| "Hey teammate..." | | Date Created: Jun 17, 2007, 06:36 PM |
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"Hey teammate!" came the yell from across pit lane as Dale Jr. walked to his car before qualifying. As Junior turned around, it was a smiling, slight young man in a Dupont uniform as Jeff Gordon offered his official welcome to the newest member of the Hendrick family.
It was a sincere and warm moment and only added to Junior's mood. It was a fun moment to witness, and yet a tiny part of me wondered about the people who have decided not to back Junior on his 2008 move to the finest team in NASCAR.
This purge of a relatively small but very vocal bunch of "fans" is a lot like exfoliating the skin on your face: sometimes you need to scrape the dead cells off the top to get to the healthy epidermis below. Maybe this move will eliminate many of the obscene and obnoxious beer bottle-throwing eggheads from the ranks and encourage a more civil following. (Wishful thinking, I know. Oh well. Call me an idealist...)
I understand why there are many people who don't cheer for Jeff or the Hendrick team, but I don't understand those who have thrown temper tantrums of sorts about Junior's decision to move to that team next season. Now, he can race Gordon on an even playing field with a team and owner that will support him as much emotionally as with wrenches and hammers. It's the perfect scenario.
I'm not sure what to say to convince the disgruntled fans otherwise. Hendrick Motorsports is simply the winningest team with the best personnel and morale of any on pit lane. Junior just loves to race, and I think this is a team he will enjoy racing with most. Look at the many, many people that have remained employed at HMS for many, many years. Some have lifetime contracts. That speaks volumes about Rick Hendrick - a generus man who treats his people well and they return his largess with unending effort and a deep desire to win for their leader.
(Pet Peeve Alert: Lazy cliches that are incorrect and overused already: "racing's New York Yankees" and "Murderer's Row.")
Junior neither asked nor received my advice on his choice. But I think it was the right one for him. By far. The Gibbs organization is a superb bunch of people, and would have also made a great home, but Hendrick, and the ties that go back to Junior's grandfather were simply too perfect to deny.
Many are angry that he chose not to go to Richard Childress Racing. These people are primarily ones living in the past, pining for Junior to drive the black number 3 and somehow signal a magical resurrection of his father. Junior is not his father. He never was. And never will be. And while Childress is - like Joe Gibbs and Rick Hendrick - a man of great generosity and integrity, the pressure and the drama of driving there would have not been the right choice for Junior. Elvis is dead. The Beatles will never reform. It's a sad thought, but it's true.
In the end, you can still cheer for Junior and against Jeff. It's not like they'll be in the same damn car. But, now they'll have equal equipment. May the best racer win.
Now, the unceasing thrashing and speculation focuses on the car number and sponsor(s). As many should have learned in the past month, don't believe what you read or hear from folks that seem to pull answers out of dark areas of their anatomy. If we've learned anything in the past weeks, we will all learn when a decision is made, and until that happens, most of the reporting will be wishful-thinking or pure fantasy. It'll be fun to watch.
Well done, Junior. Well done, Rick. Go get 'em.
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 Are you Sirius?!: Check out my guest appearance Saturday on the most entertaining show on the Sirius Satellite NASCAR channel #128... Listen in to "Mojo Nixon's Manifold Destiny" between 5:30 and 6:00 pm ET Saturday afternoon.
How this hilarious, profane, hard-rockin' libertarian got his own show on the NASCAR channel, I'll never know - but power to him and everyone should demand More Mojo! How can you go wrong with the man who penned "Elvis is Everywhere," "Stuffin' Martha's Muffin," and "Don Henley Must Die" among many other gems?!
(Actually I like Henley. I think it's Glen Frey that should be forever banished...)
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CONGRATULATIONS to R.C. Buford, GM of the San Antonio Spurs and the NBA champs (again) after their dominating sweep of the Cavaliers... For more on R.C., check out the link below in the "Cleaning out the Notes" entry. |
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