Happy" Harvick, "Six Pack" Johnson, "Smiley" Edwards, and "Danican't" Patrick (OK, that last one's awesome but not media or NASCAR applied). Those are all part of the media's (and NASCAR's) desperate attempts to try to find some [non-existent] connection between the drivers and the fanbase.
How about finding some drivers with personality deserving of a nickname? If we made the nicknames appropriate we'd have "Crybaby" Harvick, "Whiny" Johnson, "Cyberbully" Edwards, and "Danican't" Patrick. It's something about society nowadays that it's OK to sit behind a fake web ID but it's not OK to have an appropriate nickname you can use with your fans. Maybe at the doctor, home, and at your mother-in-law's you'll still be Throckmorton, but it's more fun to be "Tiny" at the track. Now I'm not asking you to go full wrestling and become "The Ultimate Warrior," because that's just weird. But if you're friends say you're more of a Frank Mundy than a Francisco Eduardo Menendez, then fine. Hey, you call your mother-in-law "Battle Axe."
I hope Darrell Wallace switches to using "Bubba" for his name because if anyone can carry a nickname like that with dignity and class, it's him. And unless that happens, poor old Tim will one day flip on the Pirelli World Challenge and find "Amphicar Nickerson" on the starting grid.
