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Debbi Willis, Daw613@bigfoot.com
Wisdom, Experience and a Plan
Wisdom, Experience and a Plan
On the ever shiny, illustrious surface, everything appears to be wonderful with the Everham-led Hendricks racing team and Jeff Gordon. Naturally, all his Fanatics think this PROVES he's the best, but the logic of his Fanatics has already been discussed in another column [Fans and Fanatics]. Winning the Daytona 500 (at any risk!) and the extra million bucks might also cause someone to think they had just seen the best "battle" in history. Keep in mind though, I said might.....
Like the seasoned veteran drivers Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt are, a seasoned race fan realizes what they witnessed in the 1999 Daytona 500 was wisdom and experience at its very best and safest. Of course, not on behalf of the Golden Boy with the Silver Spoon! Gordon's high risk-taking recklessness, as Dave Kindred pointed out so well in the Sporting News, could have resulted in a major bloodbath on the track. Wasn't there a drivers meeting about good safety on the track to avoid all the crashes speed weeks had endured thus far? Starting a season like that, would have been criminal!
Rusty's decision to drift up on the track when he surveyed the potential for disaster in those chaotic laps where Gordon used the apron as the track displayed Rusty's seasoning as a racer. Rusty has been in the kind of accident that Gordon has yet to experience in Nascar! Obviously, Gordon was pumped up with being able to bulldoze such a move without a problem occuring but he surely should realize, he only succeeded by the mercy of the veterans around him! However, should Buckshot Jones make moves like that, you can bet there'll be protests from Golden Boy!
Had the race finished with Dale taking second in the Penske sandwich of Rusty winning and Jeremy Mayfield in third, it would have been a more rewarding and gratifying finish for all involved, including the fans. The racing was competitive and fierce; and finer teamwork had not been displayed by two cars, like Penske's. Watching these two together on the track is a pleasure! Similar paint jobs show their unity, and the obvious respect for each other makes them a team to be reckoned with! Other teammates on other teams should take lessons from the Penske stable!
Truthfully, I believe Dale would have been happier, too, being sandwiched between the Penske cars rather than trailing the Kid ! In the first post race interview, (while Gordon properly prepped [or primped] himself to meet the cameras) Dale said he 'got beat'. I suspect Dale used major self control in not dialing Gordon off the track at any moment he could have chosen to do so. Lessons on the track from veterans can be valuable rude awakenings.
Finally, all week long, we had been hearing how Dale kept telling Jr. that 'you've got to have a plan'. Jr's plans did not go as he had hoped, but my guess is that the Man in Black has a plan this year: not to be hurt in foolish moves and wrecks that cost you a good season! Like choosing your battles wisely, it is better to finish in second than not to finish at all and/or worse, be badly injured in the process! And, with such a good plan in mind, no doubt the result could well be that 8th championship this year!
Sadly, Rusty will be accused of "whining" when actually, he had the courage to call what he saw as it was, in light of the Golden Boy's last ditch desperation effort for success at any risk. And, Dale Earnhardt will endure the talk that the master was "beat" by the new "MAN" (???) in Nascar, knowing in his own heart, he has a plan- like pacing himself through a race. The plan is better than the show and in the end will shine even more as he goes down in history with yet another first time record! All the strategy and deals on or off the track won't replace a good plan. Again, this kind of plan is borne out of wisdom and experience!
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