Bump-Drafts.com

If you hang out with sports fans long enough and you disclose that you follow NASCAR, this issue is sure to come up. I’m a relative neophyte to what Jim Rome referred to as the “Left Turn League,” but in the short time I’ve been around the sport on more than a casual level, I can tell you this discussion gets spirited in a huge hurry.

See if you haven’t heard this before.“All they do is drive around in circles for four hours.” “All the drivers do is turn their steering wheels and push their feet to the floor. Anybody can do that.” “NASCAR stand for Non-Athletic driverS Circling Around Rednecks.” The list doesn’t end there, but the point they make is that the likes of Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, Tom Brady and just about anyone else you can think of will be held up as examples of those being more athletic than your average NASCAR racer.

THEY’RE WRONG- AND I KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT.

To establish credibility,let me quickly give you my background. I’ve been a player of sports, a fan, a coach, and a commentator for 30 years. My current job as a radio sports guy requires me to be conversant on all of them. I’ve become quite familiar with the skills necessary to make a jump shot, hit a baseball, successfully complete a forward pass and yes, successfully take the checkered flag in a race.

With that out of the way, let’s consider the skills need to compete as a NASCAR driver. First you need good vision. Imagine driving 180 miles an hour, about 3 times faster than you will on the freeway on a typical day. Now, imagine 42 other guys are doing the same thing in a confined space.

Then, you need cat-quick reflexes. When you’re driving at break neck speeds, things come at you fast. Thankfully, besides the great vision, you have a crew chief and spotters to help guide you around the track. Nonetheless, if a driver 6 car lengths ahead of you wrecks, you will need to respond, very quickly to something you may not yet see yet. That’s where the advice to drive to the spot of the wreck comes in handy. You figure any collision in front of you at great speed and impact will result in scattering cars and debris. A flick of the steering wheel in the wrong direction and you may just find yourself collected into the collision.

Third- you must be conditioned for endurance. Let me paint a picture for you. The average race is 500 miles. That distance spans a trip from my home near Medford, Oregon to San Francisco. Now- do that with 40+ other guys driving at excessive speeds. Stressful- isn’t it? Not only that, there’s extreme heat inside your car….in excess of 100 degrees. You have no air conditioning. On top of that, you’re in a fire suit. Not real comfortable is it?

On top of that, there’s no rest stops, and no time to eat. If you’re lucky, you’ll get enough fluid to get you through the race. Not too much, though. Yeah, you need to time you’re eating just right so you don’t pee your pants during the race. OR worse.

Believe it or not, some strength is needed too. From time to time, a driver’s power steering will go out. You ever drove a car with manual steering? You’ll get a workout.

I haven’t even delved into the athleticism needed to be a member of the pit crew. Many are former college athletes. Think about the agility needed to get over the wall, the strength to carry tires, the quickness to get the tires on, pump the jack and the speed to perform the other tasks. And you say this isn’t a sport?

Many current NASCAR have excelled at other sports. Dale Jarrett has enough golf skills to be a PGA golfer. Kyle Petty was recruited to play college football and baseball. Elliott Sadler was headed for a college basketball career at James Madison before a knee injury changed that. Michael Waltrip has run marathons. Have you ever seen Mark Martin lift weights? Pretty buff for a guy 5-6. Carl Edwards is ripped and displays his athletic ability by doing a celebratory back flip when he wins.

Yes- things have changed since the days of Junior Johnson. Heck- even Bobby Allison had a training ritual. He’d hone his endurance by driving around rural Alabama with the windows up and the heat running full blast in the summertime.

Another illustration of challenging driving a “stock” car is comes from the ABC series last summer, “Fast Cars and Superstars.” Greats from other sports, namely John Elway, John Salley, Bill Cowher, and Serena Williams- among others- tried their hand at making their way around Lowe’s Motor Speedway in a number of challenges. Elway and rodeo champ Ty Murray got the hang of it, Salley and Williams looked thoroughly lost.

All of that to say, it takes athleticism to compete in NASCAR. I won’t deny that the machinery is a part of it in a way no other sport is, but like golf, I think it takes a different TYPE of skill from a stick and ball sport.

