April 17, 2013

We don’t normally think of April as one of the more patriotic months of the year, but that is exactly what it has turned out to be. After twin explosions at the end of the Boston Marathon on April 15 claimed the lives of three people and injured hundreds more, we saw our fellow Americans – both first responders and bystanders on the street -- band together to face yet another national tragedy.

So on April 16, the shiver of patriotism that ran up my spine was particularly potent as President Barack Obama took a few minutes off from grim reality to focus on one of the nation’s favorite methods of escapism: sports.

It has become an annual tradition for “America’s house” to host the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship team, and this year, first-time champ Brad Keselowski finally got his turn.

“We are here today to celebrate a great American sport,” President Obama said. “I don’t think a single one of Brad’s fans has forgotten the post-race interview he gave on Sportscenter after winning the title last year at Homestead. ‘NASCAR is a team sport, and I have the best team. My family, my friends, my fans, my co-workers … without them, I am nothing.’ That’s what Brad said, and that’s really what life’s all about.”

It was ironic and more than a little sad to hear the president speak of the importance of teamwork with the Boston bombings still so fresh in our minds. Some felt that perhaps the ceremony should be postponed, but the White House felt otherwise, and Keselowski agreed.

"I think it's the right thing to do,” he said. “Not because it was me, obviously, being honored, but because of what it means to our country to continue to move on despite those acts and showcase that they won't rattle us.”

Keselowski was commended for his work with the Wounded Warrior project. “For Brad, our veterans are an important part of his team,” Obama said. “I’m going to quote him: ‘I couldn’t do what I do on the racetrack without these men and women making the sacrifices that they do for me.’

“So Brad, I want to thank you for visiting with some of our wounded warriors later this afternoon and I want to thank you, as well as NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France, for your long tradition of honoring our troops and our veterans.”

As always, it was cool to see “our” champion and his car, “our” NASCAR Sprint Cup Series trophy, “our” drivers and other representatives of “our” sport with the White House as their backdrop. But most importantly, that setting served as a reminder of why we have the luxury of calling these things “ours” to begin with. How fortunate we are, even when times are challenging, to be Americans, and to have an all-American sport like NASCAR to enjoy, and to claim as our own.

In the past, NASCAR’s day at the White House has struck a lighter chord, with the president even cracking a few jokes for the benefit of his appreciative audience. The tone on April 17 was more somber, appropriately, but the president lightened things up at the end, commenting that he was “getting tired of seeing Johnson all the time” and glumly telling the crowd that “Brad offered to let me drive his car around the South Lawn, but once again the Secret Service said no.”

As Keselowski bantered with Obama, chances are that in the back of his mind he was wondering what penalties NASCAR might have in store for his team after illegal parts were found on the No. 2 Ford prior to the April 14 race at Texas Motor Speedway. Perhaps he even asked the president to put in a good word for him.

Might a presidential pardon be in the works? I’m not sure even the White House has that much clout with NASCAR …

NASCAR Nutrition

April 9, 2013

I am starting to think we have become a nation of fast food sports fans.

One of the racing-related things I often do to amuse myself is take a very informal poll on Tuesday or Wednesday of each week. This consists of me engaging in random conversations with people that I know follow racing, and suddenly asking, "Hey, do you remember who won the NASCAR race last weekend?"

You would be surprised by the number of people who have no clue what the answer is, unless their particular driver of choice went to Victory Lane.

Then I'll follow up with, "Well, do you remember who won the Daytona 500 this year?"

Cue the chirping cricket choir on that one.

I'm having trouble with this, because I can't figure out what triggers our NASCAR memory centers. These same people know who won the Super Bowl several months ago. They know which team was shown cutting down the nets at this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament final as the always-spectacular "One Shining Moment" played in the background. On Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, they will be able to tell me in a split second who won The Masters.

But on that same day, will they be able to tell me who won the April 14 race at Texas Motor Speedway? Unless that driver is Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Danica Patrick, I seriously doubt it.

I'm puzzled because in many critical categories, NASCAR is kicking the proverbial asphalt. The composition of the traditional "Big Four" sports -- the NFL, , NBA, Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League -- has experienced a shakeup in recent years. NASCAR has put a pretty definitive body check on hockey, basically knocking it down to fifth place in popularity.

