I don't get it.

BobbyFord

BobbyFord

Secret Agent Man
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There's a lot of stuff going to happen or scheduled to happen next year that I don't understand.
First off, Kleuver in the 6 car. This kid isn't ready for ARCA. What the hell are they thinking??? The 6 will never be in victory lane again (at least not with this kid) no sponsor will stick around and foot the (huge) bill while this kid developes.
Secondly, Steve Wallace is set to make his Cup debut sometime in '07. Now, I've been a die-hard Rusty fan ever since Davey died. Rusty bumped his head if he thinks this kid is ready for Cup. Steve is not ready for the local track from what I have witnessed so far.

What are these guys thinking??? :confused:
 
BobbyFord said:
There's a lot of stuff going to happen or scheduled to happen next year that I don't understand.
First off, Kleuver in the 6 car. This kid isn't ready for ARCA. What the hell are they thinking??? The 6 will never be in victory lane again (at least not with this kid) no sponsor will stick around and foot the (huge) bill while this kid developes.
Secondly, Steve Wallace is set to make his Cup debut sometime in '07. Now, I've been a die-hard Rusty fan ever since Davey died. Rusty bumped his head if he thinks this kid is ready for Cup. Steve is not ready for the local track from what I have witnessed so far.

What are these guys thinking??? :confused:
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I think you're just about right! You know the Cup owners and sponsors have shot themselves in the foot. They field all of these cup drivers in Busch, at the sametime forgetting that, Busch is where up-in-comers are being developed. Well now there's no rides for kids to hone their skills and the Cup teams are screwed. The only place to find new drivers seems to be the Pro Cup series or Trucks, and then the pickins are thin at best. Serves them right.
 
Just another example why NASCAR has reached its peak and is slowly deteriorating into something that no longer resembles the great sport it used to be.

I don't care how many dollars are filling the coffers right now. It is all going into as slow downhill slide.
 
I agree- and remember also the time rookies have. Rick Hendrick hung on to Jeffy for how many years until he became a consistant driver? How long did BAM hang on to sherman? Penske and Kvapil? Blaney (albeit not a rookie) and RCR? The list goes on.
 
Kluever out? Ragan in? Hearing Todd Kluever, driver of the #06 3M Ford, has two weeks to pick up his performance or Roush Racing's Truck Series driver, David Ragan could take over the Busch ride.(8-24-2006)
 
What I can't figure out is how the hell Steve Wallace can drive straight let alone an oval with the way he squints his eyes. Dude get some Visine or something. Sheesh.
 
N2racin88 said:
What I can't figure out is how the hell Steve Wallace can drive straight let alone an oval with the way he squints his eyes. Dude get some Visine or something. Sheesh.
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Now we're down to carping about the way someone looks. :rolleyes:

Steven is still a youngster but has the drive that it takes to be a good driver. I was at the track, not far from here, where he won his first race in a stock car (late model). He was very aggressive and wouldn't let anything stop him from winning. He crossed the finish line with much damage to his car and a lot of ticked off people both in the stands and in the pits. Regardless, he still won the race and that was his aim. I can imagine that Rusty is trying to harness his aggressiveness, but yet still allowing him to drive hard. Not having driven race cars, but did drive go karts way back when, I know how much the adrenalin kicks in when you are pushing the envelope. I don't know if Steven will ever be a champion like his father, but he's got a long way to go in both age and experience before he's retired, so we'll just have to see how things go. One thing is for sure, if his father fires him, we'll know that a champion doesn't see any future in him. I don't see that happening soon.
 
Steven went to the same private HS as a friend's son. We were told that he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. They never mentioned the constant blinking. I'll have to ask about that.
Also, they said that Rusty would fly in on his helicopter to pick Steven up for the weekends and that Rusty carried quite an attitude.
 
barelypure said:
Steven went to the same private HS as a friend's son. We were told that he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. They never mentioned the constant blinking. I'll have to ask about that.
Also, they said that Rusty would fly in on his helicopter to pick Steven up for the weekends and that Rusty carried quite an attitude.
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i was in the infield one time at Martisville during a rain delay...the restrooms faces a concesion stall and only has about 3 feet from the side of the stall..so there isnt enough room to really walk back there....i was walking to the restroom as rusty was comming out...he didnt budge at all..i had to slam myself against the wall to keep from hitting him....he didnt even look at me.
 
I also noticed the blinking ---- then remembered that when I wore contacts, I did the same thing. It wasn't until the subject was brought up in speech class that I found out I was doing it.

Could Steven be wearing contacts?

I also agree that IMO Steven is not ready to be a prime-time player --- but, since it Dad's and the sponsor's money fueling his racing, it's not my place to second-guess them.
 
Hey man, I love Rusty, but it doesn't matter if you love him or hate him, you gotta admit he's got a bit of an attitude...isn't that what gave him that competitive fire?
 
BobbyFord, excellent post. When I read about Kleuver and Wallace getting these Cup rides, I had to laugh. I'm glad to see someone else sees it the way I do. Nothing personal against either of them, they aren't ready.

Kleuver can't even run in the top 10 in trucks, then got promoted to Busch. I never hear his name unless he's being lapped or is in a wreck. Danny O'Quinn has faired better than Kleuver.

Steve Wallace will be a good racer in time. But not now. He's wrecked every car he's been in while driving Busch. He needs more seat time in CTS and Busch before going to Cup. Daddy better be prepared to foot the bill to fix a lot of cars.

Promoting drivers not being ready is nothing new. It's gone on for many years. The difference now is teams need sponsors to have money to race on. We've seen the Johnny Bensons and the Ted Musgraves, we know what they can do. These teams get these young drivers that's won a lot of races in the lower ranks of racing. They tell perspective sponsors "we have the next up-and-coming driver", then sign a sponsor. Some develop (i.e. Ryan Newman), some don't (i.e. Kenny Wallace in the day).
 
This sport is very much like every other sport, in that you never know who will perform well at what level. Many of us thought that Jeff Gordon wasn't ready to go Cup racing. I guess most of us have admitted our mistake on that one. Some have spouted the abilities to other drivers to move up, such as guys like Kenny Wallace or Jimmy Spencer, but look how many races they've won. It's a crap shoot out there. Who'd have thought that Jimmie Johnson would be a perienial title contender after what he did in the Busch series? Much of the time, it depends on the team and the crew as to what a driver can do. Matt Kenseth would still be wasting away in Wisconsin had Robbie Rieser decided that he just wouldn't make it as a driver in Busch and called on fellow local competitor Matt to fill in for him. Who'd a thunk? I don't know much about Todd, but I do know the ability of the Roush organization to find good drivers. As for Steven, as I said before, as long as Rusty is a team owner, Steven will have a ride. I'm witness to his agressiveness and if he can harness that into a winning attitude, he just might become a pretty good driver.

One thing that we seem to forget is that when you reach the level of Cup, you're racing against not only the best of stock car drivers, but owners as well and equipment means everything. But even at the Busch level, there aren't very many teams and it's hard to make it. And these days, I believe it's even harder to make it in Busch than anywhere else simply because a fourth to a third of the field are Cup drivers.
 
and remember this:

how many wrecked race cars were in hendrick's shop when Jeff first came to cup?
 
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