July 23, 2010

Guest Column By Cathy Elliott

Bobby Dale has a heart for racing.

He also has the genes for it. Bobby, who is 22 years old, lives in Rockingham, N.C., in the shadow of a speedway that once hosted NASCAR Sprint Cup Series weekends, and where large crowds still show up for ARCA and street stock races and driving schools.

Like so many other aspiring race car drivers, he spends his days working at a “normal” job — he is a cook at the local KFC — and his weekends at the track.

The name at the top of his Facebook page simply says Bobby Dale, but there is more to this young man than initially meets the eye. Take one look at his photo and you’ll see it for yourself; the family resemblance is unmistakable. You realize that Bobby’s surname is missing from Facebook.

Bobby is an Earnhardt.

The oldest son of Kerry, and Dale Earnhardt’s first grandchild, Bobby Dale Earnhardt grew up between Mooresville and Kannapolis, N.C., deep in the heart of racing country.

From fifth through eighth grade he, along with his brother and step-sister, were home-schooled, and the family hit the road with dad while he competed in the NASCAR Busch (now Nationwide) Series. Bobby raced go-karts for a while, and did pretty well, although he says he didn’t exactly burn up the track. All in all, it was a normal childhood, in racing family terms.

Bobby isn’t a guy who is prone to a lot of chitchat — a familiar Earnhardt trait — but equally typical of the family is that animated sparkle in his voice when the talk turns to racing.

He says racing has been on his mind all his life — how could it not be? — but his real involvement started when his younger brother Jeffrey began traveling up to Virginia to compete on the dirt tracks. Bobby was right there, behind the scenes and under the hood, helping with the car.

When Jeffrey — who has raced in the Nationwide Series and most recently finished 30th in the CampingWorld 200.com NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Gateway International Raceway on July 17 — moved up to the Late Model Series, big brother Bobby decided it was time to get behind the wheel.

He raced at the New River Valley Speedway (now Motor Mile Speedway) in Radford, Va., in the UCAR Series. UCAR is best known as a starting platform for drivers looking to jump from go-karts into full-sized cars, or for people who have never raced to get their start. Bobby describes it as “old school, run-what-you-brought” racing.

These days, he races the No. 3 lawn mower at the Ellerbe Lions Club track, one-tenth of a mile of banked dirt in Ellerbe, N.C.

Yes, you did read ‘lawn mower’ correctly, but set the notion of 15 or 20 John Deeres tooling around the yard aside; these mowers are souped up and ready to race. Bobby’s has been cut and lowered. His team — Forever 3 Racing, owned by Earl Chapel — built its own spindles and has basically created something he describes as similar to a go-kart inside a mower body. These lawn mower engines can run at speeds of about 80 mph.

Bobby’s description of lawn mower competition sounds eerily familiar to anyone who has ever talked with a race car driver. “You have to get the feel of the track. You have to judge how deep you drive into the corners, know when to get in and when not to,” he says. “A lot of times, you have to know how to drive by the seat of your pants.”

Bobby spent a number of years working for his uncle, Dale Earnhardt Jr., first on his farm and then in the shop, where he was a tire specialist, a mechanic and the catch can guy on the Hooters Pro Cup car Dale Jr. owned.

He doesn’t try to hide the fact that he is an Earnhardt; far from it. The name is his family legacy, and he is proud of it. So the obvious question must be asked: Why wouldn’t you just go and ask your uncle, who owns teams on several levels of racing and is the most popular driver in NASCAR, to help you out?

For starters, he feels it isn’t fair play. “Say I walk into a shop with another guy, who has a different last name. Most people are going to talk to me first. I hate to say it, but it does give me some opportunities,” he says. “I want to work my way up, just like everybody else. I want to prove you can do it without having people hand everything to you, by actually working for it.”

Bobby says that’s the way his grandfather went about the business of racing in the early days of his career. “He worked his way up, from working on his dad’s car when he was a kid, to working on his own car when he raced on the dirt tracks. From what I’ve heard, he didn’t just come out of the gate being great, being the best. He had to work hard, and build that name up.”

A tinkerer by nature, Bobby is the guy friends and family members call when they’re having trouble with their computers, scanners and other electronic gadgetry. He likes working under the hood of a car and getting his hands dirty, helping to set up the car for competition. He wants the opportunity to do that on a car with his name on it. That is his goal.