These days, most people who sort of know what they're talking about would rank NASCAR the second-highest of the new "Big Four," based on things like average event attendance, merchandise sales, TV ratings and, in this brave new technological world of ours, on social media interaction. NASCAR rules Twitter.

The "too many NASCAR races" argument doesn't hold water when you consider the 162-game MLB schedule or the 82-game regular season schedule of the NBA, and that doesn't even include the playoffs for either sport. Granted, the racing season is long, but fans are only committing to a single NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race each week. How many hours of TV does an avid Chicago Cubs fan watch each week, I wonder? A whole lot more than four.

The issue seems to be not what we see, but what we remember. You might not be able to tell me who won the race at California Speedway earlier this season, but I'm betting you know that contact between Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano resulted in a fractured spine and a minimum of six weeks out of the car for Hamlin.

Same thing with the Phoenix International Raceway event at the end of last season. Who won? Don't remember. Who engaged in a well-publicized tangle that has carried over into the current season? Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer, of course; how could anyone forget THAT?

I suspect our athletic taste buds have become desensitized, only sitting up and paying attention when something dramatic happens, in the same way your palate reacts to a jalapeno pepper after a steady diet of oatmeal.

In NASCAR, as in nutrition, it is important to appreciate the steady-yet-tasty diet that keeps those wheels rolling on a consistent basis. A jolt of something different is a good thing, but too much of it could result in a nasty case of indigestion. Even the magnificent McRib is available for a limited time only; just something to think about.

By the way, Jimmie Johnson won the Daytona 500 this year. He also won last weekend's race ... just in case anybody asks.

Manning Up

March 26, 2013

When it comes to fans' perception of a particular athlete, what a difference a few months can make. Just ask Joey Logano.

The 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) season was a pivotal one for Logano. His Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) team hired 2003 Cup Series champion Matt Kenseth away from Roush Fenway Racing to replace Joey in the No. 20 Toyota midway through the year, making the young driver a lame NASCAR duck looking for a new flock.

Meanwhile, a failed drug test resulted in the suspension of  A.J. Allmendinger, driver of the No. 22 car for Penske Racing. Pretty much any unemployed or semi-employed driver you can think of -- guys like Brian Vickers and David Ragan come to mind -- were considered for the seat, but in the end Logano was chosen as the man for the job.

The problem was that almost no one really considered Logano much of a man.

The driver who was given the nickname "Sliced Bread" (as in, the best thing since ... ) has felt the hungry dogs of doubt nipping at his heels for years. He was originally scheduled to spend a couple of seasons competing full-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) for JGR before being moved up to the Cup Series in 2010 to replace Tony Stewart, who was leaving to run his own team.

That plan, however, turned into a rush job when Stewart left a year early, and 18-year-old Logano suddenly found himself competing against the seasoned superstars of NASCAR's premier series. Tony Stewart is a tough act to follow under the best of circumstances, and these were anything but: Logano was working with Stewart's team, Stewart's crew chief, and driving Stewart's championship car.  It's practically impossible to make a name for yourself with the weight  of someone else's reputation literally wrapped around everything you do.

But Logano soldiered on, and there were a couple of bright spots. He made history in 2008 by becoming the youngest driver in history to win a NNS race, and followed that achievement up in 2009 by doing the same thing in the NSCS, winning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway at the age of 19 years, 35 days. A second Cup win came last season, at Pocono Raceway.

But that pretty much sums up the highs. In four seasons of competition, Logano has failed to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field, and in a way has become a victim of his own hype. Entering t he 2013 season, the 22-year-old driver -- who stands over 6 feet tall and weighs in at around 140 soaking-wet pounds -- was still perceived as little more than a gangly, under-achieving kid.

Then came The Feud, and it's a doozy. Logano and his former teammate Denny  Hamlin have been trading paint, both verbally and on-track, since the season-opening Daytona 500. Contact between the two on the final lap of the most recent race, at California Speedway on March 24, knocked both front-running drivers out of contention for the win. There was no deliberate malice on either side, but unfortunately the wreck sent Hamlin to the hospital with a spinal fracture.

