Last week NASCAR announced that they are considering a minimum age for young drivers coming into the Craftsman Truck, Nationwide, and Sprint Cup series. The new minimum age would change from the present 18 to 21 years old. At the moment, there are not any drivers that the new age rule would affect but could in the near future.
Their reason behind the proposed idea is stating driver immaturity. It's not only the lack of experience running with the "Big Boys" but the mental attitude as well. Looking back at recent era NASCAR, several drivers come to mind when thinking of age problems. If they weren't ready with the experience part of driving in the big time, it really hurt their careers.
Case in point, Casey Atwood. He started out like gangbusters but the pressure of having to make a good show and the instant stardome was just more than he could handle. When he failed to make a good showing in finishes he was let go and it has took him a long time finding a ride in a new car. Another driver in this situation was Jon Wood. But as it turned out, Wood's situation was a medical problem more than a lack of experience. Even though the medical problem was solved, it has took him a long time to recover from it in the way of getting back into some kind of racing action.
In the mental attitude side of the equation, you have to look back at the actions and tempers of Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, and Steven Wallace. Sometimes, loosing your temper just shows these guys drive with true passion. Loosing your temper and just plain throwing a temper tantrum is two different things. Last year Steven Wallace showed his age immaturity with his little temper tantrums just about each and every week he drove his race car. Actions like these not only makes him look bad but could be dangerous to other drivers.
The age rule proposed by NASCAR should also include another important issue. New drivers coming into the sport should have to graduate from one series to the next with at least some experience starting with ARCA. No matter who you are, or what sport you're coming from, you should have to spend some time driving in ARCA, then go to either the Craftsman Truck or Nationwide Series before going to the Sprint Cup Series. If you elect to go from ACRA to the Trucks, then you should go into the Nationwide Series before entering the Cup Series. How about so many races in each division before moving up. Six to ten races in each series while moving up to the premier series. Require them to have experience with each track and so many of them being high speed tracks.
I realize these open wheel drivers have a lot of racing experience but it's not experience in a stock car. It's not experience hurdling these 3,400 pound giants around the tight curves at 200 mph. They haven't drafted in a large pack of twenty or thirty cars three wide where one little twich and they all crash. They just don't have the experience it took these veteran Cup drivers years to obtain.
I agree with NASCAR's thought on changing the required minimum age but hope they look even further on requiring stock car driving experience as well. Most of these drivers coming into the Cup Series seem to be looking at becoming overnight superstars with instant riches. NASCAR is so safety minded, why not look at stock car driving experience as being a big part of safety as well. It might just make these "outside the sport drivers" think about it before taking away rides from drivers that have "paid their dues".
1 comment:
Well said.
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