Morgan Shepherd - Too old to be behind the wheel of a Cup car?

Could you imagine of Dale Jr is in the final four @ Homestead Bowl & he's dumped by a back marker start and park team?
 
Well, he set a record as Nascar's oldest driver for what's that's worth.
AND he can cut a rug..in skates.:headbang:


 
ChexOrWrex said:
Could you imagine of Dale Jr is in the final four @ Homestead Bowl & he's dumped by a back marker start and park team?
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i believe someone would die....not threats....but die...
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FLRacingFan said:
If NASCAR is going to restrict who can race in the Cup Series they need to institute something like the Super License that every driver must hold. Just having an age limit is arbitrary. Timmy Hill plowed Matt Kenseth in that same #33 at Bristol earlier in the year and people want him back in the car because he's young?
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Exactly. To be fair, we all jumped on Timmy Hill for his dumb mistake, and rightfully so, but he's still racing. I don't see anyone continuing to call for his head, and he was just as slow as Morgan was this week.

Everybody that wanted to see Morgan sit out this race is trying to make this into some sort of moment of validation. "See, look, he wrecked a front runner! We told you he was too old and didn't belong out there!" Never mind the fact that this is the first incident of this nature that Morgan has had in recent memory. Never mind the fact that darn near every driver in that field has made at least one stupid mistake on the track at some point in their careers. Never mind the fact that there are plenty of slow cars that make the show every week and are all essentially rolling chicanes. Nope, none of that matters. Let's just single out Morgan because he's an old fart. Screw him.

Like Kiante said, if Morgan was wrecking people every week, I'd agree that he shouldn't be out there. He isn't. It's one incident. Mind you, I haven't seen it in clear enough detail to place blame one way or the other, and I'm sure it probably could have been avoided. But guess what? It's racing. It happens. That's why, to his credit, Joey didn't flip out like a raving lunatic.
 
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BamaFan said:
Didn't see that one sorry.
Just thought it was a racing incident. They happen every week from all sorts of drivers. Clint calling anybody out was funny.
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Was way overlooked, but Kyle's spotter, Tony Hirschman, noted it very clearly.
 
People can be vain and silly about trival issues; a greater purpose was served today.
The person or Philestine directly ahead of me in the Yahoo fantasy league picked Joey today. I gained points as a result.
Game, set, and match.
 
The Morgan Shepherd age thing is interesting on many levels.

First I am happy to see the lid blown off the crappy idea that the best 43 drivers get to run cup races.
There are probably only 20 to 30 outstanding drivers in the sprint cup series, and probably 5 to 10 elite cup drivers. That is nothing to be ashamed of, drivers often buy an Indy ride, or even Pastor Maldando their way into Formula 1.

But still the same there are daddies boys that would have never made it to cup without their daddies power, connections, or money.
Morgan is a long way from being one of the top 143 drivers, nevermind being part of the best 43.
But until Nascar develops a universal standard to root out the not worth a damns, I cannot and will not respect a selective standard. Nascar could prohibit Morgan from running again in the future but it would be hypocrital in my opinion. They have tolerated others that couldnt drive either, and they would never touch one with money. Stephen Wallace couldn't even drive thru the Daytona pits without hitting something. But he had the money and the daddy so he was able to play. Well as long as that is going to be the standard the old man gets to race imo.

note: The saddest thing about it all is Shepherds legacy. Most younger folks will only ever know him as an old man on skates. I really hate that for Morgan. Like Petty and DW they hung around to long, and allowed their later years to deflect from the talent they had in their prime years.

In the 1970s, Shepherd was an outstanding Late Model Sportsman driver, and he was a very good Winston Cup driver up until the mid 1990s. He definitely deserves more respect than most people give him. I am not blaming the younger fans, they never saw him race in the day..

Getting old sucks, I hate seeing him lose the edge he once had. Still the same I support his right to race. If he made todays blunder a habbit I would want an intervention. But again I wouldn't want the standard applied only to him.
 
NASCAR claims Shepard was running at minimum speed. There's no way you run minimum speed and finish nearly 30 laps down. NASCAR should really increase the minimum speed.
 
@NASCAR_Wonka

To make Logano feel better, Roger Penske is using his RTA affiliation to get a discounted rate at a retirement home for Morgan Shepherd.
 
