Elliott wins MPD...

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According to USA Today news paper. Today it had a big Nascar sectiion and a full page congatulating Elliott for his 16th MPD award.
 
It should not be called "Most Popular Driver" award anymore, it should be the "most dedicated fan base" award. That is pretty much all it has been for about the last 8-10 years.

Kel
 
Of course you all know that when Elliott retires, this award will be named for him. Yep, his fan base is loyal.
 
or is it just a real boring town with nothing to do except vote for their driver.
 
If they had a very strong fan base then we should see him in the Who to Watch polls but he never is. Tony and Dj fans are on top of that one. Jb's fans normaly get him #4
 
When you go to a race and they have driver intros. You can tell who the MPD is. And it's not Elliott.
 
Originally posted by Gollum
When you go to a race and they have driver intros. You can tell who the MPD is. And it's not Elliott.
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I would have to agree. I heard several people at the KS track comment on this. You can tell who the most popular driver is and it certainly was not Elliott at KS. But I am not surprised Elliott won again.

But I was thinking about this and talking with fellow online fans and was wondering exactly how many Nascar fans who don't get online know about the voting for most popular driver or even get a chance to vote for their driver. I only learned about being able to vote for it a few years ago when I was doing more stuff online. My dad didn't vote any of the years they have had it and he has been watching Nascar since as long as he can remember. He knows about the award, he has just never bothered to vote for his driver.

It just seems to be biased towards fans who are willing to go way out of their way to get their driver the award. I voted but not excessively.
 
i voted once....wonder how it would turn out if everyone could only vote 1 time...but I guess there is no way they could ever monitor this...but..congrats to Bill...:)
 
I think its a buch of bull. I have nothing agist Bill but I don't fill he could be the MPD that long. When I went to Dega this year and his name was called I heard boos, cheers, and cuss words for him just like when smoke was called. And I heard nothing but chears when that ole number 8 came up. Like I said I have nothing agist Bill but I thing there is something roten in dausin vile (sp)
 
There is nothing rotten there at all....Bill has a following that should be admired for their persistance and determination to keep their driver on top. His fan club is amongst the largest in the US of ANY athlete and they stay committed to one goal. I dont see anything wrong with that at all, everyone that supports a certain driver has all the same capabilities that Bill's fans do.

I do recall some animosity that I felt years ago when I tried like the dickens to get thru on the 1-800 number that was listed for MPD voting (1991 I think was the year) I could get nothing but a busy signal for weeks solid, even attempts made at 3,4 and 5am and still busy signals. I was trying to vote for Davey Allison and I remember finding out that Bill's votes has outnumbered EVERY other drivers about tenfold. I was upset then because I knew they had prevented me from voting but now there is no reason for someone not to be able to vote.

If Jr's fans want Jr. to win it they simply need to be more persistant than Bill's fans and band together as they do for one goal!

Kel
 
Originally posted by spok4
I think its a buch of bull. I have nothing agist Bill but I don't fill he could be the MPD that long. When I went to Dega this year and his name was called I heard boos, cheers, and cuss words for him just like when smoke was called.
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You know, I've been to quite a few races and I've got to say that I have not heard any boos towards Bill since he was up against Davey Allison or Dale Earnhardt. You can say this is BS all you want, but as said by someone else, everyone of those drivers have a ballot too and if they got more votes, they would have won. Last year, Bill withdrew his name from the ballot so that it would be possible for Dale Earnhardt to win this award. Had Bill stayed in the race, he still would have beaten Dale.

Mis-fit, how do you figure this award is biased? Are you saying that only the Elliott fans are motivated to vote? What does that say about the other fans? I don't get it.
 
I am too tired to go look for the story posted long ago on how Bills fans win him this award year after year. I know when I read it all I could think was that those people really need to get a life. I thought at the time it had to do with calling a phone number and getting charged a fee per vote. He really did not go over with the media or fans that well race weekend at Kansas Speedway back in 2001. Our local sports radio station did everything to interview him and he gave them the cold shoulder. He said "Why don't you go bug my teamate, hes the superstar" The reporters who cover the whole local race scene indicated that he basically was a jerk.
 