Can we agree on that? Heck, even Jim Rome has come over to our point of view.

It’s gotta be a bummer knowing that your racing team was the punch line in the joke that was your manufacturer’s season in 2007. Sad to say, that was the case for Michael Waltrip Racing in 2007.

It all started at Daytona, when the team owned by the legendary Darrell Waltrip’s younger brother was penalized for an illegal fuel additive. It pretty much went downhill from there. Team owner Michael Waltrip’s failure to qualify became so legendary he began to joke about it in his Napa auto parts commercials. The champion’s provisional is meant to be a safety net, but the automatic qualifier became a lifeline for 1999 Cup champion Dale Jarrett. Once he ran out of provisionals, Jarrett had qualifying troubles of his own. About the only bright spot for the fledgling team enjoyed is when Waltrip took the pole for the fall Talladega race, and the performance of NASCAR rookie David Reutimann- who also made the top 5 in the Busch Series.

The good news for Michael Waltrip Racing is things can only get better in 2008. “Mikey” won the outside pole for the Daytona 500 Sunday, and the younger Waltrip ran very well at the Bud Shootout. Reutimann ran 4th best in qualifying last Sunday, and Jarrett also scratched and clawed his way into the field. As 2007 wore on, one certainly got the impression that Toyota got the hang of building a better engine, the question for 2008 is one of whether or not Toyota has engine built to last the long race distances. Before petering out late in races, Waltrip, Reutimann, and Jarrett all had great early race runs in the late schedule.

Despite calls to leaves the cockpit to assume full-time ownership duties, “Mikey” returns to the #55 Camry in 2008. It will be interesting to see how the 43 year old Kentuckian does at Daytona. In fact, all 4 of Waltrip’s victories have come at restrictor plate races- 3 of them at Daytona Super Speedway. Waltrip’s first victory in 2001 was marred by the death of his employer at that time-Dale Earnhardt.

2008 is the season Dale Jarrett rides off into the sunset- actually the broadcast booth- following in his father Ned’s footsteps. After the first handful of races, Jarrett will turn over the wheel of the #44 UPS car to David Reutimann, who will in turn hand over the #00 ride to Michael Mc Dowell. It’s been tough to watch the former champion and owner of 32 victories who rose to greatness at Joe Gibbs struggle the way he has, especially when you suspect that the lousy runs have been the result of crappy equipment and not any diminishing driving skill. Jarrett will replace Rusty Wallace in the broadcast booth at ESPN, something I think we all are look forward to.

Look for good things from David Reutimann. “Ruty” has been a winner wherever he’s gone- including the NASCAR Autozone Elite Division Southeast Series where he never finished lower than 7th from 1997-2002, as well as the Busch Series (where he finished 3rd in the 2007 standings) and the Craftsman Truck Series. The Floridian has it in his blood. His father “Buzzie” ran a Cup race at Golden Gate Speedway in Tampa in 1963, and was also a competitor in DIRT modifieds. He’ll make a slightly unusual switch by changing rides for the same team in the same season.

Jarrett’s retirement has the net effect of opening a door for Michael McDowell. The 23 year old has enjoyed success as a go-kart racer and 4 races and 9 poles in the ARCA series in 2007. Michael made his NASCAR debut in the Craftsman Truck Series with one 2007 start. What’s interesting about Mc Dowell is he will be one of the few rookies of the 2008 class to take the more traditional path to Cup competition.

The beauty of starting from the bottom is you can only go up from here. In spite of the struggles, Waltrip and Jarrett have a faithful legion of fans cheering them on to greater success.

I’m not all that inspired tonight, but I was reminded of the guts NASCAR drivers have when a guy on Yahoo Answers! invited us to take a look at some crash footage he found on YouTube.

Naturally, I took the bait and looked, and once again (as I have done more than once), I looked at some other famous NASCAR crashes. There was Elliott Sadler doing the “Talladega Flip” on the final lap of the 2003 race, and lo and behold, the former driver of what is now David Gilliland’s car did it again in 2004, only this time “Rabbit Release” landed on his wheels after flipping and finished!

