The great reward of writing this blog is hearing from our readers even some of the ones who take us to task. We're happily surprised to see that our article on Joe Nemechek promptly elicited support from a couple loyal #87 fans.
While we struggle to come to terms with the "start and park" drivers in Sprint Cup and Nationwide events, Joe Nemechek's career gives the phenomenon a very human face. We think of Joe's early race banging it out with Dale Earnhardt in the Busch series at Loudon, New Hampshire, his mom dressed in Army fatigues holding a clipboard on the radio, and the geniune joy of a driver just outside the mainstream celebrating a great qualifying run or a hard fought rare win.
The deck is stacked against Joe Nemechek. We think of drivers in the past who struggled to carry on as independents for the love of the sport like Dave Marcis, but toward the end of Marcis's career, somehow he'd carry on in many races until the checkered flag dropped sometimes with a car missing fenders covered in duct tape.
It's not 1992, but how can we not secretly hope there couuld be another Alan Kulwicki whose famous "Underbird" team was able to sneak in an win a hard fought Cup championship against the big money sponsorship teams of Davey Allison for Robert Yates and Bill Elliot in the Budweiser Beer Can for Junior Johnson?
These days even ownership groups struggle to keep afloat in a highly competitive sport. Go no futher than the consolidation of Evernham-Gillett with Richard Petty now merging with the struggling Yates operation or the legacy of Dale Earnhardt, DEI, merging with Chip Ganassi's operation, an owner with substantial success in Indy Car racing.
While it's easy to applaud Tony Stewart's effort putting together his team with two drivers in the chase, it's not like the Haas operation with whom he merged didn't have substantial resources, add to that the sponsorship opportunites a two-time champion along with a perennial top 15 driver like Ryan Newman could attract, it would be very unfair to liken Stewart's efforts to Alan Kulwicki's. It was a different era with very different challenges.
In hindsight, the 1992 season the end of an era for more reasons than the end of Richard Petty's driving career. With Jeff Gordon starting in Atlanta and other moves taking place, the dawn of the superteam had arrived with the multicar big dollar operations.
NASCAR's in no position to impose a luxury tax on the top operations when the sport is in financial difficulty, but somehow any team that qualifies should have sufficient tires and fuel to complete a race. Surely, there would be an uproar if NASCAR imposed tire restrictions like they do in the Nationwide and Truck series.
Life is not fair, but every organized sport should take every effort to make their baseline as fair as possible. "Start and Park" is a sad reflection of the times and it would be unfair to characterize these teams as carpetbaggers who take advantage of the system the way the Pittsburgh Pirates owners do in Major League baseball. Clearly they have no intention of competing but find their involvement in their sport profitable. No one can question that Joe Nemechek's family business is for the love of the sport and for that he maintains some very loyal fans.
Hats off to you Nemechek fans. Surely his fine qualifying effort in Kansas was a much deserved reward!!
While we struggle to come to terms with the "start and park" drivers in Sprint Cup and Nationwide events, Joe Nemechek's career gives the phenomenon a very human face. We think of Joe's early race banging it out with Dale Earnhardt in the Busch series at Loudon, New Hampshire, his mom dressed in Army fatigues holding a clipboard on the radio, and the geniune joy of a driver just outside the mainstream celebrating a great qualifying run or a hard fought rare win.
The deck is stacked against Joe Nemechek. We think of drivers in the past who struggled to carry on as independents for the love of the sport like Dave Marcis, but toward the end of Marcis's career, somehow he'd carry on in many races until the checkered flag dropped sometimes with a car missing fenders covered in duct tape.
It's not 1992, but how can we not secretly hope there couuld be another Alan Kulwicki whose famous "Underbird" team was able to sneak in an win a hard fought Cup championship against the big money sponsorship teams of Davey Allison for Robert Yates and Bill Elliot in the Budweiser Beer Can for Junior Johnson?
These days even ownership groups struggle to keep afloat in a highly competitive sport. Go no futher than the consolidation of Evernham-Gillett with Richard Petty now merging with the struggling Yates operation or the legacy of Dale Earnhardt, DEI, merging with Chip Ganassi's operation, an owner with substantial success in Indy Car racing.
While it's easy to applaud Tony Stewart's effort putting together his team with two drivers in the chase, it's not like the Haas operation with whom he merged didn't have substantial resources, add to that the sponsorship opportunites a two-time champion along with a perennial top 15 driver like Ryan Newman could attract, it would be very unfair to liken Stewart's efforts to Alan Kulwicki's. It was a different era with very different challenges.
In hindsight, the 1992 season the end of an era for more reasons than the end of Richard Petty's driving career. With Jeff Gordon starting in Atlanta and other moves taking place, the dawn of the superteam had arrived with the multicar big dollar operations.
NASCAR's in no position to impose a luxury tax on the top operations when the sport is in financial difficulty, but somehow any team that qualifies should have sufficient tires and fuel to complete a race. Surely, there would be an uproar if NASCAR imposed tire restrictions like they do in the Nationwide and Truck series.
Life is not fair, but every organized sport should take every effort to make their baseline as fair as possible. "Start and Park" is a sad reflection of the times and it would be unfair to characterize these teams as carpetbaggers who take advantage of the system the way the Pittsburgh Pirates owners do in Major League baseball. Clearly they have no intention of competing but find their involvement in their sport profitable. No one can question that Joe Nemechek's family business is for the love of the sport and for that he maintains some very loyal fans.
Hats off to you Nemechek fans. Surely his fine qualifying effort in Kansas was a much deserved reward!!
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