Do Nice Guys (Drivers) Finish Last

R

redrock

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After seeing a couple of things around here, I began to wonder if being a nice guy in NASCAR is a bad thing in the modern era? I ask this when you see guys like Johnny Benson and Dave Blaney without real rides and nobody has ever said a bad thing about either one of them. What do you guys think?

Here's my take...if I owned a multicar team like a DEI or RCR why not put a guy who has race experience at all the tracks and use them as a team mate doing blocking and drafting as well as all the testing for guys like Dale jr. instead of a hiring a Sauter?
 
It's all about sponsers brotha. Now-a-days, most sponsers want a young, good looking kid to be the driver.. not an oldie. To me, being nice hardly gets you anywhere on the track. Take Kurt Busch for example... he's one mean driver behind the wheel, but look at the success he's had because of it. Sure, they've cussed him, they've punched him, but all in all, he did what they couldn't do. He wins races and now Jimmy sits at home watching him win on TV.
 
Being a nice guy overall is a good thing.

But even nice guys like Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett and their kind know when a little nasty streak can be very beneficial. Of all the things I've heard said about Jeff Gordon, not being a nice guy has never entered into the conversation. But if you ask guys like Rusty if Jeff can get a little rough with them when it is needed you will hear a resounding YES!

Dale Jarrett is a classy guy, but he is certainly not above beatin and bangin if the race is on the line.
 
just look at mark martin and your ? is answered. If Mark was more agressive he would have wne at least 1 or more championships by now. he's just to nice !
 
use them as a team mate doing blocking and drafting
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OK, I know it happens, but that is one of the things I hate about multi-car "teams". Drafting is one thing, but I can't stand blocking.
 
Originally posted by de7xwcc@Mar 18 2004, 05:57 PM
just look at mark martin and your ? is answered. If Mark was more agressive he would have wne at least 1 or more championships by now. he's just to nice !
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you know i really should learn how to spell
 
I think there's a big difference bewteen being a nice guy and being an aggressive driver who happens to use common sense. The labontes are considered nice guys but not because they're push overs on the track. It's probably because when they don't win they don't bawl and cry, blaming other drivers and basically acting like an ass. The truth is...most of these drivers who bitch and complain are just immature. Jeez, it must really hurt to only win 80,000.00 instead of 85,000.00. Anyone who gets paid as much as they do to drive a car and complains leaves me to wonder how they can have their foot in their mouths the same time they have their head in their ass.
 
Call me crazy but any real driver could care less about the money. It comes with the sport and that is nice but the fire is there for the chance to race a car. Drivers are in it to race. Anyone in the sport for money would not last more then a couple of seasons.
 
I've noticed some drivers doing commercials for companies other than their sponsers. I doubt they're doing it as a public service. If athletes aren't it for the money, why do they need agents and what's usually the big issue with contract talks? Money!
 
Originally posted by Patrick9999@Mar 19 2004, 11:14 AM
I've noticed some drivers doing commercials for companies other than their sponsers. I doubt they're doing it as a public service. If athletes aren't it for the money, why do they need agents and what's usually the big issue with contract talks? Money!
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May not be their main sponser, but I'll bet it is an associate sponser of the team.
 
I believe there are some drivers in it for the money..........probably always has been. But those guys are the ones that get on the trivia questions.....the ones nobody can answer because nobody remembers them! :) Any successful driver in NASCAR is not motivated to win by the dollars awarded..........they are motivated by the desire to win. They want the trophy more than the money.

And since I haven't stated my thoughts on nice guys I'll try. :) Basically, the nice guys do okay but seldom win........Johnny Benson and Jerry Nadeau come to mind immediately. Every driver who's won a Championship or has numerous wins is something other than "nice" while driving in a race.......they have to aggressive and put the touchy feely thing aside to get to the front. No driver being nice to the driver of the car in front of him that is holding him up is going to win the race. Sooner or later the driver is going to have do something to pass and if the slower guy is mirror watching to keep you in back, then the trick of taking the air off the spoiler or even tapping the car is going to happen. Either that or never pass and never win. :D Some drivers are a little better at that aggressive act than others...........in other words some are not as blatant as others. Watch any of the "nice" guys (Labontes, Jeffy, Mark, DJ, etc) and you'll see them move someone out of the way to pass!! :)
 
In a lot of cases on the forum, I agree with my old buddy Wrangler.

But this sure isn't one of 'em. :p

I don't have much of any opinion on what motivates the guys to drive so I will side-step that.

But this nice driver- rough driver talk is something that irritates me.

Here are a few unarguable facts: As long as there have been automobile races there has been contact, both intentional and incidental with the competitors vehicles.

It has always happened in big league stock car racing and probably always will. To be sure----a lot of drivers have bumped and crashed to the front. But those were abberations in the early days. Like at any local track in the nation, those guys were disliked and sneered at in most cases.

The coming of Earnhardt and his cult-like following really popularized(although Dale was by no means the first) this 'rough drivers are tough guys' BS. A decade or so after Dale Sr. crashed his way to the front, that ridiculous Chevy commercial called 'Days of Thunder' further popularized the myth with the popular line: "Rubbin's racin."Enter the bully on wheels era: where crashing the competition was considered 'intimidating'.

What a crock of BS.

Three of the most capable Stock car racers of all time---(stat wise no 'rough driver' can touch:petty,Pearson and Gordon)----never made it a HABIT to bump and crash the competition out of the way. Oh sure, rare instances exist where these guys leaned on the other guys, maybe a little nudge now and then, but that was the exception, never the rule.

So what some consider 'nice ' or ' not nice' I consider skilled or unskilled. As a rule of thumb---the more bumping a driver does, the less car control he apparently has. And that goes from Turner to Earnhardt to Harvick or Busch. Pearson or Gordon would have found a clean way around that driver----on a track wider than a single car width, a driver with enough skill can get around that slower guy without bumping him.

This isn't the popular line in today's blood and guts society, but still true, in my opinion.
If I had my way, any intentional contact with another driver's car would be a 5 point deduction. Teach these guys to drive again and forget that silly ' if ya can't pass 'em, wreck 'em' stuff.

Ok, just my opinion on the subject. :cheers:

" Maybe I just wanted to rattle his cage....." --Jeremy Mayfield (in regards to Dale Earnhardt)
 
Drivers in it for the money ?? It seems unlikely any driver works to get into the series for the money. I think they all start with the desire to be a race car driver and the money is a secondary thought.

At tracks all over the world, the trophy is important. Money has not replaced the trophy at many venues, but is valued to the extent the driver is trying to relate to the fans when boasting of winning and stating the prize money was the objective. In effect, they are expressing the value money has to the average fan who might not connect with the trophy but can with a financial reward. Note many times the wwinning driver of a special race will always refer to seeing thier name on the trophy or the fact they want that trophy for thier showcase, or in the cade of Matt Kenseth, the kitchen counter.

Yes, drivers do it for the money and they do it for the trophy.

Being a niice guy does not mean a driver of a faster car has to stay behind the car in front of him and neither does it mean a driver should drop kick someone, but they do find it necessary to offer unwanted assistance in getting the best finish possible and an "A" for trying thier best.
It has been the way the game has been played since it began.
 
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