Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

you know - EARNHARDT wasted a couple of years driving that furd of bud moore - ww2 hero and actual nascar champion - in pontiacs - looked like that 15 thunderslug had an anchor dragging on the back of it
went back to chevrolet , EARNHARDT became the world hero of the working man

[realsteelfreak]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

Waste of effort talking to Spudzter

[mlcraven]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

Waste of effort talking to Spudzter

WHOAA...don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Stand fast # 5, Speedy's been reading the mail. And while the JR comment won't win any sensitivity awards, the general sentiment isn't entirely misplaced either.

[realsteelfreak]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

Waste of effort talking to Spudzter

WHOAA...don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Stand fast # 5, Speedy's been reading the mail. And while the JR comment won't win any sensitivity awards, the general sentiment isn't entirely misplaced either.

re-read the first 2 lines of my other post, i agree, he has not been on top, really not my issue.

[mlcraven]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

Waste of effort talking to Spudzter

WHOAA...don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Stand fast # 5, Speedy's been reading the mail. And while the JR comment won't win any sensitivity awards, the general sentiment isn't entirely misplaced either.

re-read the first 2 lines of my other post, i agree, he has not been on top, really not my issue.

Yup, I read it. Your points are valid. And in fairness, I'll bet it isn't always easy living life in the shadow of a legend, even with all the material perks and brand-name recognition.

[realsteelfreak]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

Probably not, but none of those kids have been out in the world acting like jerks either, never heard talk of it. But it would be hard to live up to Sr's name, Jr is a different person, he is just in the limelight, many other drivers do as bad or worse and they keep sponsors, aquire new ones.

[Not A Duster]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

Good blog post - I agree with all but a couple of the items - and I'm not 100% against them either.

I like what this guy has to say, even tho I often don't agree - it still makes for entertaining reading.

[Mr4Speed]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

Aside from still holding out some hope for Junior I'm right there with you Speedy. Modern race cars would be far better off without carbon fiber, titanium, down force, and sticky tires. Slash the cost and let the damn things slide around-make the drivers work that wheel!

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

even tho I often don't agree - it still makes for entertaining reading.

Welcome to my world.

[BOOOGHAR]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

ive been driving bagged vehicles on and off for the past 15 years and become thick skinned to a majority of the comments made about everything in general to them, what ive come to find out is the people that make the comments just dont know about and become instantly negative towards them

[IRONHEAD]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

Jr is a money making machine. He will remain a driver until his lackluster performance causes his money machine to dry up. It doesn't appear that will happen any time soon.

Today, if I was a team owner, I'd hire him at the drop of a hat. I just wouldn't sign him to a long term contract.

Well, to be honest, back when JR left the struggling DEI, and if I'd have been Jack Roush and/or Ford, I'd have gone all out to sign JR because of his irrational popularity. I guess I got caught up in all of that family drama and the hype.

But today, now that he's shown he cannot compete in best-of-the-best equipment, I'd probably dump him.

sorry.. YOU might remember Rick Craven.. great driver.. then mover to hendrick with "the best equipment" but the bud car was always off the pace.... hendrick used that car and sponser money to prop up the whole group..
hendrick has always had one car that didn't run like the others from the same equipment :
and all with drivers that did very well for themselves before getting to hendrick..
see a pattern????

[squirrel]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

ive been driving bagged vehicles on and off for the past 15 years and become thick skinned to a majority of the comments made about everything in general to them, what ive come to find out is the people that make the comments just dont know about and become instantly negative towards them

Or they do know about them, and since they think cars sitting on the ground look kind of silly, they just don't have any use for bags.