“I’m trying to find the right people, the right team; I want to do it on my own talent,” he says. “I want people to come out and see me race and say, ‘He’s good; we want to talk to him.’

“I want to earn it.”

People do come out to watch him race. The lawn mower races, which will resume in August after the track is re-graded, draw big crowds, and fans often track Bobby down at KFC, asking for his autograph.

The desire is there, and the work ethic, and the lineage. But what about the talent? Does Bobby Dale Earnhardt have what it takes to be a successful race car driver?

“I honestly think if I had a chance to run, and got with the right team, I’d be good,” he says. “I’ve had a lot of people tell me I’ve got the talent. They’ve told me I have determination like my grandfather, that I drive like him.

“It makes me feel really good when people tell me that. It gives me the inspiration to keep going, and not give up. I intend to make him proud of me.”

The first time I heard a driver — it was Kurt Busch — refer to Greg Biffle as “The Biff,” I laughed out loud. It sounded so much like a superhero’s name.

But what kind of superhero might he be? Their names should be indicative of their powers, right? They are men to be respected, by virtue of their physical prowess. The Hulk is bigger than we are, The Flash is faster, and Superman, obviously, is simply super.

So what is the deal with The Biff?

The only Biffs I’ve ever known, or known of, are Biff Tannen, the antagonist in the “Back to the Future” movies, and a couple of guys in college who were perpetually dressed in plaid.

I have never seen Greg Biffle in a pair of pink and green patterned pants, nor do I want to. I have also never heard him utter the phrase, “Why don’t you make like a tree and get outta here, McFly?”

But I have seen him drive, and that tells me all I need to know.

Biffle is not what you’d call a regular water cooler topic. When controversies and on-track issues arise, his is not generally the first name that pops into your head. He’s been known to get a little hot under the collar now and again, but as we all know, that comes with the territory for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers.

For the most part, Biffle is what you’d call an even-keeled type of guy. He likes to fish. He has a pilot’s license and enjoys flying.

He and his wife Nicole have a love and concern for animals and their foundation makes major contributions to local humane societies, no-kill animal shelters, spay and neuter clinics, and the Animal Adoption League.

Add a pair of big black spectacles and it’s Clark Kent, eat your heart out … until a situation occurs. For our purposes here, we’ll call it a race.

Biffle springs into action. Whatever non-plaid clothes he is wearing are replaced by a firesuit. He straps in. He buckles up.

And he wins. Biffle was the 1998 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year, and the 2000 series champion. He was the 2001 NASCAR Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year, and the 2002 series champion. He has made the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup three times, in 2005, 2008 and 2009.

Currently, he is sitting in third place in the driver standings, 92 points behind four-time series champion Jimmie Johnson. Rounding out the top five are Biffle’s Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth; Kevin Harvick; and Jeff Gordon. The current top 12 includes former champion Tony Stewart; Carl Edwards; and Kyle Busch. It is, just to keep this movie reference thing current, a real clash of the titans.

In true superhero fashion, Biffle knows what he needs to do, and is prepared to follow through. He finished in the top 10 in all six Sprint Cup Series races leading up to Phoenix. In a teleconference on April 6, he said of course he knew the team would have finishes worse than 10th place over the course of the long season, and “we’ve been good so far. That’s not good enough. We’re going to have to be better than that … but we have the makings of a championship caliber team. We certainly do.”

So Johnson or any other possible future points leader had best take note of what they might see suddenly taking up a considerable amount of space in their rearview mirror. That isn’t a bird, and it isn’t a plane.

It’s The Biff, and he’s definitely flying.

Guest Column by Cathy Elliott

It seems ironic that as NASCAR is preparing to race at perhaps its most modern, contemporary track of all — Las Vegas Motor Speedway — one of the most significant events that occurred in the sport during the week leading up to the race focused not on the NASCAR’s present, but on its past.

On Wednesday, February 24, 73-year-old J.C. Elder — “Suitcase Jake” — passed away.

Newer NASCAR fans may not know much, if anything, about Suitcase Jake Elder. In the days before celebrity crew chiefs like Chad Knaus and Greg Zipadelli were representing their team sponsors in national television commercials, Elder was hunkered down in America’s garages, interacting with a chassis rather than a camera lens.

His third-grade education might not have allowed for much of a detailed explanation about NASCAR telemetry; Rusty Wallace once described his tool box as being filled with “so much prehistoric stuff that it was unreal.” Elder ground out speed the old-fashioned way, by getting his hands dirty.