Do think he is getting tired of getting the award? What is this...number 16?
 
I believe Bill is embarrased by winning it so many times. The merchandising and the show of t-shirts, bumper stickers everywhere should certainly show that Dale Sr and now Dale Jr is the most popular. Bill's fans hardly voted at the beginning because of confusion as to whether Bill was allowing his name back on the ballot. When they announced that Bill was 5th in the voting, Bill's fans went to work. He has some very dedicated fans as do all drivers and they all have the same opportunity to vote thier driver MPD. I've always liked Bill. He's a class act and is one of my favorites. If people hear of him being a jerk, I don't believe it. But, there are stories about every driver out there being a jerk to somebody. Bill is a very presonal man and has never felt comfortable in front of the media. By the way, I didn't see it mentioned on the banquet show and thru the years it was hardly ever mentioned. Last year they had a whole segment about it when Sr won. I thought it was great but, give Bill's fans some credit or get off your ass and vote your driver MPD. SHEESH!!
As for so many people saying it is a joke of an award, why are they so pissed about it. It obviously isn't a joke to all the dedicated Jr fans that just about won it. Oh, but since he lost, now it just a dumb award that is fixed. Can people be more hypocritical?
 
Bumpy, you are so right. You want to know who a real jerk was to the fans? My brother-in-law live in Maiden, NC, which is just a hop-skip and a jump from Newton, which is where Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet is. Each year, Dale would have a day in which he would come and sign autographs for everyone who showed up. Well, there was a time limit. Anyway, Michael showed up with a picture he has of group of the drivers and he has had almost everyone sign the picture. It's a very rare photo in which all the drivers are flipping the bird to the photographer. When Dale saw this picture, he almost tore it into pieces and asked Michael where he got it. Dale swore at Mike and didn't sign the picture. Tole Mike to get the hell out of there. I've got a lot of stories like that one, but most everyone knows how Dale treated people. Elliott was a jerk because he didn't want to talk to some reporter who probably didn't know squat about Winston Cup racing. For every driver out there, I can find a person or two or three that thinks he's a jerk. So what is new?
 
Good for Bill Elliott. He's a good driver with friendly personality that is still able to pull out solid finishes. Sort of surprising so many people still like him over other drivers, but no complaints here.
 
I respect Bill, but I really don't see how he got this award from Jr., Gordan, Stewart and a few others. I voted alot but apparently my votes didn't even get Ward in the top ten.:(
 
Originally posted by nascat22
I respect Bill, but I really don't see how he got this award from Jr., Gordan, Stewart and a few others. I voted alot but apparently my votes didn't even get Ward in the top ten.:(
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Here's the dirty little secret. The votes actually were counted in Florida and only those for Elliott were counted. So you see, even though Jr was leading most of the way, once it got close, they discounted those votes for Jr, Gordon, Stewart et al because of hanging chads and made it unanimous that Elliott won the vote. Now everyone quit crying, yer vote just doesn't count!:)
 
Check the chads.

Maybe the pole was decieving. Maybe people thought it was a trivia game that was asking which driver had won the award the most. I think there should definitely be a re-vote.

hehe...
 
Congrats to Bill yet again. Couldnt happen to a nicer guy. And, It really hasnt happened here on RF, but I just want to say that If JR really is the most popular driver than tell all of his fans to get out there and vote...I cant stand all these people saying that JR "should have won" but he didnt.
 
Not in a mean way or anything, but some of us has more of a life than to sit and vote 500 times a day..
 
So what are you saying? The Elliott fans have nothing else to do but sit around and vote? Why are people so bitter about this? I think what this really shows is there are more people who like him than dislike him. Many of the drivers out there have adamant "haters". In Bill's earlier days, many of the Earnhardt fans actually hated Bill because he was beating Dale. The same could be said about Jeff Gordon and others who have come after Bill. The only thing about Bill that was different is that he always seemed to show his humble side. While he did make enemies of some fans, most really liked and supported him, and continue to do so today. Only one other driver have I witnessed this sort of support and that was Gentleman Harry Gant. Harry was loved by many fans.
 
