Post by 49 on Oct 5, 2005 23:10:23 GMT -5
mike, i know ive told you a thousand times i would send you one, so heres an article for you courtesy of yours truly.
just wanted to help push the name of NRN for the quickly approaching future.
Nascar Three Years From Now
By Steve Leffew
We have already lost many greats of the sport. Lord knows that we lost Dale Sr. earlier than anyone wanted us to. Since then, a few greats of the sport have left. Bill Elliot, for one. Bill is no longer running full time, and when he does run, its basically with an R&D team, so its tough to say he's really being given a shot at winning. Same goes for Terry Labonte. This year, hes ran in the 44 and 11. Both rides have failed to produce any great finishes.
Some people are critisizing Mark Martin for pulling the plug on his retirement deal in favor of running again in 2006. I think that all of the people critisizing him will regret that when he's gone. Mark is a classic, clean, balls to the wall racer. He is what NASCAR is all about, NASCAR doesn't need to be about 20 year old pretty boys who have some raw talent behind the wheel. Granted, these kids arent bad, but some other potentially great drivers (some in their middle ages) are being forgotten because of looks and marketability.
And its getting more prominent every year. In the next three years, the following drivers are likely to retire; Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, Ken Schrader, Terry Labonte, and Sterling Marlin. Who will replace them? Most likely, highly marketable, relatively inexperienced young drivers.
These kids have potential, but frankly, some of them don't belong in a cup car yet. Look at Kasey Kahne, he has as much talent as anyone out there, but he lacks EXPERIENCE. It takes a mature, experienced driver to take a 35th place car and race it to a 20th place finish, rather than push the car to 10th and end up tearing up clips. These drivers DO have a future in the high divisions of NASCAR, but why not give them until they're 25-30 in the lower ranks. Doing something like this will give these young drivers priceless experience. Then, when the time is right to move them up to the high ranks, they will be matured, and ready to drive with the big boys.
And its not just the retirees, many talented drivers have been forced into the busch or cup series because the owners couldn't hire them. Mainly because they weren't as appealing and/or marketable to potential sponsors. Mike Skinner, Ted Musgrave, Steve Park, and Johnny Benson have all proven they can perform well in a race car. Still, they are unemployed in the Nextel Cup Series.
It seems to be a mystery why owners and sponsors would want a highly marketable driver who runs 25-35 each week, over a driver who isn't as marketable, but can run top 15. But whats going to stop it? not anything to my knowledge. Every year we're going to lose some of the sports all-time greats. Sure, Ken Schrader's record is less than astounding, but I'd take him any day over some other drivers who will be soon flooding into the sport. Racing should be about racing, not pretty faces and extreme youth.
Steve Leffew can be contacted at:
sleffew49@gmail.com
MIKE: run a spell and grammar check before you send that to jayski.
and also, please inform me when you send it in to him
thanks
just wanted to help push the name of NRN for the quickly approaching future.
Nascar Three Years From Now
By Steve Leffew
We have already lost many greats of the sport. Lord knows that we lost Dale Sr. earlier than anyone wanted us to. Since then, a few greats of the sport have left. Bill Elliot, for one. Bill is no longer running full time, and when he does run, its basically with an R&D team, so its tough to say he's really being given a shot at winning. Same goes for Terry Labonte. This year, hes ran in the 44 and 11. Both rides have failed to produce any great finishes.
Some people are critisizing Mark Martin for pulling the plug on his retirement deal in favor of running again in 2006. I think that all of the people critisizing him will regret that when he's gone. Mark is a classic, clean, balls to the wall racer. He is what NASCAR is all about, NASCAR doesn't need to be about 20 year old pretty boys who have some raw talent behind the wheel. Granted, these kids arent bad, but some other potentially great drivers (some in their middle ages) are being forgotten because of looks and marketability.
And its getting more prominent every year. In the next three years, the following drivers are likely to retire; Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, Ken Schrader, Terry Labonte, and Sterling Marlin. Who will replace them? Most likely, highly marketable, relatively inexperienced young drivers.
These kids have potential, but frankly, some of them don't belong in a cup car yet. Look at Kasey Kahne, he has as much talent as anyone out there, but he lacks EXPERIENCE. It takes a mature, experienced driver to take a 35th place car and race it to a 20th place finish, rather than push the car to 10th and end up tearing up clips. These drivers DO have a future in the high divisions of NASCAR, but why not give them until they're 25-30 in the lower ranks. Doing something like this will give these young drivers priceless experience. Then, when the time is right to move them up to the high ranks, they will be matured, and ready to drive with the big boys.
And its not just the retirees, many talented drivers have been forced into the busch or cup series because the owners couldn't hire them. Mainly because they weren't as appealing and/or marketable to potential sponsors. Mike Skinner, Ted Musgrave, Steve Park, and Johnny Benson have all proven they can perform well in a race car. Still, they are unemployed in the Nextel Cup Series.
It seems to be a mystery why owners and sponsors would want a highly marketable driver who runs 25-35 each week, over a driver who isn't as marketable, but can run top 15. But whats going to stop it? not anything to my knowledge. Every year we're going to lose some of the sports all-time greats. Sure, Ken Schrader's record is less than astounding, but I'd take him any day over some other drivers who will be soon flooding into the sport. Racing should be about racing, not pretty faces and extreme youth.
Steve Leffew can be contacted at:
sleffew49@gmail.com
MIKE: run a spell and grammar check before you send that to jayski.
and also, please inform me when you send it in to him
thanks