Sunset At Martinsville
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11/03/2015 J. L. Steele |
"Do not go gentle into that goodnight,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light" - Dylan Thomas
We were young then, though we didn't know it. We felt older but we really weren't. We were adults, some of us married, some of us soon to be married. Some had children, others were soon to have them. We'd been race fans for as long as we could remember and in our minds at least, that made us experts. We knew all the teams, drivers, numbers and sponsors. Whether we cheered for them or rooted against them we knew all about the Pettys and Allisons. We'd grown up and grown into adulthood following Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Ricky Rudd and Harry Gant. Others had come into the sport, into our sport. Some like Tim Richmond came, burned brightly then left too soon. Others like Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison came from different directions but both seemed destined for long and successful careers. Oh, how little we knew back then. Then there was Jeff Gordon.
Gordon was different. Unlike the others, he hadn't grown up racing stock cars. He was an open wheel guy plus he wasn't from the South. Of course there'd been other NASCAR drivers from the Midwest. In addition to Kulwicki, Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin had established themselves in our sport but they were stock car guys. We could relate to them. And yes, Richmond had been an open wheel guy but his flamboyant attitude had won us over. Who was Gordon and how were we supposed to cheer for him? Yes, we saw his talent when he qualified second for his first Busch Series race but when he left Bill Davis unceremoniously and signed with Rick Hendrick, a lot of us took exception to it. Then there was that car, that rainbow scheme that elicited so many jokes and the way he talked, that flat tone that contrasted so sharply with the drawls of so many of the drivers we were used to. He married a model, started winning races and quickly became THE name of the sport in the 90's.
What was it so many of us didn't like about him? Was it just that he won? Man, did he win with 13 straight seasons with at least two victories including three straight years with at least 10 wins each year. No, our problem wasn't just that he was winning. He was beating our guys to get those wins. That was our problem, especially when that guy was Dale Earnhardt. Love him or hate him, and fans certainly did both, with the retirement of Richard Petty, Earnhardt WAS NASCAR. He was that poor southern boy who wouldn't take no for an answer on the track. He was the one who received the biggest response at the track. He was the defining force of the sport as the 90's moved along. Whether someone was a fan of his or not was all you needed to know about a person's outlook on life and racing. Other segments of society summed you up on whether you were a Democrat or Republican. In NASCAR, you were an Earnhardt man or you weren't.
Previous decades had given us Petty vs. Pearson. If you were for one, you were against the other although it was possible to respect the one you weren't a fan of. This Earnhardt vs. Gordon thing was different. Both The King and Silver Fox were men from the Carolina's, they fit. Although for some of us, Dale wasn't "our guy," when it came down to The Intimidator or The Kid, we had to pull for the black number 3. I mean, The Kid? What kind of excitement was that name supposed to invoke? They raced against each other 258 times with Gordon wining the head to head stats including the number of wins, top 5's and top 10's.
Life changes, both on and off the track. It changes for drivers as it changes for fans. As we truly grew into full adulthood and faced its challenges, so did those drivers. Waltrip faded away into racing obscurity, a reminder of so many athletes who didn't know when to leave their sport. Gordon's seemingly storybook marriage dissolved and Earnhardt died too soon. Much has been said about the symbolic passing of the guard at the '92 Hooters 500. King Richard, yet another legend who held on too long ran his final race as Gordon strapped in for his first Cup race. The 2001 brought another monumental change. In the season which Dale Earnhardt died, Jeff Gordon won his final (at this writing) championship. As is always the case, there were new faces and names, most notably Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson. For the most part, this would be their decade and where was Gordon at that point?
More and more, we could relate to him and lo and behold, more of us could cheer for him or at least not root against him. Yes, he still won but not as frequently. As the years went by he seemed less and less a serious championship threat. Oh, there were moments and seasons when we caught glimpses of what he'd been. He was still a top name but it no longer stung as much to so many when he won. Then he developed physical issues which so many could relate to. Perhaps we began to change our attitudes about him because now we could see ourselves reflected in him to some degree. We'd obviously become comfortable with him after all these years. We hadn't forgotten the names of those legends from years before but we had to respect and accept the fact that Jeff had more than earned his place in the list of greats. It was coming to an end though, we could see it and suddenly, we realized we were no longer young.
Time is a funny thing, isn't it? Ten years are ten years, twenty years are twenty years. Their length never changes. The next ten years will be exactly as long as the previous ten were. Yet there was a time when trying to imagine ten years of life seemed unfathomable. Now we realize twenty years can and does pass so quickly, sometimes too quickly. Our kids are grown or are almost grown, it went by so quickly. Each day in those new homes we'd moved into seemed like a new adventure. Now they're filled with decades of memories. When we heard that Jeff Gordon was retiring at the end of the 2015 season, it didn't seem possible. He's not old, he's our age and we're not old...are we?
