FenderBumper
The "good old days" ??
http://www.nascar.com/news/120502/dcaraviello-gbiffle-impossible-is-possible/index.html
Long article, but here's a little.
Greg Biffle never should have made it. The odds were too long, his hometown was too remote, his development process was all wrong. By all accounts he should have been one of those late-in-life bloomers who owned his local short track, the kind of bullring hot-shoe who always left the competition wondering how good he could have been in the big leagues had he only gotten a break. Because breaks are supposed to go to kids who have been wheeling go-karts since they were 3, and were primed for the Sprint Cup level by the time they could walk. Not guys like Biffle, who didn't get his first ride at NASCAR's national level until he was almost 30.
His break came in, of all things, a made-for-TV event. Winter Heat was a series of races at Tucson Raceway Park that networks aired as NASCAR programming during the Cup offseason. It lasted just five years, but the timing was right for Biffle, who trekked down to Arizona and won the late model championship. It still might have all happened in a vacuum had one of the broadcasters calling the event not seen something in Biffle -- including a little of himself. Benny Parsons had broken into NASCAR late in life, after playing high school football and working at a gas station and driving a taxicab in Detroit. He knew a little something about struggle, and how hard it could be to get noticed.
Long article, but here's a little.
Greg Biffle never should have made it. The odds were too long, his hometown was too remote, his development process was all wrong. By all accounts he should have been one of those late-in-life bloomers who owned his local short track, the kind of bullring hot-shoe who always left the competition wondering how good he could have been in the big leagues had he only gotten a break. Because breaks are supposed to go to kids who have been wheeling go-karts since they were 3, and were primed for the Sprint Cup level by the time they could walk. Not guys like Biffle, who didn't get his first ride at NASCAR's national level until he was almost 30.
His break came in, of all things, a made-for-TV event. Winter Heat was a series of races at Tucson Raceway Park that networks aired as NASCAR programming during the Cup offseason. It lasted just five years, but the timing was right for Biffle, who trekked down to Arizona and won the late model championship. It still might have all happened in a vacuum had one of the broadcasters calling the event not seen something in Biffle -- including a little of himself. Benny Parsons had broken into NASCAR late in life, after playing high school football and working at a gas station and driving a taxicab in Detroit. He knew a little something about struggle, and how hard it could be to get noticed.
