It amazes me as to all the attention placed recently on what number Dale Earnhardt Jr. is going to use in 2008.
I do have to say… I am not a Junior fan. There, I said it. Let the hate mail and flaming comments begin.
But before you start, let me at least clarify myself.
It’s nothing against the man.
It’s really nothing personal at all.
It’s actually more generational.
When I examine those whom I root for in racing, an interesting statistic becomes apparent.
The YOUNGEST driver I really root for is 43 years old…
The next one is 47, then after that, the driver is 48.
I am somewhere between 45 and 55 myself.
A lot of the new younger NASCAR fans come in to the sport, and they naturally root for the drivers who are near their age.
I’m not saying this is a hard-and-fast rule every time, but it was this way with me.
When I started seriously following the sport in the late ’80s, I didn’t really root for the “senior drivers” (if you’ll pardon that expression)… I natually tended toward interest in drivers near my age.
Now that DJ’s announced he’s retiring next season, I suppose it would be ok to mention that he’s my favorite driver. Yeah, that’s right… the “other” Dale.
DJ is nearly 51 years old.
Over his career, Jarrett has had lots of numbers… 21, 18, 28, 88, and now, 44. Plus he used 32 and others in the Busch Series.
It never made an OUNCE of difference to me what number DJ drove… I was not a fan of the number. I am a fan of the man.
It was his character, his enthusiasm, his grit and determination… those things earned my attention… and caused me to be a DJ fan, for nearly 20 years.
So what I am going to do when DJ retires?
There’s just not been a younger driver who’s really caught my eye.
Not that there are not talented younger drivers… but I don’t just root for just anyone.
Yes, they’ve got to be talented, and a real racer. But they’ve also got to have character, both on and off the track.
In the past, I’ve read clear testimonies of Dale Jarrett’s Christian character and beliefs, but that was 10 or more years ago.
On Mark Martin’s website, he lists his favorite book as the Bible.
You don’t find magazine or website articles about those things much any more.
So even if there was a young driver with good character traits, it would be near next to impossible to find out anything like this about him or her.
There are lots of different reasons why a fan latches on to a driver.
Personality. Appearance. Aggressiveness on the track…
What about character?
That should matter a lot more than what number someone is going to use.
Car Insurance Used Honda Accord
why did you write such a article, who cares who is your favorite driver. was is just to let people you do not care for JR ?again who cars.
You make a valid point on the character issue…..just look at the political ads and politicians themselves; judging men by their character is a nearly dead principle, like proper etiquette or proper use of English grammar and spelling (see above post).
Jan, I think you missed the point of the article completely. I’d try to explain it to you, but I can see you have your Jr. blinders on, so….
It certainly seems silly to base your favorite driver on personality rather than talent in a race car , but many fans do exactly that . For me , i really tend to favor a driver who can drive and win in a variety of cars, in the style of A J Foyt . Personality traits don’t matter because i’m not planning to marry the driver , i just appreciate his talent behind the wheel . And truthfully , we fans only think we know these drivers . We don’t . We only know what we’re told and shown through the media . And we all know how inaccurate that tends to be .
Clever way to get hits on your website, but after reading, it was like eating rice cakes…no substance.
You sure had a LOT of ‘I’s in that article. Now, who were you writing about?
Ace, it “is” commentary… basically summarizing what “I” think about whatever “I’m” writing about.
Ginger, the general gist of the thing was to get people to consider the character of their choices for favorite drivers and not to be so hung up on what number they’re using. I’m sorry that those points didn’t come across well enough to you. I’m not sure how clever the article was, but thank you for the “compliment”.
who cares what you think about the #’s of cars or for that matter who your favorite drivers are. what makes you so special. we all have our opinions & our favorite drivers. this is a free country; or at least i thought so. if you are a journalist, then write something worthwhile & worth our time to read. thanks for nothing. jr. fan from martinsville,va.