After driving in the shadow of Hamlin and another former teammate, Kyle Busch, for the past four seasons, Logano seems to have literally come into his own -- his own team, his own crew chief, his own identity -- and it appears to have instilled a new sense of, well ... ownership. Five races into the 2013 season, he sits ninth in the driver standings. Regardless of what form of confrontation he faces, he isn't backing down. Rather, he is learning to stand up, and as we all know, that's one of the most important parts of GROWING up.

It is important to remember that if you're going to hold up a yardstick, make sure you're using the proper standards of measurement. I surely am glad nobody examined me under a microscope and judged  my future potential based on who I was at age 18, or age 20. It would have been a pretty grim assessment, believe me.

So long story short, Joey  Logano may not yet be "the" man, but we are definitely watching him become "a" man before our very eyes, and that's the very best -- and only -- place to start.


How Tweet It Is

March 19, 2013

It seems to be the nature of the beast that when fans learn you have some connection, however tenuous, with the racing community, they feel compelled to  offer their opinions on the topic of "What's Wrong With NASCAR." NASCAR's ills, according to these usually well-meaning people, often include things like high ticket prices, drivers who are too politically correct, and not enough short-track races.

One observation I hear regularly during such conversations is, "There aren't enough feuds." Well, the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has addressed that -- sort of -- but perhaps not in the manner fans expected.

In the past, famous NASCAR feuds have rivaled the Washington Redskins/Dallas Cowboys relationship in their intensity. The image of the Allison brothers and Cale Yarborough flailing away at each other in the infield after the 1979 Daytona 500 is indelibly burned into our brains. In one of the very first Darlington races I attended, I sat next to a devoted Dale Earnhardt Sr. fan who saluted Rusty Wallace with a particular finger at each and every lap, for the entire 367-lap race.

In 2003, when Kurt Busch's car ran out of gas in front of Jimmy Spencer's hauler on its way to the garage, we were treated to the sight of Busch being rear-ended by Spencer's car, and then, as he leaned into Kurt's car and allegedly punched him in the face, to the sight of Spencer's literal rear end. That's a hard one to forget.

At the end of last season, Jeff Gordon decided he was fed up with what he perceived as multiple on-track slights by Clint Bowyer, and deliberately wrecked Bowyer in the next-to-last race, in Phoenix, at a time when Clint was still mathematically eligible to win the championship. The resulting melee involving both drivers and their pit crews was one for the record books.

This year, a couple of former teammates have been going at one another both on and off the track, as Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano have become the most high-profile feud du jour.

The disagreement between the two talented young drivers first got fired up at the Daytona 500. Apparently Hamlin -- Logano's former teammate -- was trying to get close enough to Brad Keselowski -- Logano's current teammate -- to give him some drafting help. After the race, Hamlin reached out to Keselowski via Twitter, saying, "Sorry I couldn't get close to you cuz your genius teammate was too busy messing up the inside line 1 move at a time."

Logano responded with, "I remember when you were MY genius teammate."

And just like that, the feud moved from the track to the information superhighway.

The tension between the two drivers reared its head again at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 17, when Hamlin spun Logano out with 150 laps remaining in the race. Joey confronted Denny after the race, and the by-now familiar team altercation ensued. It has become so ubiquitous at this point that it should really have its own dance name: the Pit Crew Scuffle. Logano, apparently dissatisfied with the outcome, tweeted, "Hey Denny Hamlin, great job protecting that genius brain of your by keeping your helmet on."

Twitter is funny sometimes. It kind of reminds me of the notes my friends and I passed as schoolgirls back in the day. The only line that seems to be missing from the witty repartee between these two passionate, genius racers is, "I know you are, but what am I?"

A friend of mine commented yesterday that when you add up all Hamlin's issues so far this season, he might be in danger of a Charlie Sheen-style meltdown. The problem with that is that although passion is great, when it is focused in the wrong direction it can distract us from the thing we want most, and in the case of NASCAR, even Charlie Sheen knows what that is.

Winning. Duh. It doesn't exactly take a genius to figure that one out.

NASCAR doing it Gag-nam Style

March 12, 2013

You gotta love Denny Hamlin … or Denny Hamlin’s mouth, to be more specific. Even with nothing particularly bad is coming out of it, it still finds a way to get him in trouble. This time, it may have gotten him and all his fellow competitors the NASCAR equivalent of a gag order.

From a fan perspective, Hamlin had a spectacularly successful day at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR). After an engine change forced him to sart from the back of the field, he gradually fought his way to the front, finishing third thanks to a daring late-race pass. 