And he was very, very good at it. The long list of drivers he helped get to Victory Lane includes Darrell Waltrip, Fred Lorenzen, Benny Parsons.

He was Mario Andretti’s crew chief when Andretti won the 1967 Daytona 500, and David Pearson’s crew chief when the “Silver Fox” — NASCAR does love its nicknames — won back to back Sprint Cup Series championships in 1968 and ‘69.

The man who acquired his nickname thanks to a reputation for being somewhat of a NASCAR job hopper also worked with Dale Earnhardt for a while, helping “The Intimidator” win NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year honors in 1979. In fact, his character was even featured briefly in the 2004 ESPN original movie “3: The Dale Earnhardt Story.”

The famous names the sport is built on were propped up, gassed up and sped up by Suitcase Jake Elder. He has left an indelible impression, and will not be forgotten.

NASCAR honors its history.

It also celebrates its future. Even as tears fell for one of the most successful and respected crew chiefs in stock car racing history, eyes lit up in another part of the country, on the very same day, as Carl Edwards and his wife Kate welcomed 8 lb., 4 oz. Anne Katherine Edwards into the world.

In a single day, NASCAR lost a piece of its past, and gained a part of its future. What a poignant, albeit bittersweet, example of the way the world renews itself.

The Edwards’ baby’s story is yet to be written. I’m sure we’ll be seeing her at pre-race ceremonies, and maybe even in Victory Lane, before the end of the season.

Maybe she’ll be the CEO of “Backflip Motorsports” someday, in the tradition of Kelley Earnhardt.

She could become a doctor like her mom, or – I say this with my fingers crossed — a race car driver like her dad. We just don’t know.

But we do know this. She is part of the NASCAR community now, and fittingly, she has gotten off to a great start, with a nickname of her own — “Annie.”

A flight of fancy it may be, but still it is nice to imagine that the spirits of Annie Edwards and Suitcase Jake Elder may have nodded to one another as they passed on February 24.

As one bade its final farewell to the NASCAR family and the other said hello for the very first time, perhaps they both smiled to think that on this momentous day, the circle of life was an oval.

Guest Column By Cathy Elliott

This is one of those times.

For once, he went willingly … and he’s happy to be there.

Guest Column By Cathy Elliott

I have never heard Mark Martin say anything that didn’t make sense to me … until last week.

I was watching ABC’s “NASCAR Countdown” show prior to the race at Dover International Speedway, the second event in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Hosts Allen Bestwick, Brad Daugherty and Rusty Wallace were interviewing Martin, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader, about the very real possibility that he might win that elusive series championship at last.

Martin commented once again on how much fun he is having this season, and how his current good fortune is like icing on his career cake, all that kind of stuff.

And then he dropped the bomb. He said something along the lines of, “I wish I would have won it when I really wanted to win in, between 1989 and 2006.” He said this out loud, on television.

And then I said, “Mark Martin, what are you thinking?” I said this out loud, in my bedroom.

We humans like to conjecture on topics like where we would be if we could walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, or what it would be like to hear the actual thoughts inside another person’s head.

It is reminiscent of junior high school spelling class, when we learned the difference between sympathy — to commiserate with someone — and empathy — to actually feel what someone else is feeling. Empathy is way more intense.

It’s been a typically busy week in NASCAR, albeit an unorthodox one, ranging from uncomfortably close tolerances on some of the cars to an unexpected collaboration between Richard Petty Motorsports and the Saudi Arabian royal family.

With so much fodder to foment in their gray matter, it might be pretty interesting to get inside their heads and experience — briefly — to find out what some of the 12 drivers in the 2009 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup are thinking about right now.

Kurt Busch, for example, has been remarkably stoic about the accolades habitually heaped on the head of his younger sibling, Kyle. It has to be tough for Kurt, a former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, to repeatedly hear that his kid brother has the potential to be one of the greatest race car drivers of all time. But Kyle didn’t make the Chase this year. So you couldn’t blame Kurt for thinking, “Take that, squirt.”

Carl Edwards, who was still hobbling around on those crutches the last time I checked, might be of the opinion that playing Frisbee isn’t nearly as much fun as it used to be. You think?

