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Dan Haynes
Joined: 17 Sep 2007
Posts: 2371
Location: United States, Pennsylvania, Ellwood City
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 Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 8:26 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I'll admit, he's not your average good ole boy |
I think this is a common misconception in todays NASCAR. I believe that almost 1/4 of the field is from California nowadays. I think the native southerner is now a minority in NASCAR. I'd have to look through the list to see where everyone's from but I'm betting there are more from Cali than from North Carolina.
But Tom is right about the perception. Years ago if you weren't born and raised in NC you didn't have a chance. I think that started to change around mid 90's after some guy named Gordon came along.
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Paul Hutt
Joined: 26 Sep 2009
Posts: 388
Location: United States, Washington, Olympia
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| Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 6:36 pm Post subject: |
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The Biff and Kasey Kayne are from Washington.
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Matt McCauley
Joined: 19 Jan 2006
Posts: 422
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| Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 10:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Tom Jensen wrote: | | Matt McCauley wrote: | | i had great aspirations for scott at one point. now i just think of him as scott "switching series" speed, if stock car doesnt work we know he will try rally or sprint car if those dont work maybe he will make a karting come back with alex |
I don't think it was as simple as that. I don't think Scott woke up one morning and said, "Hey, I think I'll go to NASCAR." I imagine that being in the pinnacle of motorsports is probably one of the greatest feats in the world. At the same time, I imagine that he was probably treated like **** by all the Europeans who just thought of him as a stupid American. It was probably pretty hard on him. I remember talking to Scott in Vegas a few years ago and I said, "You must be having the time of your life." All he kept saying was that "It is a lot of work. More than you can imagine." He didn't seem particularly happy about being there. If Red Bull wanted him in F1, they would have kept him there but they are serious about winning an I guess they thought he'd be better off in NASCAR. F1 sounds great but the lifestyle, the money and perks that come from being in NASCAR have got to be outrageous. He met his wife, he's closer to his family, he's an American and not a minority. I'll admit, he's not your average good ole boy but he's holding his own. He's getting better daily and I have no doubt he will be competitive. He just needs to win a race and once he's bit by that bug, he'll want another one. He's not a failure, in fact, I would consider him to be very successful. He's raced F1 and he races cup. Failures don't make it that far. He's obviously not a quitter. You'll see. |
maybe you took me wrong, i wasnt saying scott sucks or he is a failure. i personally feel pretty let down by him, he was supposed to go over and pave the way for americans into f1. its not like one day whoops he ended up in f1, u dreamt of being there, and what changed his dreams cuz it was so hard and so much work and people treated him like crap? if i were in his position i dont think i would have gave up so easy. race car drivers never give up. look at schumacher, that guy fights for every position and everything he has every got and it kills him to lose. i thought scott was and answer to american open wheel prayers, and it seems not. i personally would rather him come back to karting. where vettle is right now is where scott should have been and whatever scott had to deal with he shoudl have been reaching out for support. also im sure its the same thing andretti dealt with. it works like this when u come from a place where u are a badass and go to place where you dont get that same respect its hard to deal wtih but, winners deal and get through it. if anythign he should have went back to gp2. just cuz everyone doesnt high 5 u and tell u that u are the best thing since sliced bread doesnt mean u shoudl give up. in my eyes he gave up. not that he doesnt have talent but he is also driving in a hard series to be accepted into and which is definately not known for its talent. id rather driver with a field deep with talent than a field with 3 good guys and 30 bad ones.
sorry for the rant |
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Tom Jensen
Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Posts: 10149
Location: United States, Nevada, Reno
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| Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 8:28 am Post subject: |
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| Dan Haynes wrote: | | Quote: | | I'll admit, he's not your average good ole boy |
I think this is a common misconception in todays NASCAR. I believe that almost 1/4 of the field is from California nowadays. I think the native southerner is now a minority in NASCAR. I'd have to look through the list to see where everyone's from but I'm betting there are more from Cali than from North Carolina.
But Tom is right about the perception. Years ago if you weren't born and raised in NC you didn't have a chance. I think that started to change around mid 90's after some guy named Gordon came along. |
He's not your average Californian either. You're right, the drivers are now more diverse than they ever have been. It's still run by the France family. I guess Brian is the new blood. Gordon was an outcast because he was from California, even though he lived in Indiana most of his racing career.
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Tom Jensen
Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Posts: 10149
Location: United States, Nevada, Reno
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| Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 8:38 am Post subject: |
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| Matt McCauley wrote: | | Tom Jensen wrote: | | Matt McCauley wrote: | | i had great aspirations for scott at one point. now i just think of him as scott "switching series" speed, if stock car doesnt work we know he will try rally or sprint car if those dont work maybe he will make a karting come back with alex |
I don't think it was as simple as that. I don't think Scott woke up one morning and said, "Hey, I think I'll go to NASCAR." ...................... He's not a failure, in fact, I would consider him to be very successful. He's raced F1 and he races cup. Failures don't make it that far. He's obviously not a quitter. You'll see. |
maybe you took me wrong, i wasnt saying scott sucks or he is a failure. i personally feel pretty let down by him, he was supposed to go over and pave the way for americans into f1. its not like one day whoops he ended up in f1, u dreamt of being there, and what changed his dreams cuz it was so hard and so much work and people treated him like crap? if i were in his position i dont think i would have gave up so easy. race car drivers never give up. look at schumacher, that guy fights for every position and everything he has every got and it kills him to lose. i thought scott was and answer to american open wheel prayers, and it seems not. i personally would rather him come back to karting. where vettle is right now is where scott should have been and whatever scott had to deal with he shoudl have been reaching out for support. also im sure its the same thing andretti dealt with. it works like this when u come from a place where u are a badass and go to place where you dont get that same respect its hard to deal wtih but, winners deal and get through it. if anythign he should have went back to gp2. just cuz everyone doesnt high 5 u and tell u that u are the best thing since sliced bread doesnt mean u shoudl give up. in my eyes he gave up. not that he doesnt have talent but he is also driving in a hard series to be accepted into and which is definately not known for its talent. id rather driver with a field deep with talent than a field with 3 good guys and 30 bad ones.
