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Nascar vs. NFL
Over the past few years a lot of young drivers have been coming up in the sport and doing well. The young guns,(Newman, JR., Kenseth, Busch, Johnson, etc.) are the latest group of young drivers to do well in the sport. Before those drivers came along there wasn't a lot of young blood in the sport, and the drivers we were watching had been around for years. At what point do owners start to replace drivers and look for new talent. My comparison to the NFL goes like this. Both NFL and NASCAR are two of the biggest spectator sports in America. In the NFL players are paid a bunch of money to play at the highest level of the game and perform at that same level. Owners run the team, GM's and personnel people make the calls, and some one is out recruiting new players at all times. New talent is always coming into the sport. As a player gets older his stock starts to drop as an athlete. There is always some one out there to replace you. One or two bad seasons and you could find your self mowing lawns for a living. It's that competitive. NASCAR isn't like that at all. There are drivers out there that are referred to as coast and collectors. Just ride around the track and get paid, no matter how you finish your job is not in jeopardy. I think because of that mentality NASCAR implemented," the race for the chase", in hopes that more drivers would race hard all year and not just ride around the track. So how do guys like Ricky Rudd and Kyle Petty have rides. Both these guys are great people and have had good careers, but there has got to be better talent out there than these two guys. When you haven't had a top ten in almost ten years that should tell you that your best driving was in the past. Unlike the NFL, if you have one good year as a driver you can run almost 2 decades and some one will put you in a car. There is so much money at stake to win the cup there should be 30 drivers that have a chance at the end of the year. Instead there is probably 5 to 10 that have a realistic chance of winning a championship. I don't understand how guys can have rides when they cant do the job any more. If i was a sponsor i would demand performance or move my money to a team that could.
April 8, 2005 in Race talk | Permalink
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Comments
There aren't many drivers more talented than Ricky Rudd. Unfortunately he is with an underfinanced team. He has been a contender with RYR, Hendrick, and Bud Moore. He even had a couple of good years driving for himself. Put Rudd in the #12 car, he'll be almost as good as Ryan Newman.
That's saying alot, Newman is one of the more talented drivers in the sport.
Posted by: Jay | Apr 8, 2005 3:03:25 PM
Isn't it a good thing that it's not your money. Where would our sport be? Just in case you haven't looked around in the stands, all the drives have fans. As for the drivers you say just ride around and do nothing, do you not think that they WANT to be competitive? You mentioned Kyle Petty as one, I think that Kyle still has the drive to be competitive. I think you need to check your stats on the top 10 part!
Posted by: Vickie | Apr 8, 2005 3:10:56 PM
EVEN THE DRIVERS WILL TELL YOU THAT IT IS
90% CAR THAT WINS THE RACE. AND WE CAN'T
FORGET THE TEAM AND THE MONEY.
Posted by: GARY ETHELBERT GRAY | Apr 8, 2005 3:53:57 PM
You know, when you're measuring qualifying by a few hundreths of a second, it's pretty clear most of the cars are pretty close in capability. Qualifying has suprised me this year, with a number of ho-hum drivers in the top 10, top 15. It's clearly driver talent that makes the difference when the flag drops, and there's only 10-15 drivers capable of winning a race on any given day.
To continue the sports analogy, a guy that hits .297 in baseball makes a lot more than a guy that hits .259, and that's only a few hundreths of a point. At this level, the best of the best, theres a fine line between greatness and mediocrity.
Bounce out, in this order:
Michael Waltrip
Ken Schraeder
Terry Labonte (for good!)
Dale Jarrett
Ricky Rudd
John Andretti
Sterling Marlin
Kyle Petty
Jimmy Spencer (may he never race again!)
...and tell Rusty to shut his pie hole.
Bring in some kids, and lets see some racin'!
Posted by: Rick H | Apr 8, 2005 5:01:33 PM
Ricky Rudd has never been that great of a driver he's hot and cold at best and that's the whole truth just look at the numbers they don't lie and as for putting him in the 12 he was in the 28 and could not do anything with it so what makes you think he would do any better in the 12
Posted by: Dee | Apr 8, 2005 6:36:28 PM
Well Trent,
I see your point of replacing older veterans for younger better(?) talent (Kahne - overrated in another post of yours). But where do you draw the line in giving respect to what those 'Older' drivers have built NASCAR to what it is today. Your teammate Rusty has built this sport and your team to what it is today. If he did not run hard and made the sport what it is today...maybe Newman would have never wanted to race and make the millions of dollars he is in less time it took Rusty. He paved the way for Newman and all the other young guns to make this money easier than he did. Just like Jerry Rice did for Randy Moss. Maybe it is just for those drivers to be cruising and collecting now. Give them a break or better yet the RESPECT. I guess it is like all of coporate America - replace the older higher paying people in your organization with cheaper lower paid talent. Do you think that you would have a job in this sport if Ray Evernham and the Rainbow Warrior's never paid attention to pit crews? The sport wouldn't need your tire carrying so respect the people that paved the way for you and your driver.
Posted by: Billy | Apr 8, 2005 9:01:20 PM
Trent, I respectfully disagree. Well, I don't really disagree, I'll just say that I know that those 2 guys - along with some of the others mentioned above - love what they do. And as long as they can find someone to finance their rides, then why not let them continue what they do? They aren't dangerous drivers, they aren't getting "old and decrepit" and if I remember, Ricky Rudd has produced a few exciting moments over just the past 2 years. On the other hand, you have some younger guys, who I won't mention, who act like they are doing the world a huge favor just by being on the track. They're whiny, disrespectful, and have zero talent. I'd much rather see Rudd, Petty, Schrader, and the like than some of those so-called talented young guns.
