Driver's Nicknames

K

KingGlamis

Guest
Let's talk about the driver's nicknames. I think the two most famous would be The Intimidator and The King. Those were cool nicknames and fitting. But as a fan I rarely use nicknames when taking to other fans. I would just call them Dale and Richard.

The one I don't like the most would be Junebug. Dale Sr. called Jr. that, but I think most fans know him as Jr. Seems to me the ones that keep that name alive are the Waltrips. I think it's perfectly fine for a Dad to have a nickname for his son, but it doesn't need to translate to national TV (unless the son refers to himself as that nickname).

Then you have Tony, who doesn't put his real name on his cars, he puts "Smoke" on them. That's his choice and that's fine, but if I was a driver I would prefer to have my real name on the car.

Personally I think one of the funniest ones is "Sliced Bread" aka Joey.

And I can't forget "Shrub" aka Kyle, which means the smaller "bush" of the Busch brothers.

So what are your thoughts on nicknames?

And for a decent list of nicknames you can look here:
http://www.factacular.com/subjects/NASCAR_Driver_Nicknames
 
KingGlamis said:
Then you have Tony, who doesn't put his real name on his cars, he puts "Smoke" on them. That's his choice and that's fine, but if I was a driver I would prefer to have my real name on the car.
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If I had a cool nickname like that I'd use it on everything.
 
The dumbest one is "Rowdy" for Kyle, since it was a self proclaimed nickname.

I've never understood "Cousin Carl", "Flipper" is more appropriate.

My favorites:

"The Closer" -- Mike Joy's nickname for Harv

Mark "The Kid" Martin

"Big Daddy" -- Mike Joy's nickname for Jeff Gordon

"No Neck Newman" -- this one never quite stuck though :XXROFL:

"Smoke Johnson" -- Tony Stewart's sign in name at a dirt track.
 
Nicks

J J Yeley's name is Christopher Yeley
Hut Strickland's name is Waymond Strickland
Marty Robbins was Martin Robinson
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
I've never understood "Cousin Carl", "Flipper" is more appropriate.
QUOTE]

That came from Kenny Schrader, who is Carl's cousin and calls him that. I still don't like it though. I think your suggestion of Flipper is much better.
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Smoke Johnson is still my favorite. He had to use that to sneak out to run dirt late model races so Gibbs wouldnt figure it out at the time.

All the other nicknames that I really like are in the short track level. Josh Richards is suppose to drive trucks full time next year he will always be "Kid Rocket" from when he was younger putting it to em in the dirt late model.
 
-Buddy Baker "The Gentle Giant" Leadfoot"
-Geoff Bodine “Cone head”
-Todd Bodine the “Onion”
-Kyle Busch “ Rowdy Busch”
-Dale Earnhardt the “Intimidator”. “ Ironhead”. “ The Man In Black"
-Bill Elliott “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville" "Million Dollar Bill"
-Tommy Ellis "Terrible Tommy"
-Harry Gant "Mr. September"
-Jeff Gordon "Wonder Boy"
- “Happy” Harvick
-Jack Ingram “the Iron man”
-Terry Labonte “the iceman”
- “Tiny” Lund ( as a boy it was Tiny London for me because that’s the way I heard it on MRN)
- David Person the “silver fox”
- Dick Trickle the “white knight”
- “Rapid” Rich Vogler
-Rusty Wallace “RubberHead” Dale called him that after a flip at Bristol
-Darrall Waltrip “Jaws”. “ Mr: October”
 
I like to use nicknames when I refer to drivers. My buddy Dave and I came up with lots of them and we use them often. Some came from the media or other drivers.

Kurt Busch - "Rubberhead" (from his days driving the Rubbermaid Ford)
Carl Edwards - "Eddie Haskell" (cause he is such a two-faced SOB) But I like Flipper, Cuzzin Carl and Concrete Carl too. Mr. Ed is appropriate sometimes too, as in Oh, Wilbur...
Kyle Busch - There is only one name that fits - "PEE WEE" (He looks more like the Pee Wee Herman doll than Paul Rubens does). I like the Rowdy Busch name when he's in his Truck.
Denny "Grand Slam" Hamlin - for the famous breakfasts from his namesake restaurant chain.
Kasey Khane - "Shakey Khane" cause after qualifying he always trembles.
Brian Vickers - "Vap-O-Rub" as in Vick's VOR
Harry Gant was called "Handsome Harry" as well as "High Wide and Handsome"
Jeff Burton is called "The Mayor".
Danica Patrick - "Miss Thang"
Ned Jarrett is still called "Gentleman Ned" to this day
 
I usually don't use any of the nicknames, but some are pretty good. At least they've come up with some original ones as supposed to many of those in dirt late model racing that are nothing but bad alliteration (i.e. the Powell Predator, the Moweaqua Missile).
 
A few more I haven't seen listed;

Swervin Ervin- Ernie Ervin

Matt the Brat- Matt Kenseth, came from racing LM's at age 16.

Rushville Rocket- Tony Stewart, by the way Smoke nickname came from him smoking the rr in the sprints all the time.

Rooster- Ricky Rudd, caused by small man syndrome, LOL

"Buckshot"- Roy Jones

Fatback- Mike Mcswain

Chocalate Meyers- Danny Meyers

And I have to throw in some of my boyhood/local heros:

Larry "Flyin Irishman" Flyn
Curtis "Catfish" Crider
John "Johnboy" Gamble
"No Guts no Glory" Dan Daughtry
"Sugar Bear" Johnson? I think? all I've ever heard him called is Sugar Bear.