Dear E. R. Mason…. PHHHBBBBBTTTTTTT!!!!!!!! (since this is a free country)
Mick, Your point is what? You are right, I don’t care what number JR. Has on the side of his car. It is the driver. Great, you don’t like JR. So what!! You say that you pick your drivers on their character. I think JR. has a lot more “character” than most of the drivers in Nascar today. As for the older drivers, I to will miss them when they are gone. I am between the 45 - 50 age myself. If you don’t like JR, don’t knock him. I think that anyone else who has been thru what he has would act totally different. When was the last time you read a bad article on JR? On or off the track? He takes all the fault when he is in the wrong ( sometimes when he is not ). I sure wish we could turn back the clock to the good ole days. It just doesn’t really matter anymore. Nascar just plain ***** today!!!
GREAT ARTICLE!!COULD NOT HAVE PUT IT BETTER MYSELF.IT’S GREAT IF JR. IS YOUR BOY & A ROOKIE BOY THAT NOBODY REALIZES AND WHAT SHOES TO FIT AND
TAKE OVER IS WHO RICHARD CHILDRESS PUT INTO GOODWRENCH FOR DALE SR.IS
KEVIN HARVICK AND AGAIN IT WAS HARVICK!! TALKING ABOUT CARING ABOUT NUMBERS?? #29 THAT STILL CARRIES THE #3 ON IT.JUST BECAUSE HE IS THE SON.
WHO REALLY TOOK OVER FOR MR.DALE SENIOR.HHHHHMMMMMMM,WELL SEE YOU AT THE TRACK WITH THE “DAYTONA” WINNER.HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND……
Just because someone claims to be a Christian and touts their religious beliefs does not mean they have good character. Look at Kyle Petty. Leading his crew in prayer at the road course one minute and using the F word the next. Most people who tout their religious beliefs the way you described DJ and Mark Martin doing are usually hypocrites. If they were really Christians, you would know it without having to read an article about it.
Brady, Christians are not perfect… just forgiven. Otherwise I John 1:9 would not need to be in the Bible:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The fact is every sport you follow will eventually be taken over by younger people that’s the hard truth about getting older unless Nascar comes up with a senior division like golf these are things you will have to come to grips with. As to the character issue what do we really really know about these people we follow other than what we read, see or are fed by massive publicity machines hired by the respective sports. I agree that a lot of the nonsense with the number was overblown but to a certain aspect it was also driven by the media, merchandisers and Nascar who all stand to make boatloads of cash over something as simple as switching numbers. I for one think there is a bigger problem on the horizon than driver character or car numbers and that’s the gradual but steady move toward more of an IROC mentality within Nascar using bland 4 door sedans with no personality that in five years will most likely be issued by Nascar complete with engines leaving the crews to do nothing but decal the cars and put them on the grid. It could truly mean the end of the sport as everyone knows it today and could go the way of IROC.
“what makes you so special. we all have our opinions & our favorite drivers.” — not to point out the obvious, but what makes Mick so special is the fact he *HAS* a blog and a website, whereas the rest of us have only a comments box.
:) LOL
And as for the Kyle Petty hypocrite comment… you can’t be serious. Last I checked, Kyle never professed to be Jesus Christ here for the 2nd Coming. That means Kyle is human, and as such, he is imperfect and a sinner. Now by all means Brady, if you can get in a racecar with your family’s business and millions of sponsor dollars resting on your shoulders and not get so emotional that you NEVER, EVER utter a swear word… well goodie for you! Drop me a line and I’ll mail you a Christianity Gold Star.
I think it is safe to say there is NO racecar driver who has *never* used a swear word, or thought an evil thought, or who never coveted another man’s woman 
and yet that does not mean that NONE of them are Christians. It just means that they, like all of us, have things to work on & pray for forgiveness for.