sorry for the rant |
I didn't mean to insinuate that he was a failure. I was more or less referring to the haters and some of the previous posts. I don't know what went on over in Europe but I imagine that if Scott could have stayed in F1, he probably would have. I could be wrong, he might have hated it. But it seems that he has a great relationship with the owner of Red Bull and that guy signs the checks. Red Bull has a very serious racing program. The first impression was the here is some sugar water company just trying to get exposure for there product. After the last F! race and Vickers race for the chase contention, it should be obvious that Red Bull is very serious. I didn't see any other companies offering this type of support for Scott and I think he pretty much took what he was offered which wasn't a bad thing. Honestly, I'd rather see him in NASCAR than F1. We get to watch him race 43 times a season. I got to two NASCAR races and one Nationwide races last year and I've seen him race once this year, so as a fan, I probably would not have been able to see him race at all in F1 other than the TV. I guess my point is that there's more than meets the eye and it's hard to fault him for the things he has little or no control over.
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Larry Andrews
Joined: 13 May 2002
Posts: 2848
Location: United States, California, SC Mtns
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| Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 12:03 am Post subject: |
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Matt - don't forget the almighty dollar, or euro as the case probably was.
Scott was under contract to RedBull, and still is. When Berger nutted up, Speed was still held by the short hairs unless someone stepped in with huge cash to buy out his contract. As he'd made a few errors in '07, it was impossible to find a white knight midseason and he salvaged his deal with Mateschitz by coming home.
It's hardly a failure - more of a rolling with the punches sort of thing. Scott impresses the heck out of me as he continues to grow and learn at a sport somewhat far from where he started. Dinger too, fwiw. Both are simply amazing.
In racing, the only golden rule is that the man with the gold makes the rules. Once you accept that, the rest of the nonsense becomes less obfuscated. |
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Tom Jensen
Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Posts: 10149
Location: United States, Nevada, Reno
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| Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 6:34 am Post subject: |
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Coincidentally, Allmendinger edged out Speed for the poll in Phoenix. They'll start 1 and 2. Not too shabby.
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Dan Haynes
Joined: 17 Sep 2007
Posts: 2371
Location: United States, Pennsylvania, Ellwood City
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| Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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Just for fun I compiled a listing of the NASCAR 'regulars' along with their respective home states. The breakdown is as follows:
California-9 drivers (counting Jeff Gordon)
Virginia-4 drivers
Ohio and Wisconsin-3 drivers each
Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, Washington-2 drivers each (not counting Jeff Gordon)
And a bunch with 1 driver.
So North Carolina (the self proclaimed home of NASCAR) only has 2 drivers that are from that state. California, Virginia, Ohio, and Wisconsin each have more.
Here is the Excel Spreadsheet:
DRIVER FROM
1 Jamie McMurray MO
2 Kurt Busch NV
5 Mark Martin AR
6 David Ragan GA
7 Robby Gordon CA
9 Kasey Kahne WA
11 Denny Hamlin VA
12 Brad Keselowski MI
13 Max Papis ITALY
14 Tony Stewart IN
16 Greg Biffle WA
17 Matt Kenseth WI
18 Kyle Busch NV
19 Elliot Sadler VA
20 Joey Logano CT
21 Bill Elliot GA
24 Jeff Gordon CA-IN
26 Boris Said CA
29 Kevin Harvick CA
31 Jeff Burton VA
33 Clint Bowyer KS
34 Travis Kvapil WI
37 David Gilliland CA
38 Kevin Conway VA
39 Ryan Newman IN
42 Juan Montoya COLUMBIA
43 AJ Allmendinger CA
46 Terry Cook OH
47 Marcus Ambrose AUSTRALIA
48 Jimmy Johnson CA
55 Michael McDowell AZ
56 Martin Truex NJ
66 Dave Blaney OH
71 Bobby Labonte TX
77 Sam Hornish OH
78 Regan Smith NY
82 Scott Speed CA
83 Brian Vickers NC
87 Joe Nemechek FL
88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr. NC
90 Casey Mears CA
98 Paul Menard WI
99 Carl Edwards MO
00 David Reutimann FL
STATE # of participants
AR 1 2.20%
AZ 1 2.20%
CA 9 20.50%
CT 1 2.20%
FL 2 4.50%
GA 2 4.50%
IN 2 4.50%
KS 1 2.20%
MI 1 2.20%
MO 2 4.50%
NC 2 4.50%
NJ 1 2.20%
NV 2 4.50%
NY 1 2.20%
OH 3 6.80%
TX 1 2.20%
VA 4 9%
WA 2 4.50%
WI 3 6.80%
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