My two favorites of course
"Swede"
"Sweetpea"
 
Stewart Fan said:
I believe Kevin Harvick called him that one year at Daytona when they got into each other during the Qualifying races. Kurt was still in the #97 then.
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Rubberhead was also Rusty Wallace's nickname for Ricky Rudd.

"Jaws" was so appropriate for Darrell Waltrip. His mouth ran faster than his car.

Kevin Harvick called Kurt Busch "Keebler Elf" after a Bristol race one time -- another one that never stuck.
 
MRM said:
I usually don't use any of the nicknames, but some are pretty good. At least they've come up with some original ones as supposed to many of those in dirt late model racing that are nothing but bad alliteration (i.e. the Powell Predator, the Moweaqua Missile).
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The only ones I like from my local tracks:

"Billy The Kid" Ingle.
Jamie "The Jet" Lathroum.

One of our drivers, David Polenz, nicknamed himself "Captain Awesome" but it never stuck.

And, of course, "Speed Sather" for Natalie Sather -- with a logo that looks like the Speed Racer logo. But, let's be honest, I don't like her for her nickname:

nsatherfront1.jpg
 
I've called Kyle Busch weed before because Weed's are busches and shrubs no one likes.

I read somewhere (It might have been wikipedia so accuracy?) that Kasey Kahnes nicknames are Triple K or KKK (for his initials Kasey Kenneth Kahne). However I can't see that as being a good nickname to go with (or why you would give your kid those initials in the first place) I prefer Kasey the Hurrikahne.
 
Front Row Joe was good when Nemechek was famous for qualifying on the front row. Now Start and Park Joe is more like it.

Junior coined the nickname "Cue ball headed fool" for Todd Bodine after a Busch race.
 
-Neil "Soupy" Castles
-Gary "Hot Shoe" Balough
-Richie Evans ' the Rapid Roman'


I think Glenn Fireball Roberts earned the Fireball name, as a baseball pitcher in his younger days.


I was born in 1961, I was about 5 or 6, when my cousin told me about "Fireball". He told me Fireball was the best ever. I was naturally impressed and told him, Fireball was going to be my favorite or number 1 driver.


Then he told me the rest, that Fireball was already dead, killed in an awful wreck. So I asked well "who's the next best", he said Richard Petty. So I rooted for Petty most all of my life, until he retired.

Later on I would be a little embarrassed at how mad I would get as a teenager, when Petty lost. Serious stuff.
 
-Bob Senneker was 'the Sneaker'
-Jim Shampine 'Mr. Supermodified'
-Nolan Swift 'Swifty'
-'Little' Joe Weatherly
 
I think this one is true, but I am less than sure, did Darrel Waltrip once refer to Bobby Rahal as Bobby Ray Hall ?


On another occasion Neil Bonnet was running some fast laps at Pocono with a peculiar line, Darrel thought the line was F1 like exotic, so he pronounced him as something like "Nails Bo-nay" * ( *sounds like, don’t ask me to spell correctly in half European/ half Redneck !).

It didn’t stick, but still I liked the tacky low brow humor.
 
FlFlash said:
A few more I haven't seen listed;

Swervin Ervin- Ernie Ervin

Matt the Brat- Matt Kenseth, came from racing LM's at age 16.

Rushville Rocket- Tony Stewart, by the way Smoke nickname came from him smoking the rr in the sprints all the time.

Rooster- Ricky Rudd, caused by small man syndrome, LOL

"Buckshot"- Roy Jones

Fatback- Mike Mcswain

Chocalate Meyers- Danny Meyers

And I have to throw in some of my boyhood/local heros:

Larry "Flyin Irishman" Flyn
Curtis "Catfish" Crider
John "Johnboy" Gamble
"No Guts no Glory" Dan Daughtry
"Sugar Bear" Johnson? I think? all I've ever heard him called is Sugar Bear.

My two favorites of course
"Swede"
"Sweetpea"
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I forgot about "Buckshot" Jones. That has to be my all-time favorite nickname.

Fatback McSwain was pretty awesome too, especially if you ever saw the guy. He was a pretty damn good crew chief for a while too.
 
Tony calling Carl Edwards 'Eddie Haskill' was perfect.

Kyle messing up the line and calling Carl 'Mr Ed' was hilarious.

Then there is Kyle 'The Ass' Busch.
 
Yeah Roy "Buckshot" Jones was'nt much of a driver ( he proved daddy's money don't make a driver ) but he had a cool nickname. I heard his grandpa gave it to him because he ran into stuff all the time as a kid?
I do know he made more money off of T-shirts and merchandise than winnings in his short Busch and Cup career......it did'nt pay for all the wrecked cars though :rolleyes:
 
FlFlash said:
If I remember correctly did'nt he have Coast Soap on his Cup ( he failed to qualify so many times I doubt there's any pics of the car ) car?
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IDK. He isn't even listed on racing refernce, which is odd because he was racing just a few years ago.
 
I never did know Buckshot's real name. IIRC, he was listed as Buckshot in the early NASCAR PC games.

Fatback McSwayne is another good one.
 
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