Speedbowl14 said:
NASCAR claims Shepard was running at minimum speed. There's no way you run minimum speed and finish nearly 30 laps down. NASCAR should really increase the minimum speed.
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He may have spent some time in the pits, not sure.

dpkimmel2001 said:
@NASCAR_Wonka

To make Logano feel better, Roger Penske is using his RTA affiliation to get a discounted rate at a retirement home for Morgan Shepherd.
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That's cold :laugh:
 
Greg said:
note: The saddest thing about it all is Shepherds legacy. Most younger folks will only ever know him as an old man on skates. I really hate that for Morgan. Like Petty and DW they hung around to long, and allowed their later years to deflect from the talent they had in their prime years.
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See this is a perfect reason to NOT keep driving past a certain age.. because you're exactly right... this is what I'll remember him for.... regardless of anything else he did, he's just that old guy that wrecked a contender now.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
Could you imagine of Dale Jr is in the final four @ Homestead Bowl & he's dumped by a back marker start and park team?
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That would be almost as bad as Jr winning a 2014 championship under last years rules, but getting beat at Homestead and losing out under the new rules.
 
SlicedBread22 said:
See this is a perfect reason to NOT keep driving past a certain age.. because you're exactly right... this is what I'll remember him for.... regardless of anything else he did, he's just that old guy that wrecked a contender now.
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just hang around for a while, you will have plenty more reasons to cry and bitch and moan. Luckily there aren't a half dozen top drivers passing away every year like their used to be and Morgan is among others who many around here wank on, a survivor of that era. By the same token, there is a crop every year of snot nosed kids who junk up the field in races across the country every weekend. That's racing youngster, this ain't no video game.
 
SlicedBread22 said:
See this is a perfect reason to NOT keep driving past a certain age.. because you're exactly right... this is what I'll remember him for.... regardless of anything else he did, he's just that old guy that wrecked a contender now.
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If it was JJ or Jr. in the wreck Morgan would be a super hero in your eyes. As Greg say's
Greg said:
I appreciate your unbiased objectivity.
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FenderBumper said:
If Jeff got nailed, Gordon fans would be mad at Morgan. If Tony got nailed, Stewart fans would be mad at Morgan. If Danica got nailed, etc....
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What get's me is it's going to happen, tried to point that out with recent Tony and Brad mistakes wiping out a whole lot more cars than one. But these newbes are surprised every time..40 someodd cars going around a circle side by side at a high rate of speed. go figure.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
First time or the last time, it is still royally enraging. Joey had all the right in the world to go over & rip morgan's head off - but he kept his cool. How did he over react?
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I would have paid to see that pencil neck geek take a swing at Morgan. Everyone in the garage would have jumped him.
 
Smh.
SlicedBread22 said:
If he qualifies.. good for him.
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Then once it's your boy....
SlicedBread22 said:
Alright I give! Get this old fart off the track!
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SlicedBread22 said:
See this is a perfect reason to NOT keep driving past a certain age.. because you're exactly right... this is what I'll remember him for.... regardless of anything else he did, he's just that old guy that wrecked a contender now.
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SlicedBread22 said:
Nope.. I mean obviously it sucks more for me bc it was Joey but I'd say the same things if it were anyone else. Or I'd at least think it lol
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breatheoflife said:
Smh.

Then once it's your boy....
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Lol... Whats ur point? Before the race I said give the guy a chance... etc.... then he does something stupid like that and I agree with others he shouldn't be there.... if he took out someone else I'd have said (or thought) the same things... yeah it sucks more bc it was Joey but that wouldnt make it less stupid if it were Harvick or JJ
 
StandOnIt said:
What get's me is it's going to happen, tried to point that out with recent Tony and Brad mistakes wiping out a whole lot more cars than one. But these newbes are surprised every time..40 someodd cars going around a circle side by side at a high rate of speed. go figure.
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Lmao.. yeah **** happens... so what Im supposed to like my driver getting dumped? :rolleyes:

Just because it happens often doesnt mean we have to like it.... or r we just supposed to talk about nothing?
 
nascar-ns-montreal-2007-drivers-introduction-morgan-shepherd-and-trevor-boys.jpg


After the veteran ends Joey Logano's day he apologizes but blames the Team Penske racer for the incident

Long after the transporters left New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Morgan Shepherd addressed the on-track altercation with Joey Logano that sidelined the Team Penske driver.