Brian Vickers, despite a 10th-place standing heading into the race at Kansas, is probably feeling pretty good about things overall. Making the Chase with a relatively new team validates his position as a driver to be reckoned with. Also, after a few dust-ups with Kyle Busch this season, and beating him into the Chase by only a handful of points, Vickers too might be thinking, “Take that, squirt.”

Kasey Kahne has probably spent some time wondering how Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud will feel about the Budweiser showers in Victory Lane. And how Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud will feel about Jimmy Spencer.

I can’t begin to imagine what might be going through the minds of Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon — who really are two of the greatest race car drivers in history. But hey, they’re Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon, so I’m thinking that’s good enough for them.

Juan Pablo Montoya might be thinking, “Did you guys like that lullaby I sang to you for 26 weeks? Did it make you guys sleepy? Did you think I would keep singing that same song in the Chase? Dream on!”

Currently tied with one of the most popular drivers in history after winning his third consecutive championship in 2008, Jimmie Johnson might be thinking, “Sorry about that, Cale.”

But I’m equally willing to bet Mark Martin is thinking, “Sorry about that, Jimmie.” Because no matter what Martin says on television in his typically self-effacing way, you know that championship trophy means the world to him.

The Chase is fun and exciting, but it is also stressful, and frustrating, and there are many distractions along the way. In addition to good equipment and driving skill, it takes mental toughness to make it to the end of that road before anyone else does.

The obvious answer to the question, “Where would you be if you walked a mile in someone else’s shoes?” is “A mile further down the road.” That’s a considerable margin by NASCAR standards, but not a necessary one. To win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship, a driver is required to score only a single point more than the next closest guy.

And don’t think for one minute they’re not thinking about that.

Guest Column By Cathy Elliott

It’s the same basic format followed by every professional sport; only the elite can earn the ultimate prize. The cool thing about NASCAR is that everyone gets to go all the way, but only 12 of them are eligible to get there first.

A good plan is like a road map, or for our purposes, a track map. It shows the final destination and the best way to get there.

Every accomplishment begins with a simple decision to try. And Santa always knows. So come Christmas morning, don’t be too terribly surprised if Juan Pablo Montoya finds just what he asked for sparkling underneath his tree.

Guest Column By Cathy Elliott

Mark Martin has sole possession of NASCAR’s best seat in the house heading into Race 1 of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup at New Hampshire Motor Speedway — the front seat.

When the field for the Chase was set following the race at Richmond, Martin’s reaction to his enviable position at the top of the driver standings was to praise his crew chief, Alan Gustafson, and say, “I’m having the time of my life.”

Well, duh. With four wins, six poles, nine top fives, 14 top 10s and about $4 million in winnings so far this season, what other kind of time would we expect him to be having?

Still, there’s one triumphant sentence we have yet to hear from Mark Martin.

In 1987, The Walt Disney Company premiered a now-famous advertising campaign that they called “What’s Next?” The TV commercials featured a celebrity, usually an athlete, who appeared to be answering a question posed by an unseen narrator — “What are you going to do next?”

The answer — “I’m going to Disney World!” — has been a part of the pop culture vernacular of victory ever since.

First vocalized by New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms after the Super Bowl 22 years ago, that one sentence has become synonymous with winning. It has been delivered by celebrities ranging from Tom Brady and Michael Jordan to Santa Claus and David Cook, season eight winner of “American Idol.”

Color me impatient, because it’s only been a couple of decades, but to date no NASCAR driver has been featured in a “What’s Next?” advertisement. I’m thinking about organizing a grass-roots movement to correct what I’m certain is simply an oversight. 

It’s almost too easy to find similarities between NASCAR and the Magic Kingdom. For starters, Disney World is located in Florida. The first and final races of the season are in Florida. NASCAR’s corporate offices are based in Florida. Coincidence?

Some of the attractions at Disney World actually bear an eerie resemblance to tracks hosting 10 Chase events.

On ‘The Magic Carpets of Aladdin,’ for example, riders rise and fall, pitch forward and back as their conveyances circle the genie’s golden lamp. This attraction also features spitting camels. NASCAR has those. They’re usually found at short tracks like Bristol, or at Martinsville, race number six in the Chase.

‘Big Thunder Mountain Railroad’ is one of the oldest and most well-respected rides in the park. This is no kiddie coaster. Climb aboard, and you’ll be warned to “hang onto your hats and glasses, ’cause this here’s the wildest ride in the wilderness.”

In NASCAR, we call this Talladega, the seventh Chase event.