What the heck went on here? Mick only wrote an article that said who he likes and why. He just spoke of how he came to his conclusions and what it means to him. What is wrong with that? What is wrong with some of you people? I understand if you like Junior. I’m sure Mick does too. I mean he said so in the article he does. But, just because he is not a Junior fan, you all write crazy? Shame on you all. I understood this article. I understood because of how I picked my favorite guy, Johnny Benson. Now, I picked him for completely crazy reason. It was in 2000, JB had lost his sponser and he had a plain white car at the DAYTONA 500. Mick- you should remember this race! His car was the only one I could follow! And JB was leading the race with few to go, and DJ took it from him. Yup, bumped him right out of the way! haha Recall Mick? It’s OK Mick, I forgave DJ a few weeks later, ’cause he is my moms guy too!!! Anyhow, JB happens to be about my age, too. And he isn’t too aggressive. He’s a great driver, but doesn’t take anyone out. And he isn’t loud. And he isn’t a prankster. He’s just a mid-westerner with good skills, good character and other drivers like him. Anyway, I didn’t read ONE negative thing in that article about Junior. Not ONE! You all need to read it again. Nothing negative was said. BTW, does anyone think the f word was hip during the ages of the Bible? I didn’t know that type of curse word was being a bad Christian. I thought you weren’t suppose to use the Lords name in vane is all?
Somewhat misleading headline for the hits.
That said while not a “jr fanboy” the reason for the number interest
was that the #3 is still out there (though somehow “owned” by RCR)
and the thought was that MAYBE he might pick it up and run with it
that aside one of the things about the numbers he wants to drive is that
there is a family connection, his current number was run by his grandfather
he wanted another number that had the family legacy, Teresa Kept the 8 so after
searching there was the 88 that his grandfather did drive for a few races
The fact that it helps those with a tattoo is beside the point.
As a Christian is there not something about honoring your father in that book
THAT IS what he is doing in his own way. and why his number DOES matter
As a none jeff gordon fan, there have been plenty of articles about him and his faith
You could also go for MW, he preaches and tries to convert others
all you have to do is a little bit of looking, almost every driver out there is some sort of christian as is almost everyone in all of the shops, it is not that hard to find someone to root for or if worst comes to worst you could just pick a team
Correct me if I am wrong, but there is a scripture in the bible that says, “For ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. There is another that says “Judge not or so shall you be judged”. With that being said, who are any of you to say who is and who is not a Christian? As far as Dale Jr., yes I am a fan. I began pulling for Dale Sr. as soon as I started watching NASCAR back in the late 70’s. I always liked his style of racing. Whether any of you did or didn’t really doesn’t matter to me. Dale Jr. came on the seen and I started pulling for him also, as well as Kerry and Kelly. Somehow, neither Kerry nor Kelly had the same success as Dale Jr. When Dale Sr. died, my all allegiance was switched to Dale Jr. and there again, I do not care what anyone thinks about that. Whether any of you think he has talent or not, he is what he is and HMS definitely thinks he does have talent. Even though I have always hated HMS, I think this was a smart move on Jr’s part. I will pull for him no matter what number he has, who he drives for, or what he drives. I also agree that this was a good article and the writer got what he wanted, FEEDBACK, both good and bad.
I do appreciate all the feedback, both good and not so good. I never dreamed this article would still up the hornet’s nest that it did.
Thank you to all who responded… both in the positive and the negative. That’s how we learn.
I curse like a sailor. Then again I don’t go around talking about what a good Christian I am either. I can always tell when someone is a phony Christian because they are the ones saying “I am a Christian.” Real Christians are the ones who let their actions speak for them. I think it is ridiculous that Mick is disappointed that “You don’t find magazine or website articles about those things much any more.” Hopefully that is because the younger drivers realize how phony that sort of stuff makes them look. I hope you guys are only grandstanding and that you don’t honestly believe everything you read in magazines or on the Internet. Any idiot could go around saying “I am a Christian. I love Jesus.” and whatnot. And if you believe it just because they say it, good for you. I like to think I am not so easily impressed.
Look guys, I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I just don’t think it is fair to assume that younger drivers are not Christians just because they do not have articles written about their beliefs. Furthermore, it is dangerous to simply take someone at their word. Dale Jarrett and Kyle Petty may very well be devout Christians and if so, I salute them for that. However, it could just as easily be the case that they SAY they are Christians because they know that most people in this country, especially NASCAR fans, are Christians and will support them and buy their merchandise for being Christian. It could just be about the money. Be careful with assumptions like that, is all I am saying.
OK, seriously yaw’ll, I always wanted to take lessons on how to completely miss a subject. TA~DAAAA! Now I’ve learned! (I’m am just teasing)