Way back , before you were a Nascar fan , maybe before you were born , (I don't know) , the Busch series was composed of a bunch of aging veterans and a handful of young guys . It seemed like each year the champion moved up to Cup . Someone will come up with a stat to prove that's not true , but that's the way I remember it and I'm sticking to it.
Thanks for posting that Ted, the following isn't a rebuttal hopefully you will find it to be supportive. Because I do think that short track aces, legends etc whatever was better back in the early BGN days. The following may sound like a gripe, but it I do believe it is true and that it can be validated.
TV has hurt short track racing, and while it produced more money it changed the BGN or current NWS (the pros are obvious but one of the cons is that it priced many out racing). On a larger scale it was similar to the way MTV changed popular music. The importance of good imaging became a basic requirement. Multitasking now is driving, being pretty, and representing the sponsor rather than the former of simply driving and figuring out the best race set up.
Now about winning a BGN title, and then going to cup. Here is the way I remember things.
-Sam Ard didn't make it to cup due to injuries and age. I am not sure what his long terms plan were prior to his career ending crash.
-Butch Lindley who was strong in BGN races (and a childhood hero of mine, he and Ingram were the local giants in my racing world) tragically was killed in All Pro race on the eve of getting the Cup ride he had earned.
-Jack Ingram was a great and destined for the HOF, but he was probably 40 by the time the Busch GN series was launched. Prior to that he was a dominant force in the southeast LMSportsman races usually 200 lappers.
-The Tommy's: I don't recall Houston ever running cup, he probably ran a few but it can't be many. Ellis ran some but other than filling in for Jr Johnsons team, there isn't much to report.
-Dale Jarrett was a late bloomer imo it took him a while to even get a BGN win. It is a good story his pockets weren't as deep as many would believe. He really worked hard to earn his cup rides.
-Jimmy Spencer drove the Moroso car in the BGN series and his modified reputation also probably helped get him into cup.
Robbie Moroso RIP the kid made an awful mistake. But he did use the BGN series to get to cup but he had a family connection. Bobby Labonte, Brett and, Todd Boone also had family support.
-Joe Nemechek won a BGN title and went on to some cup success.
-Larry Pearson won two BGN titles and I thought he was going to be the next big thing. Robert Presley didn't win a BGN title but with the way he drove Darlington, he sure looked like he was bound for glory, both struggled at the cup level.
Chuck Bown, Chad Little they fizzled in Cup too.
Johnny Benson won BGN title, and a Cup race.
I am a wind bag for sure but there isn't really an abc or 2+2=4 formula. Harry Gant went from LMSPORTSMAN to cup before the Busch series was started as well.
Plus a lot of those guys were middle aged already and we're doing to well to start over in CUP as someone else mentioned , because Late Model Sportsman racing was about as good as any racing in the 70s. A little beyond the topic, but I still respect my those guys, they were giants bigger than life to me.