Anyways, hydropneumatic is the way to go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgZR5X1hR_g

[38P]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

you know - EARNHARDT wasted a couple of years driving that furd of bud moore - ww2 hero and actual nascar champion - in pontiacs - looked like that 15 thunderslug had an anchor dragging on the back of it
went back to chevrolet , EARNHARDT became the world hero of the working man

Former Ford Special Vehicle Operations boss Michael Kranefuss has a good story about Earnhardt's time in the 15. Dale Sr. once wondered aloud why Ford let him go back to Childress and Chevrolet. Earnhardt apparently thought he'd been fired. Kranefuss told Dale that Ford just didn't have the factory parts and pieces in 1983 necessary to keep him. Kranefuss apparently believed it was unfair to a championship caliber driver like Earnhardt. The parts problem was so bad for Ford teams in the late '70s and early '80s that some teams were scrounging for used Austrailian cylinder heads and other parts (the canted valve "Cleveland/Boss" style engine remained in production down throughout the '70s).

Ford's return to NASCAR after the disasterous November 1970 pull-out didn't start bearing real fruit until well after Chldress and Bud Moore swapped drivers (Ricky Rudd swapped seats with Earnhardt for the 1984 season). Ford might have never recovered from the idiotic decision to abandon racing in 1970 without the efforts of brilliant, scrappy people such as Ernie Elliott and Robert Yates (remember that the Ranier-Lundy team switched from the Monte Carlo SS to the unproven Thunderbird in all the switching that was going on in '84-'85 . . . and that switch was despite Cale Yarborough leading 89 laps in a dominant, Yates-powered 1984 Daytona 500 win).

Even as behind as the Fords were in '82-'83, Earnhardt managed to win once in 1982 (in the horribly boxy '80-'82 T-Bird) and card 12 top 10s in 30 races. In the swoopy, but undeveloped 1983 "Aero-Bird," Earnhard pulled off two wins and 14 top tens.

Earnhardt's return to Chevrolet didn't bring any more wins-per-season unitl 1985 (the season when Million Dollar Bill Elliott won twice as many races in a scienced-out Ford). Earnhardt's legendary 11 win season came only after NASCAR allowed Chevy to enter the ridiculously ugly Monte Carlo SS Aerocoupe and (which was a homologation "cheater" car if there ever was one).

sorry.. YOU might remember Rick Craven.. great driver.. then mover to hendrick with "the best equipment" but the bud car was always off the pace.... hendrick used that car and sponser money to prop up the whole group..
hendrick has always had one car that didn't run like the others from the same equipment :
and all with drivers that did very well for themselves before getting to hendrick..
see a pattern????

Craven was an average driver with only two wins in 11 seasons. Craven, of course, was seriously injured, which could have affected his career afterward.

Kyle Busch would probably be a better example for your argument. He won twice as many races in only one season as he had total in the four prior seasons by switching from Hendrick's Chevrolets to Joe Gibbs' tratorous "Toyotas."

JR's best season was 2004 (6 wins, 21 top tens). He's slumped ever since. Comparing Kyle Busch's last year in a Hendrick Chevrolet with Earnhardt's first shows that Busch had one more top five and four more top ten finishes.

The real point of my comments on Earnhardt-ism apparently has been missed. JR's ridiculous popularity is motivated by something other than his declining on-track performances. It is a cult of personality. Clearly, JR is the polar opposite of Hendrick teammates Gordon and Johnson. Gordon and Johnson are fake, urbanized, chirpy, packaged-for-television Californians. They seem to embody everything that traditional fans hate about the modern NASCAR driver. In contrast, JR talks like a traditional country boy. He deviates from the script. He seems more "genuine" to many Southerners. He's easier to relate to (don't discount the "Walter Mitty" aspect of "stock car racing")

In a country with no official royalty to preen over, apparently there are legions of NASCAR fans who desparately want there to be an Earnhardt "royal" dynasty. And there are a fair number of folks who mistake celebrity and linage for merit. These folks are the majority of JR's "Posse."

[Shawn Anderson]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

Funny of all the stuff in there the Jr. stuff get's the most responce. If I never here "he's just like his dady" it will be to soon.

[horsewidower]

Re: Speedy Says: The Top 11 Things That Get Speedzzter's Goat

what ive come to find out is the people that make the comments just dont know about and become instantly negative towards them

You can extend that comment to just about anything. If someone immediately comes out negative I tend to question the quality of their knowledge. An all out negative comment, without the backing of actual experience, is an ignorant comment.