I like Bill, dont get me wrong... I'm just saying that some of us has a little bit more of a life than to just sit and vote 500 times a day. Some dude told me the other day he voted over 1,000 times.. and that shocked me.
 
I like Bill and I only voted for him once, and that was two years ago. I have only voted in this thing once and that was then. I never voted via the telephone. Also, I would venture to say that those who voted more than once were actually very immature people, and yes, they probably didn't have anything more important to do that vote.
 
That dude had to have been exaggerating BudStud because it CLEARLY stated that you were allowed only ONE vote per day and the voting only lasted for approx 220 days. It also stated that a second vote would be null (not counted).
 
Ya never know man... He probably used more than 50 emails...haha
 
The site didn't prohibit anyone from using multiple email addresses. The only real limit was one vote for one email address a day. Use a different email address and that is another valid vote. I was reading that the site didn't check ip addresses to make sure that only one vote was coming from one address a day.

I didn't mean to imply that it was some kind of conspiracy or that Bill's fans were out to get everyone else or something like that, just that Bill's fans are more determined than a lot of other driver's fans. I think Bill is a nice guy, just from others I have talked and other factors, like the number of fans lined up to buy from Jr's trailer or Gordon's trailer, he is not the most popular driver. But his fans love him. Biased was the wrong word, I can't quite explain it. Just that Bill's hometown runs ads in its paper to get people to vote for him and that is something that I haven't heard of another fanbase doing. Perhaps I am skipping a few steps, wouldn't be the first time.

But who cares. It is afterall just a contest. Didn't mean to offend anyone.
 
If people are that dedicated to voting 50 times a day for Bill Elliott, let them. I'm sure the Jr. fans were doing it too. hehe.

I wanted Michael Waltrip to get it, but I have a life. Sorry Mikey!
 
I think outta the whole time that thing was running, I voted maybe 5 times.. if that many..
 
I voted twice. Once when i heard about it, once when i was reminded about it.
 
I voted twice. Once when i heard about it, once when i was reminded about it.

---that's wierd, a double post. sorry about that.
 
Mis-Fit: I have to agree with you and I am an Elliott fan. I have been voting for Bill for the past ten years or so. When I get the fan mamebership packet in the mail each year, a ballott is in there. Easy - just send it back. this year I voted on line. Again, it is how many fans are willing to cast a vote. Not necessarily a true picture of MFD, but you would think they would have ballots at race tracks in the program books etc. to get more fan involvement. I am glad Bill has won most of them. He is a great all around guy. :)
 
It's plain as the nose on your face, folks.

Junior was running away with it. Bill was next. The votes for Bill were votes AGAINST Junior. A lot of people didn't want to see Junior get it, so they voted for the next closest driver, which happened to be Bill.

This is a meaningless award anymore.

Don't get me wrong; I get a certain amount of pleasure from Junior being denied. But who really cares who wins it anyway?
 
personally I never voted the award means apsolutely nothing and always did. Im sorry but I could care less which driver has the most fans, dont mean anything. not everything most people do is the right thing or the best.
 
I already know who the most popular is. It's further confirmation for one of my many sociological theories about idiocy and the masses, but I'll spare you the details. :p
 
Originally posted by bud_stud
Not in a mean way or anything, but some of us has more of a life than to sit and vote 500 times a day..
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The point I was trying to make was that Jr's fans has just as good of a chance to vote "500" times a day as some Elliott fans did. This poll was as fair to each driver as it was to the next. And also, considering that Jr's fans are surrounded by some of the newer generations who really would be the ones that are PC knowitalls and would vote many times over. Bill's fans are more surrounded by an older generation who may or may not be as PC friendly.
 
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