In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, while the race winner heads to Victory Lane, the second- through fifth-place finishers are held on pit road for post-event interviews. When Hamlin was asked about the performance of his car -- the highly-touted new Gen 6 machine -- he gave an honest answer. 

"I don't want to be the pessimist, but it did not race as good as our Generation 5 cars," he said. "This is more like what the Generation 5 was the beginning." 

Then Hamlin headed off to the track's media center for his post-race Q&A, and PIR was in the rearview mirror. 

Or it should have been, because if you're like me, you didn't give Hamlin's remarks a second thought. Obviously the Gen 6 car isn't perfect yet and will no doubt undergo numerous tweaks over the course of its first season of competition. Like its mechanical predecessors, the car is a work in progress and we all realize that, right?

Maybe not. 

The Tuesday after the race, which is normally when NASCAR announces any fines and penalties from the previous weekend, passed without incident. It was quiet ... too quiet. Then on Thursday, the bombshell hit: NASCAR fined Denny Hamlin $25,000 for violation of the "actions detrimental to stock car racing" rule. 

NASCAR issued the following statement regarding the penalty:

"Following the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event last Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, Denny Hamlin made some disparaging remarks about the on-track racing that had taken place that afternoon. While NASCAR gives its competitors ample leeway in voicing their opinions when it comes to a wide range of aspects about the sport, the sanctioning body will not tolerate publicly comments made by its drivers that denigrate the racing product."

Generally speaking, public reaction to this unexpected penalty was, "Huh? What did he say that was so bad?" And just like that, Denny Hamlin gained thousands of new fans.

NASCAR is understandably a little sensitive about the new Gen 6 car. It was developed in large part because of across-the-board criticisms leveled by fans at the old car: It was ugly. They all looked alike. The racing was terrible. So NASCAR responded and  worked hard to give fans a product they could get excited about, and so far it has been mostly successful. The new cars are sharp-looking and, while they haven't exactly provided much in the way of riveting competition in 2013, it's still early going.

Hamlin's comments were basically a non-issue until NASCAR made the decision to penalize him for making them. Since then, the matter has become quite the hot topic, thanks in no small part to Hamlin's reaction: He has no intention of settling this bill.

"It's an opinion; it's not a bad one. I don't want to make things worse that they already are, and this is something that was absolutely nothing that got blown into something, and it's just going to be worse for them, so just let them deal with it," he said after the penalty was announced. "The truth is what the truth is, and I don't believe in this. I'm never going to believe in it. And so far as I'm concerned, I'm not going to pay the fine. If they suspend me, they suspend me at this point."

Of course it wouldn't go that far. NASCAR has a special way of dealing with slow payers -- they just withhold the amount of the fine from a future race purse.

In NASCAR's defense, drivers' words carry a lot of weight. Imagine what the reaction would be if Dale Earnhardt Jr. make even slightly negative comments about the new car on national television. Millions of fans would most likely turn against the car, because as Junior goes, so goes NASCAR Nation. Following that logic, when Hamlin said the new car doesn't measure up to the old one -- at least not yet -- people believed him.

In the end,  what fans seems most concerned about is the principle of the thing. NASCAR regularly touts the accessibility of its athletes, and rightly so. Superstars and millionaires they may be, but they nevertheless seem relatable to us somehow. We are interested in their opinions, and we want to hear what they have to say ... but we also want them to say what they mean.

If drivers are put in a position where they have to weigh and measure each word before it comes out of their mouths, won't we then be listening with jaded and skeptical ears? It's great that Denny Hamlin felt he was in a situation where he could be honest. What isn't not so great is that didn't turn out to be the case.

 

Desert Son

March 4, 2103

A losing streak that lasted so long even Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won a race since it began was snapped on March 3, when Carl Edwards took the checkered flag at Phoenix International Raceway.

Edwards, driving the No. 99 Subway Ford, led 122 laps on his way to winning the Subway Fresh Fit 500. Giving the command for the drivers to start their engines was actor Brian Baumgartner, who stars as voracious over-eater and general sloth-in-residence Kevin Malone on the terrific NBC sitcom "The Office."