2014 was a great season for Jeff. With 4 wins and 14 top 5's, he'd finished sixth in The Chase standings so as 2015 began, there was hope. We hoped he could go out on top. He'd earned it. Maybe he could be the exception to all those other drivers and players who stay too long and are no longer relevant. At least Gordon had been competitive late enough in his career that he wouldn't become a laughingstock. Yet so quickly as this season came and went, with 92 wins to his credit, it looked like we'd never see him in Victory Lane again.
Yes he'd made the latest cut in The Chase but was he really a serious contender? As the tapestry of the season was created week after week, even on the days when we felt he'd win, he had to win, he didn't. Look at us all. We were pulling for the guy who at one time we wished would never win another race. Now, we wanted one more. We wanted it for him and we wanted it for us. We wanted to be reminded that we don't have to fade away. We want to relive and remember those races and those wins from twenty-some years ago. We wanted a message to be sent to this new generation of drivers and fans that it's not always about youth. There's some worth in experience. Then came Martinsville.
Jeff Gordon had won at Martinsville 8 times before Sunday's race, the last time being in 2013. He started fifth on this day, the first day of Standard Time, when time is pushed back. He wasn't one of the favorites though. After failing to win from the pole at Talladega the previous week, it seemed like his best chance for a win had passed. As drivers exacted a season's worth of revenge on other drivers, Gordon became the one to beat. He had pushed back time and as the sun set over that small, historic track, we all knew it was also setting on this brilliant career. Time, would there be enough of it for the race to end with Gordon out front? Time, marked by clocks, the prize given to race winners at Martinsville. It was his time. He won his 93rd career victory with only three races remaining before his time is done. Yes, he still has chances to win. He now has a guaranteed spot in the final Chase race. Can he win another race or even a championship? Perhaps but does it really matter?
Jeff Gordon won the 794th NASCAR Cup race he entered. He succeeded where so many others had failed. He wasn't the legendary racer logging laps until he was forced out. He wasn't the Super Bowl winning quarterback throwing passes in pain simply because he's too scared to give it up. He's not the fading baseball player who reflects only a shadow of his former greatness because he's too scared to move on to the next phase of life. He is a winner to the end and we're happy for him. As we have grown older alongside him, we appreciate his legacy. We respect what he's done for our sport and we've grown wise to the fact that we witnessed greatness. For at least once in our lives, we had the chance to savor that greatness and its reminders of past glories once more before time makes it all nothing but memories.
"Do not go gentle into that good night." Jeff Gordon won't and neither will we.
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light" - Dylan Thomas
We were young then, though we didn't know it. We felt older but we really weren't. We were adults, some of us married, some of us soon to be married. Some had children, others were soon to have them. We'd been race fans for as long as we could remember and in our minds at least, that made us experts. We knew all the teams, drivers, numbers and sponsors. Whether we cheered for them or rooted against them we knew all about the Pettys and Allisons. We'd grown up and grown into adulthood following Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Ricky Rudd and Harry Gant. Others had come into the sport, into our sport. Some like Tim Richmond came, burned brightly then left too soon. Others like Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison came from different directions but both seemed destined for long and successful careers. Oh, how little we knew back then. Then there was Jeff Gordon.
Gordon was different. Unlike the others, he hadn't grown up racing stock cars. He was an open wheel guy plus he wasn't from the South. Of course there'd been other NASCAR drivers from the Midwest. In addition to Kulwicki, Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin had established themselves in our sport but they were stock car guys. We could relate to them. And yes, Richmond had been an open wheel guy but his flamboyant attitude had won us over. Who was Gordon and how were we supposed to cheer for him? Yes, we saw his talent when he qualified second for his first Busch Series race but when he left Bill Davis unceremoniously and signed with Rick Hendrick, a lot of us took exception to it. Then there was that car, that rainbow scheme that elicited so many jokes and the way he talked, that flat tone that contrasted so sharply with the drawls of so many of the drivers we were used to. He married a model, started winning races and quickly became THE name of the sport in the 90's.
What was it so many of us didn't like about him? Was it just that he won? Man, did he win with 13 straight seasons with at least two victories including three straight years with at least 10 wins each year. No, our problem wasn't just that he was winning. He was beating our guys to get those wins. That was our problem, especially when that guy was Dale Earnhardt. Love him or hate him, and fans certainly did both, with the retirement of Richard Petty, Earnhardt WAS NASCAR. He was that poor southern boy who wouldn't take no for an answer on the track. He was the one who received the biggest response at the track. He was the defining force of the sport as the 90's moved along. Whether someone was a fan of his or not was all you needed to know about a person's outlook on life and racing. Other segments of society summed you up on whether you were a Democrat or Republican. In NASCAR, you were an Earnhardt man or you weren't.