Posted by: Stephanie | Apr 8, 2005 9:56:13 PM
Trent, I see what you're saying, and I'm sure there are some Nascar higher-ups that are totally with you on this. But they need to be careful. Nascar sponsors have something like 90% brand loyalty from their driver's fans, and that loyalty doesn't happen overnight. The NFL doesn't have that, even in hard-core old school markets like Green Bay. If it's the sponsors pushing the whole young-blood thing, they need to think about that.
Posted by: Sara | Apr 8, 2005 10:37:34 PM
Billy I have nothing but respect for the olders drivers in this sport. And yes, without the rainbow warriors i might not have such a good job and people might not pay as much attention to the crews as they do now. But how long is long. Twenty years at a professional sport is a long time. You see how the fans started treatin DW when he couldnt give up the seat. The latest memories of DW are those when he was getting laped 10 laps into a race. I dont want to see drivers be remembered for how they couldnt let go. Leave when your still competitive, dont let your name go down hill just so you can drive untill your 50.
Posted by: Trent | Apr 8, 2005 11:00:14 PM
Dee, did you watch racing from 2000-2002, when Rudd completely revitalized the #28 team, before that Kenny Irwin was barely a top 20 team, Rudd was in the top 10 in points all three years he was there. He won three times but he was consistent. Maybe you should look at the numbers because the only thing you said that was true was the numbers dont lie.
Posted by: Jay | Apr 9, 2005 5:54:28 PM
A big part of nascar is the fact that the fans are loyal toa driver and not necessarily a team. In the NFL the team is considered an entity by itself, not too many people are Cowboys fans because of a certain player, they are cowboys fans because they are the cowboys.
I am a fan of Both Petty and Rudd, what team they drive for is not necessarily an issue.
Posted by: Newman Fan | Apr 10, 2005 12:20:13 PM
Exactly. The NFL doesn't have a different combination of 32 teams each year, 'cause they know if they did it would be way too hard to build and maintain loyalty.
Posted by: Sara | Apr 10, 2005 9:55:52 PM
Trent, you were there today. You saw both Rudd and Petty have decent runs, especially Rudd. Point made.
Posted by: Stephanie | Apr 10, 2005 10:12:18 PM
I think too many of the younger drivers today have absolutely no respect for the veteran drivers. They seem to forget that if it wasn't for the veteran drivers building this sport to what it is today, they may not be making the kind of money they are or they may not even have the fan base that they have. Those of us who have been NASCAR fans for years and years do not appreciate the younger drivers not showing respect to the veteran drivers (just ask Kurt Busch -- he witnessed the wrath first hand with the entire Jimmy Spencer thing; I think Shane Hmiel is going to learn this lesson really fast, too). I believe the equipment has so much to do with how a driver runs. Look at how crazy everybody thought Earnhardt was when he picked Michael Waltrip to drive for him...most of us (me included) thought he had lost his mind. For that matter, look how DW ran when he drove for Earnhardt when Steve Park was injured. This year, Petty is doing much better...due to the Petty team working with Evernham and the Dodge guys. So, you shouldn't be so quick to write off drivers. It's not necessarily the driver...the equipment has lots to do with it, which goes back to the funding from the sponsors.
Posted by: Sherrie | Apr 12, 2005 6:56:31 AM
In NASCAR you need veterans like Rudd or Petty or Jarrett around to give seasoning to what would be a sport lacking respect and understanding the history of NASCAR. Jarrett, Petty all have deep roots in NASCAR with family members driving in NASCAR. I understand the youth movement but at the same time owners are going to go with a veteran who has a great track record like Rudd. Petty on the other hand owns the team with his father. He enjoys driving and yes he had a top 10 this year but at the same time he needs to step aside and bring in a new face. It is him and Jeff Green driving for a legend. They haven't been competitive in years. Pay the money to get a good driver in there who can win races for you. They started getting more help from Dodge and teamed with Evernham Racing to provide engines, great move, now get some drivers. Ken Shrader and Sterlin Marlin are others who need to step aside. I like Shrader a lot and he is a great influence on the young guns on how to handle yourself. For BAM racing they should have tried to get a young driver for a young team and grow together. Michael Waltrip is a decent driver but he is even a better comedian. This guy is the epitomy of sponsorship advertising. I don't think he ever misses a sponsor on his car when he thanks them, whether he had a great day or a bad one.
Posted by: Darren | Apr 12, 2005 3:26:03 PM
It's all well and good tohonor the older ones that have made Nascar what it is today. That's what a Hall of Fame is to be used for. When you're done-you're done. Sure-we need to give credit to the veterans of the sport-but get off the young ones just because they're good or they drive the better cars. Whatever-get over it. I definetly agree with the comparison/contrast of Nascar to the NFL. You have made some damn good points! Why is it that people have such a hard time letting young upcoming talent have the spotlight?
Posted by: Christina | Apr 18, 2005 10:05:50 AM
Just because a driver gets older does not mean he doesn't have talent. Just because an older driver hits a slump or has a tough time does not mean they can't drive anymore. Look at the turnaround the 40 car has seen in the past couple weeks.
Everybody seemed to decide that Darrell Waltrip was washed up in 98 when Earnhardt asked him to drive the 1 car. The car was good and had a good crew. The ol boy ran up front and ol dw looked like a racer again.
Circumstances can make a driver look bad for no reason.
People are way too fast to put older drivers out to pasture nowadays.
Posted by: Newman Fan | Apr 21, 2005 10:23:31 AM
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