By the way, there’s gold in them thar hills. Although in NASCAR’s case, only one of 12 prospectors will ultimately take home the mother lode.

On ‘Peter Pan’s Flight,’ a generous sprinkling of pixie dust separates the elite “lost boys” from the rest of the world. But Sprint Cup Series drivers live out their swashbuckling dreams every week, in a land where having fun while doing what they love never grows old.

The sweetest ride of all embraces the unique aspects of different cultures — like Chevy, Ford, Dodge and Toyota, for instance — while simultaneously celebrating their similarities. ‘It’s a Small World,’ after all.

I will concede the point that there is at least one major difference between stock car racing and the Magic Kingdom; there’s nothing even remotely Mickey Mouse about NASCAR.

David Cook went all the way to number one on the pop music charts with his mega-hit song, “The Time of My Life.” Another American idol will also go all the way to number one, winning the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship while having the time of his life.

When you get right down to it, I guess these guys don’t have to go to Disney World to experience the wonders of the Magic Kingdom.

They live there.

Guest Column By Cathy Elliott

Heading into the race weekend at Richmond, I asked my mom to say a little prayer for Brian Vickers; Mom has better connections in that area than I do.

“Why?” she asked. “Is there something wrong with him?”

I assured her that Vickers was doing just fine as far as I knew, but that I would really like for him to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field, and Richmond was his final opportunity. I am a sucker for a good Cinderella story.

“I thought you were a Tony Stewart fan,” she said suspiciously, as if the Almighty might suspect my intentions were something other than consistently honorable. “What does NASCAR want?”

Well, I am obviously not the official spokesperson for NASCAR, but I felt confident enough to give this one a shot.

NASCAR wants the best story.

Well, obviously that would be Tony Stewart. Start-up teams – what some other sports leagues might refer to as expansion teams – traditionally don’t perform too well during their first season, or even during their first five.

While “start-over team” is probably a better descriptive for Stewart Haas Racing than start-up team, there can be no argument as to what word best describes their season: impressive. Stewart has won three races and has been sitting atop the driver standings for about as long as anybody can remember. For him to win his third championship in his first year as a team owner would definitely be the best story, right?

Well, maybe. The Mark Martin fan base, and it is a big one, might beg to differ.

What a pure pleasure it has been to watch Martin this year. At the age of 50, he is literally twice as old as many of his competitors on the track. Instead of letting that bother him, Martin has taken his cane and routinely whacked those whippersnappers over the head with it, winning four races headed into Richmond.

Some people say that the only thing preventing Martin from being considered one of the greatest drivers of all time is the absence of a championship from his racing resume, although he has finished second in the driver standings four times. Surely a series title for Mark Martin would be the greatest story of the year.

What’s that I hear? Oh, yes, I recognize that. It’s the howls of Jimmie Johnson fans crying, “Foul!”

In 2008, Johnson accomplished what many considered the nearly impossible feat of winning his third consecutive championship. This tied the record set by one of NASCAR’s true legends, Cale Yarborough. It was an emotional moment, and a groundbreaking one.

But Johnson looks equally strong this year. He has been to Victory Lane three times in 2009, and like that wacky cousin who shows up at your door unannounced around dinner time, there is always a chance you’ll find him there again, grinning and waiting for you to invite him in and hand him a Pepsi.

For a driver to win a fourth consecutive title would be unprecedented. It would be the best story of the year, no question.

Unless, that is, you would like to talk about Juan Pablo Montoya.

All the hard work NASCAR had put into its diversity initiative has hit the jackpot with Montoya this season. The former Formula One star and Indianapolis 500 champion had no wins in 2009 heading into Richmond, but has been a fierce contender all year. He has done what he needed to do to get where he wanted to be.

For the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title to be won by a Hispanic driver for the first time in history, now that would indisputably be the story of the year, wouldn’t you say?

Not so fast.

In the immortal words of that great philosopher Ron Popeil, “Wait. There’s more.”

How about the resurgence of Jeff Gordon, a strong contender for his fifth championship, or Kurt Busch, who sits in good position to win his second title?
And could anyone with a heart resist the image of Kasey Kahne and Richard Petty raising the championship trophy together?

Any driver in the top 12 would make a worthy champion. It’s too bad that 11 of them will lose, because thanks to them, all of us – the fans – are big winners.

In fact, the story of the year may not be who comes out on top this season. The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season itself may be the story of the year.