I was watching the UNC Tarheels put a beatdown on Florida State at the time and missed the pre-race festivities, but I'm willing to bet that Jared Fogel, AKA America's Unlikeliest Celebrity, was also lurking somewhere around the track. That guy makes more races than some of the drivers.

Long story short, it was officially Subway Day. Let the conspiracy theories begin.

Truth be told, it really was quite the perfect storm for this loyal race sponsor, which has also featured drivers Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart in its advertising campaigns. Seventy races had come and gone since Edwards' last win -- at Las Vegas in March 2011 -- and while I still question the wisdom of his trademark celebratory backflip, he earned it fair and square. (Note to sponsors: Maybe someone should design a cool-looking skateboarder-style helmet for Edwards to wear in Victory Lane. It might save him a really bad headache in addition to saving his team owner Jack Roush a few sleepless nights.)

It was a great day for Subway, but after 70 races and two years it is safe to say that Edwards is back? He thinks so.

"A lot of people that have been in sports understand this, but when you're struggling it seems like time slows down You're working harder, you're trying more, you're questioning yourself more," Edwards said after the race. "I'm very, very happy to be back in the mix here. A victory is huge, and for so many reasons. Last year we didn't make the Chase. For me to sit home while everybody was at the Chase stuff and at Vegas, that was a little bit of a shock to me.  I did not like that at all.

"To get a victory helps us be in a better position for the Chase. It just feels good to win, and I'm just very glad to be here."

Ford lost Edwards' former teammate Matt Kenseth, one of the manufacturer's most dominant drivers, to the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team this season, so it's nice to see Edwards step up and fill the gap. His Roush Fenway Racing colleagues Greg Biffle and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are doing their part, as well; both drivers are currently sitting in the top 10 in the driver standings.

One last thing: If anyone knows of a restaurant chain, like Chipotle or maybe Buffalo Wild Wings, that wants to make someone a celebrity in exchange for eating their food, I would open to discussing that. Just sayin'.

Daytona Takeout

Feb. 28, 2013

At times, a race weekend can feel kind of like a multi-course meal -- a nice Asian dinner is a great example -- with a variety of items being served up in rapid succession. While we appreciate it at the time, it can be a lot to properly digest, so we often entrust it to the care of our old environmentally-sketchy friend  styrofoam and carry it home where we can enjoy it later, at a more leisurely pace.

Nowhere is this more evident than at Daytona International Speedway. From the green flag at the Sprint Unlimited to the checkered flag at the Daytona 500, one event leads into the next so quickly that there is barely time to breathe. Now that Daytona is in the rearview mirror, we have time to revisit, re-taste and reflect on what will surely, for good or ill, be some of the most-remembered moments from Speedweeks 2013.

The appetizer course started with the eggroll heard 'round the world, as one of the most popular drivers ever produced by the great state of Wisconsin grabbed headlines on Coors Light qualifying day, and I'm not talking about Matt Kenseth. Danica Patrick, who has endured more than her fair share of both criticism and skepticism since moving from IndyCar to NASCAR, smoked the field to win the number one starting position for the Great American Race. She backed it up, too, running up front all day and eventually finishing eighth.

In the process, Patrick became both the first woman in history to start the Daytona 500 -- and any NASCAR event, for that matter -- from the pole position, and the highest-finishing woman in the history of NASCAR's biggest race. She was impressive, to put it mildly, but early headlines for the March 3 race at Phoenix International Raceway included "Danica Patrick Has Little Chance of Winning at Phoenix" and "A Longshot at Phoenix."

Come on, people; can't we let the woman have even one week to enjoy some glory? Apparently not.

We first enjoyed -- and then didn't -- the hot and sour soup course, courtesy of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Feb. 23. For the most part, this was a great race. Fans got their first good luck at some up-and-coming superstars, and the competition was close, exciting and featured all kinds of drafting. It was hot.

Tragically, things turned sour late in the race when a multi-car crash sent young driver Kyle Larson flying into the catchfence, leaving half of the car and all of the engine in the grandstand. Dozens of fans were injured by debris, but thankfully, there were no fatalities. The most bizarre photo of the weekend was the shot of a wrecker hauling off half of a race car that literally been torn in two. Tony Stewart, who won the race, showed nothing but class and concern as he rushed through his Victory Lane interviews before rushing off even faster to check on the injured fans.

