The Creation… Steven & Sheena Gabbard

Those are the words uttered by DW (Darrell Waltrip) as the green flag waves for lap one of a NASCAR Sprint race (on FOX).  There’s something about 43 cars driving 200+MPH inches apart three-wide at a place like Talladega that keeps me focused on the TV for 3-4 hours.  It is a long time to watch TV but it’s a time I look forward to each week.

I haven’t always liked NASCAR.  I remember my grandpa and uncles watching it at my mammaw’s house when I was younger and thinking it was the most boring sport there was. I had no problem saying that NASCAR stood for Non Athletic Sport Created Around Rednecks.  That’s what I thought about it and to a large degree, that’s how it started out in 1947.

Today, NASCAR is one of the fastest growing spectator sports there is.  It’s not uncommon for 150,000 fans to attend a race and several million to tune in for a Saturday night or Sunday Sprint cup race.  The face of NASCAR has changed.  At any minute, you can listen to the driver communicate with his pit crew, see how fast he is going, how many RPM’s, break usage, track position, watch a 3D version online, and view front and rear cameras.  What other sport makes you feel like you are there.  Plug that in with a large LCD TV with HD and surround sound and you too will be uttering Boogidie, Boogidie, Boogidie.

So, who do I pull for/like?  My first choice is Jeff Gordon.  I started liking Jeff Gordon when I was younger just because Dale Earnhardt fans did not.  Earnhardt fans (Jr. and Sr.) have issues with drivers that win (aka beating their driver).  Jeff Gordon is that driver.  Jeff Gordon was the 1991 Rookie of the Year.  He won his first Sprint Cup race three years later in Charlotte.  As for Dale Sr., he finished 3-laps down.  Since then, Gordon has won 82 Sprint Cup races and has won the Sprint Cup Championship Series 4 times.  Gordon’s last win was in 2009 at the Texas spring race.

This makes me wonder, why do Earnhardt fans not like Gordon (other than Gordon not fitting the redneck profile)?  Earnhardt Sr. was a great driver who earned his respect.  Over the course of his career, he won 76 Sprint Cup races and was the Winston Cup (now the Sprint Cup) Championship winner 7 times.  After his death, many fans flocked to his son Dale Earnhardt Jr.  As for Dale Jr. Dale has 18 Sprint Cup wins and 22 Nationwide Series wins since starting in 1999.  His first win was in 2000 and his last win was in 2008 – but yet he is still the fan favorite…  It’s a good thing his dad has a large coat tale for Jr. to ride around on.

At that start of 2009 I asked Sheena to pick a driver that she wanted to win.  She picked the #18 M&M’s car driven by the “Wild Thing”, Kyle Busch.  Again, Earnhardt fans have issues with winning drivers that do not fit the old NASCAR profile.  Kyle Busch has 15 Sprint Cup wins, 24 Nationwide Cup wins, and 11 Camping Word truck series races since staring in 2001 while he was 16 years old.  Sounds like a winner to me.

What does all of this mean?  I’ll let you draw your own conclusion.  As for me, I’ll finish watching the rest of the race at Darlington.  We’ll see who wins tonight.

Driver vs. Driver

Finishes for Busch and Earnhardt since 2008