Numbers game
I dig numbers. Always have, from the time I'd sit in front of the TV with my fourth-grade math book to my senior year in high school when I took differential equations at a local college. (Who knew that DE was all about letters and not numbers? That was it for the math career.)
In NASCAR, I'm intrigued by the stats (a driver's top 5 finishes, number of career wins, races since someone led a lap, how many consecutive starts, etc. etc.) and especially the driver numbers. The latest driver-number story involves the 8 - Junior wants to take it with him to Hendrick next year, and TEI doesn't want to give it up. (It's an interesting issue - Junior made his grandfather's number famous, but Junior's grandfather is obviously Dale Sr.'s father, and Teresa is family, too.)
Maybe moreso in NASCAR than other U.S. sports, you ID the driver not with the team but with his number. Jeff Gordon, 24. Richard Petty, 43. Dale Senior, 3. Dale Jarrett, 88. But there's no absolute ownership, except maybe in the case of the No. 3. (No, I don't think anyone other than an Earnhardt will drive that car for a long, long time.)
Jeff Gordon wasn't the first guy to drive the No. 24. Heck, he wasn't even the first Gordon behind the wheel of the 24. But he was the first guy to get the 24 to victory lane.
The No. 43 didn't retire with Richard Petty. A lot of mediocre drivers, present one excluded, have been given the keys to the STP Machine. Jarrett won two Daytona 500s and a Cup championship in the No. 88, but lots of other good drivers - Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison both won in it. The No. 28 is probably best known for its Texaco Havoline sponsorship because so many good drivers wheeled that number -- Rudd, Irvan, Yarborough, Baker, two Allisons, Lorenzen. Try picking the best driver ever of the No. 11. Mark Martin didn't get to keep the No. 6 when he left Roush and so on.
Numbers come and go, which means Junior's just going to have to suck it up and get used to another number. He's not happy about it - after blowing off reporters on Friday, he unloaded against T and the 8 this morning in the garage. He's apparently looking for something in the 80s. I'm guessing 81 - it'll take up the least amount of real estate on the arms, legs, backs and butts of his tattooed fans.
Dustin will have more in Sunday's paper if I forget to come back and update the link.
Comments (1)
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It would definitely be a lot easier for people to alter their tattoos if Jr. just changed to 81. That would be the most thoughtful solution on his part! But I think since he chose to leave his team that he should be willing to leave the "8" behind. He's young and he has plenty of time and talent to win with a new number. And who knows, maybe his new number could one day be as sacred as the "3".
Sue
Nascar Things
Posted on August 20, 2007 3:57 PM