Shepherd, 72, who first campaigned on the Cup tour in 1970 when he was 28, appeared on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Sunday night with Claire B. Lang to defend his actions.

Shepherd initially offered a mea culpa for making contact with Logano, who was running second to his teammate and eventual winner Brad Keselowski, when the race-ending accident occurred on Lap 212.

Then Shepherd constructed an argument for why the incident had nothing to do with his age or his ability and deflected the responsibility back onto Logano.

Shepherd acknowledged that his car was “off” at the time and “real loose”. Despite being 15 laps off the pace during the time of contact, the veteran insisted that he “was giving everybody room” long enough for the No. 33 Chevy to latch on the end of the line “then get back running”.

“In respect to the leaders and all, when they come, I go over to the bottom of the track on the apron and let them go by,” Shepherd said. “Accidents happen and this didn’t happen because I’m 71 or 72 years old. The average 72-year-old guy couldn’t make a lap in these cars.

“But Joey more or less caused the wreck. Yes, I was there. I was on the inside and I was having a problem with my car. Well, all real race car drivers know that if you go in side-by-side with a car, the car on the outside has the advantage. If he lays close to the car on the inside you can suck that car around and that’s kind of what happened to me. He laid real close to me and it caused me to lose the front end. My front end slipped over then and I got into him and caused the accident.”

Although Shepherd forgot what day Logano wrecked his primary car in pre-qualifying practice on Friday, he was quick to point out he wasn’t responsible for that. Logano had an issue with the left rear that sent the car into the wall.
“Every driver out there would tell you that I showed respect on the track when I wasn’t up to speed,” Shepherd reiterated. “I got out of their way. It was just a bad situation in Turn 3 that he came in real close to me and caused me to lose traction.”

And while some questioned whether Shepherd maintained minimum speed throughout the event, NASCAR vice president Robin Pemberton said the driver met all of the requirements set by sanctioning body, “There wasn’t any issue with” his lap times.

Shepherd contends that his crew chief Rick Ren informed him he was faster than a handful of cars.
“We were running as fast as the cars in front of us and I could have passed some cars,” Shepherd said.

However, in addition to his handling issues, Shepherd had trouble getting his car out of gear and the engine shutting off. He explained that his lack of experience with electronic fuel injection exacerbated the problem.

Shepherd’s NASCAR career spans 31 seasons. In his 352 Cup starts, the Ferguson, N.C. native has posted 15 wins, 44 top-five’s and 67 top 10 finishes.

How long Shepherd intends to compete remains to be seen. He told Lang he would continue campaigning on the Nationwide Series tour as long as he had friends to support him.

“I’ve always said, if I go out and started hitting the wall and start making mistakes, I’ll get out of the car,” Shepherd told Lang. “Ok, a mistake happened there. But it takes two of us to do it and it’s not like Joey had never made a mistake himself.

“I found out over the years, the races that I’ve won was easy. The times I run second was hard because you’re trying to do everything you can. That guy in last place has had to work 100 times harder than the guy leading the race.

These cars are easy to drive when everything is working but they’re wicked when things are not working.

“This has got nothing to do with my driving ability. Yes, we wasn’t prepared with the car the way it was but again we was not the slowest car here. Things just happen.”

from here.
 
There, that settles it. It was all the pencil necks geeks fault!
 
Not surprised to be listening to this as being the topic of the day on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio with many calling for him to be banned from the sport. I hate to think that yesterday's incident is what Morgan will become remembered for. That would be sad.
 
Saw this on FB... I think this is about the best I've heard it described the way I see it.

He was in the way all day and many drivers were complaining about him, Smoke, Jr, Gordon to name a few who said he was in the way and causing havoc with the front runners. If you are going that slow, you should have no problem not washing up the track taking out the 2nd place car when you are 15 laps down and running 20mph slower a lap. Yesterday was a complete embarrassment for the top series of the sport by having someone that old acting as a moving chicane. Like I said last week, nothing good would come out of that and boy was I right. It's a crying shame because Morgan in his day was a good driver.
 
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