Message to NASCAR: Stay out of gray matters
By Lee Spencer
Perhaps the hardest thing for an athlete to hear is: "Your services are no longer needed," or some variation on that theme.
Every time a jock reaches the next rung on the ladder, the competition heightens, and the chances of making the team are slimmer. By the time he makes it to the majors, positions are few, and there's a lot more work involved just to maintain a spot on the team -- especially as the aging process takes hold.
Partly because of proper training and diet, major league sports are witnessing more than just a touch of gray these days -- Jerry Rice, 41, is still catching passes, and Roger Clemens, 41, and Randy Johnson, 40, are still throwing pitches -- and that's the way it has always been in NASCAR. If a driver avoids serious injury, he easily could race until he is 50 or beyond. Richard Petty was 42 when he won his seventh and last championship in 1979, and he raced 13 seasons beyond that. The late Dale Earnhardt was 43 in 1994 when he won his seventh title. Bobby Allison won his only title just short of his 46th birthday.
As long as the sponsors and team owners were satisfied with the driver's performance, he could race as long as he wanted.
But that's about to change. And the pressure to kick the aging cans of veteran drivers isn't coming so much from the owners or sponsors. It's coming from NASCAR.
"NASCAR has suggested to many, many people that some drivers cut back to partial schedules," says Rusty Wallace, 47. "That might happen one of these days."
And that came from NASCAR?
"Yes," Wallace says. "One main NASCAR official suggested, 'Why don't you run a partial schedule? There's nothing wrong with a partial schedule.' "
OK. Although there have been 100 races since he last won, at California in 2001, what right does anyone in Daytona have to tell Wallace, the 1989 champion, when it's time to hang up his helmet?
But while NASCAR is ushering stars toward retirement, it's putting out desperate help-wanted calls to washed-up veterans to fill fields. Funny, but I must have missed the Joe Ruttman and Kirk Shelmerdine souvenir rigs on the way to the Rock. Perhaps that's where Ruttman's pit crew was two Sundays ago, selling T-shirts.
If NASCAR has to scramble to get 43 cars for a race, fans would rather watch proven professionals, such as Johnny Benson and Jimmy Spencer, than field fillers who are forced off the track because they don't have a pit crew (Ruttman) or cars that can reach the minimum speed (Shelmerdine).
Plenty of drivers raced past the point of contending for wins, including Petty and Darrell Waltrip. But as long as the fans supported the drivers' efforts and they didn't endanger other drivers, that was all that mattered.
"The sport dictates the level of competition," says Robbie Loomis, who was crew chief for Petty's No. 43 car the final two seasons of his career. "If someone can catch the ball better and run faster than Deion Sanders, he's going to be replaced. That's just sports and the nature of the world that the younger ones coming up will be stronger.
"But when I worked for Richard, NASCAR and the media were very gracious to The King those last years. No matter where we went or what we did, he was respected for who he was and what he had accomplished. I think some of that respect has been lost along the way."
That's analogous to Arnold Palmer's gradual departure from competitive golf. As he stepped back from playing various events, the PGA Tour had no reservations when event organizers gave the cold shoulder to other golfers from Palmer's generation. Now NASCAR is following suit.
A lot of respect has been lost along the way for the stars who built this sport. NASCAR has forgotten the core fans who cheered for Ricky Rudd or Bill Elliott before Brian Vickers and Johnny Sauter were born. There would not have been interest from NBC or FOX to broadcast the races if veterans such as Wallace hadn't sacrificed their time and risked their lives to make NASCAR what it is today.
But if Earnhardt were still alive, I doubt anyone in Daytona would have the audacity to suggest he watch races from the pits.
Lee Spencer covers NASCAR for Sporting News. Email her at [email protected].
By Lee Spencer
Perhaps the hardest thing for an athlete to hear is: "Your services are no longer needed," or some variation on that theme.
Every time a jock reaches the next rung on the ladder, the competition heightens, and the chances of making the team are slimmer. By the time he makes it to the majors, positions are few, and there's a lot more work involved just to maintain a spot on the team -- especially as the aging process takes hold.
Partly because of proper training and diet, major league sports are witnessing more than just a touch of gray these days -- Jerry Rice, 41, is still catching passes, and Roger Clemens, 41, and Randy Johnson, 40, are still throwing pitches -- and that's the way it has always been in NASCAR. If a driver avoids serious injury, he easily could race until he is 50 or beyond. Richard Petty was 42 when he won his seventh and last championship in 1979, and he raced 13 seasons beyond that. The late Dale Earnhardt was 43 in 1994 when he won his seventh title. Bobby Allison won his only title just short of his 46th birthday.
As long as the sponsors and team owners were satisfied with the driver's performance, he could race as long as he wanted.
But that's about to change. And the pressure to kick the aging cans of veteran drivers isn't coming so much from the owners or sponsors. It's coming from NASCAR.
"NASCAR has suggested to many, many people that some drivers cut back to partial schedules," says Rusty Wallace, 47. "That might happen one of these days."
And that came from NASCAR?
"Yes," Wallace says. "One main NASCAR official suggested, 'Why don't you run a partial schedule? There's nothing wrong with a partial schedule.' "
OK. Although there have been 100 races since he last won, at California in 2001, what right does anyone in Daytona have to tell Wallace, the 1989 champion, when it's time to hang up his helmet?
But while NASCAR is ushering stars toward retirement, it's putting out desperate help-wanted calls to washed-up veterans to fill fields. Funny, but I must have missed the Joe Ruttman and Kirk Shelmerdine souvenir rigs on the way to the Rock. Perhaps that's where Ruttman's pit crew was two Sundays ago, selling T-shirts.
If NASCAR has to scramble to get 43 cars for a race, fans would rather watch proven professionals, such as Johnny Benson and Jimmy Spencer, than field fillers who are forced off the track because they don't have a pit crew (Ruttman) or cars that can reach the minimum speed (Shelmerdine).
Plenty of drivers raced past the point of contending for wins, including Petty and Darrell Waltrip. But as long as the fans supported the drivers' efforts and they didn't endanger other drivers, that was all that mattered.
"The sport dictates the level of competition," says Robbie Loomis, who was crew chief for Petty's No. 43 car the final two seasons of his career. "If someone can catch the ball better and run faster than Deion Sanders, he's going to be replaced. That's just sports and the nature of the world that the younger ones coming up will be stronger.
"But when I worked for Richard, NASCAR and the media were very gracious to The King those last years. No matter where we went or what we did, he was respected for who he was and what he had accomplished. I think some of that respect has been lost along the way."
That's analogous to Arnold Palmer's gradual departure from competitive golf. As he stepped back from playing various events, the PGA Tour had no reservations when event organizers gave the cold shoulder to other golfers from Palmer's generation. Now NASCAR is following suit.
A lot of respect has been lost along the way for the stars who built this sport. NASCAR has forgotten the core fans who cheered for Ricky Rudd or Bill Elliott before Brian Vickers and Johnny Sauter were born. There would not have been interest from NBC or FOX to broadcast the races if veterans such as Wallace hadn't sacrificed their time and risked their lives to make NASCAR what it is today.
But if Earnhardt were still alive, I doubt anyone in Daytona would have the audacity to suggest he watch races from the pits.
Lee Spencer covers NASCAR for Sporting News. Email her at [email protected].