Have you ever seen the crash of Richard Petty where all the parts came flying off his car? What about the big wreck Dale Earnhardt got in back in his days behind the wheel of the #15 Wranglers Chevy? Then there’s the grandaddy of them all- a 37 car pile-up at Daytona back in 1960. Can you imagine running 61 cars at once? What were these guys thinking?

What amazes me is to think these drivers will get back in a car and race again. I am also reminded of safety innovations that have made racing safer. Earnhardt was the last guy we lost, over six years ago. I remember hearing about Kyle Petty breaking his leg, Earnhardt’s separated shoulder, Rudd doing the same thing this year. You no longer have a guy like Bobby Allison getting all messed up physically anymore.

I know there are fans out there that bemoan the Car of Tomorrow, restrictor plates, HANS devices and caution flags for what amounts to hankies flying across the track. But at least now, we have the nervous thrill of a crash, and the guy can still walk away from it.

Some notable 2007 crashes:

Bowyer at Daytona. I’ll never forget the #07 crossing the finish line on his roof. I know Clint had ol’ DW worried.

Mikey’s Fireworks Show. Ol’ Mike had a good scare there, and that HANS device sure makes it hard for a big guy to get out his car.

Jimmie’s Eye Brow Job. Jimmie Johnson put on quite a fireworks show himself. It was the 2nd Pocono race wasn’t it? JJ if you’re concerned about your eyebrows, may I suggest a waxing next time.

Robby Gordon’s plow job in the Busch Series. Looking back, Marcos Ambrose probably deserved a good tap, but “Trash” Gordon sure looked like a 4 year old on that brain fart.

Gordon crashing his pretty car in Charlotte. You remember the Coca-Cola 600? Gordon gets this special paint job with the Department of Defense on the hood, and he gets it mangled about 1/3 of the way through the race. He really hit that wall too.

Check out YouTube. There’s a ton of footage there. There are also some other good NASCAR clips.

Good night, everybody.

Admit it, like me, you thought Jimmie Johnson’s chances of a repeat championship were slim. Sunday night, the driver of the Lowe’s 48 Chevy gave NASCAR nation a wake-up call with his victory at the California Speedway.

To me, the 31-year-old native of El Cajon may very well be the most underrated driver in the Nextel Cup Series. A champion? Underrated? Yes. Think about it. A sports card shop owner once told me Dale Earnhardt sells 70% of the NASCAR memorabilia that’s sold. In spite of having no championship trophies at NASCAR’s top level, you can still see why- between the name, a decent number of wins (17), and the country boy charm. Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart are likely a distant 2nd and 3rd respectively. Where’s Jimmie on the list? Really, who argues passionately for or against this guy? Very few.

In a way, I don’t get it. Now I’m no authority on male sexiness, but he seems like a good looking guy to me. Winning? He and Tony are running neck and neck on wins and the Rushville Rocket’s been around longer. It doesn’t add up.

I’m guessing that as long as he’s winning and Chandra still loves him- Jimmie crack corn and he don’t care. I will say this though, his HMS teammate Gordon better wake his sleepy self up or we’ll see Jimmie Johnson holding another cup. THE Cup.

Other random reflections:

Burning Busch. Give Kyle Busch props. He just doesn’t quit, and as long as he’s not acting liking a child, he’s running near the front. Kyle Petty sure thinks a lot of him, and at times, you can see why.

The Michael Waltrip fireworks show. I’m just glad he got out of there o.k. A similar fire killed Glen Roberts 40-some-odd years ago. Mikey owes his fire suit to Fireball Roberts.

What happened to Kurt? The man just disappeared! His race car just went to hell on him!

Poor Newman. He’s all but out now. Personally, I think his luck is worse than Junior’s.

Old School Strong. Good to see old school drivers Jeff Burton and Bobby Labonte run well. These guys need to get more wins.

Earth to Harvick? This guy just had a horrific night. His Chase position is shaky, and he just couldn’t get his car to cooperate Sunday.

Junior…hanging by athread.the more I get to know about this guy, the more of a class act I think he is. He’s done everything he can, but will it be enough? I hope so, but……

Stay Tuned.