Previous decades had given us Petty vs. Pearson. If you were for one, you were against the other although it was possible to respect the one you weren't a fan of. This Earnhardt vs. Gordon thing was different. Both The King and Silver Fox were men from the Carolina's, they fit. Although for some of us, Dale wasn't "our guy," when it came down to The Intimidator or The Kid, we had to pull for the black number 3. I mean, The Kid? What kind of excitement was that name supposed to invoke? They raced against each other 258 times with Gordon wining the head to head stats including the number of wins, top 5's and top 10's.
Life changes, both on and off the track. It changes for drivers as it changes for fans. As we truly grew into full adulthood and faced its challenges, so did those drivers. Waltrip faded away into racing obscurity, a reminder of so many athletes who didn't know when to leave their sport. Gordon's seemingly storybook marriage dissolved and Earnhardt died too soon. Much has been said about the symbolic passing of the guard at the '92 Hooters 500. King Richard, yet another legend who held on too long ran his final race as Gordon strapped in for his first Cup race. The 2001 brought another monumental change. In the season which Dale Earnhardt died, Jeff Gordon won his final (at this writing) championship. As is always the case, there were new faces and names, most notably Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson. For the most part, this would be their decade and where was Gordon at that point?
More and more, we could relate to him and lo and behold, more of us could cheer for him or at least not root against him. Yes, he still won but not as frequently. As the years went by he seemed less and less a serious championship threat. Oh, there were moments and seasons when we caught glimpses of what he'd been. He was still a top name but it no longer stung as much to so many when he won. Then he developed physical issues which so many could relate to. Perhaps we began to change our attitudes about him because now we could see ourselves reflected in him to some degree. We'd obviously become comfortable with him after all these years. We hadn't forgotten the names of those legends from years before but we had to respect and accept the fact that Jeff had more than earned his place in the list of greats. It was coming to an end though, we could see it and suddenly, we realized we were no longer young.
Time is a funny thing, isn't it? Ten years are ten years, twenty years are twenty years. Their length never changes. The next ten years will be exactly as long as the previous ten were. Yet there was a time when trying to imagine ten years of life seemed unfathomable. Now we realize twenty years can and does pass so quickly, sometimes too quickly. Our kids are grown or are almost grown, it went by so quickly. Each day in those new homes we'd moved into seemed like a new adventure. Now they're filled with decades of memories. When we heard that Jeff Gordon was retiring at the end of the 2015 season, it didn't seem possible. He's not old, he's our age and we're not old...are we?
2014 was a great season for Jeff. With 4 wins and 14 top 5's, he'd finished sixth in The Chase standings so as 2015 began, there was hope. We hoped he could go out on top. He'd earned it. Maybe he could be the exception to all those other drivers and players who stay too long and are no longer relevant. At least Gordon had been competitive late enough in his career that he wouldn't become a laughingstock. Yet so quickly as this season came and went, with 92 wins to his credit, it looked like we'd never see him in Victory Lane again.
Yes he'd made the latest cut in The Chase but was he really a serious contender? As the tapestry of the season was created week after week, even on the days when we felt he'd win, he had to win, he didn't. Look at us all. We were pulling for the guy who at one time we wished would never win another race. Now, we wanted one more. We wanted it for him and we wanted it for us. We wanted to be reminded that we don't have to fade away. We want to relive and remember those races and those wins from twenty-some years ago. We wanted a message to be sent to this new generation of drivers and fans that it's not always about youth. There's some worth in experience. Then came Martinsville.
Jeff Gordon had won at Martinsville 8 times before Sunday's race, the last time being in 2013. He started fifth on this day, the first day of Standard Time, when time is pushed back. He wasn't one of the favorites though. After failing to win from the pole at Talladega the previous week, it seemed like his best chance for a win had passed. As drivers exacted a season's worth of revenge on other drivers, Gordon became the one to beat. He had pushed back time and as the sun set over that small, historic track, we all knew it was also setting on this brilliant career. Time, would there be enough of it for the race to end with Gordon out front? Time, marked by clocks, the prize given to race winners at Martinsville. It was his time. He won his 93rd career victory with only three races remaining before his time is done. Yes, he still has chances to win. He now has a guaranteed spot in the final Chase race. Can he win another race or even a championship? Perhaps but does it really matter?
Jeff Gordon won the 794th NASCAR Cup race he entered. He succeeded where so many others had failed. He wasn't the legendary racer logging laps until he was forced out. He wasn't the Super Bowl winning quarterback throwing passes in pain simply because he's too scared to give it up. He's not the fading baseball player who reflects only a shadow of his former greatness because he's too scared to move on to the next phase of life. He is a winner to the end and we're happy for him. As we have grown older alongside him, we appreciate his legacy. We respect what he's done for our sport and we've grown wise to the fact that we witnessed greatness. For at least once in our lives, we had the chance to savor that greatness and its reminders of past glories once more before time makes it all nothing but memories.
"Do not go gentle into that good night." Jeff Gordon won't and neither will we.