I don't know what to compare the Daytona 500 pre-race ceremonies to, so "the weird thing on the plate that you can't quite identify" will have to suffice. Some big names, including Tim McGraw and the Zac Brown Band, performed early in the day, but when the national anthem rolled around, the mic was handed over to Clay Cook, a member of the Zac Brown Band.

Mr. Cook did a serviceable job, but is it petty to ask why, since obviously all the members were there, did the entire group not perform the anthem? I'm all in favor of giving unknown singers their shot, but this is the Daytona 500 we're talking about. "X Factor" auditions are conducted in a different area of the FOX network studios.

Also, actor James Franco's movie portrayal of "Oz" might be great and powerful, but his brief moment as grand marshal was neither: "Drivers -- and Danica -- start your engines!" That was just insulting.

For the main course, the new Gen 6 car welcomed back an old style of competition in the Daytona 500: pack racing. It was pretty cool to see those long "freight trains" barreling around the track again, but it would have been even cooler to see more than one of them at a time. The fast lane at Daytona was right up against the wall, and that's where most of the cars stayed for the majority of the day.

Jimmie Johnson took the lead on the final restart and hung onto it for the win, despite a late charge from teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished second. "There is no other way to start the season than to win the Daytona 500. I'm a very lucky man to have won it twice," Johnson said after the race, his 400th start in the Cup Series.

After being cracked open, the dessert course offered us this morsel to chew on: "You will experience an interesting year." Cryptic, but if what we have seen so far is any indicator, that's one smart cookie.


Hall of Fame's SC Roots Run Deep

Feb. 10, 2013

The motorsports press corps is a dedicated and close-knit group. Just like the teams on the top three NASCAR racing circuits, they travel as a group. They log thousands of miles, spend thousands of hours and consume thousands of calories together. They know one another's spouses and kids, and they also know most of the triumphs and tribulations associated with those spouses and kids.

They have each other's backs. They are a family.

But, as with any family, sometimes they do stuff that just doesn't make sense. You'll go to the mattresses for them in public, but you'll be scratching your head when you do it.

I had the distinct honor of being asked to write a profile of Mr. Russell William Wallce -- you might know him as Rusty -- for the NASCAR Hall of Fame (HOF) induction ceremony's 2013 souvenir program. Yet another stellar group of stock car racing legends was inducted into the HOF on Feb. 9, and although I wasn't able to attend, I have followed the ceremony and all its surrounding hoopla with great interest, excitement and yes, a sense of pride that I am associated in some small way with the very big deal that is NASCAR.

The morning after the induction ceremony, I grabbed the sports page of my local newspaper to check out the coverage of the event. They hadn't printed a preview piece the day before, so I was hoping for a nice recap story. Tucked away on page 2, I found this headline: "Wallace Takes His Place Among NASCAR Greats." The accompanying story was a scant five paragraphs long, and mainly consisted of a bit of bio information and a lengthy quote from Wallace's HOF induction speech. The other four inductees were reduced to "also ran" status.

These racing pioneers, by the way, were Leonard Wood, one of the famed Wood Brothers team, whose brother Glen was inducted into the Hall last year;  championship drivers Herb Thomas and Buck Baker;  and championship car owner Cotton Owens.

I take no issue with the placement of the story on page 2; page 1 was entirely filled with current, local coverage. I take no issue with featuring Rusty Wallace in the headline and accompanying photograph, as he is the most contemporary of the five inductees and therefore the most well-known. (He is also, by the way, the youngest member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.)

But I do take issue with this: Although I am a self-acknowledged Wallace fan and proud of it, I also have to concede that when you're talking about the  "pioneers" of NASCAR, Rusty is the one in that group of five to which the description least applies. It's not his fault. You can't be a contributor to anything's early days if you're not born yet.

I live and work in the literal shadow of Darlington Raceway, and I am not ashamed to say I am a homer. While Daytona Beach, Fla. is always referred to as the birthplace of NASCAR -- and that is true of the business organization -- there is a very solid argument to be made for Darlington, S.C. as the home of NASCAR competition. Darlington Raceway is a pioneer. Viewed through this admittedly very personal lens, the 2013 HOF class looks very different.

Cale Yarborough got his first Darlington victory driving for the Wood Brothers, and David Pearson, in his first race with the team, won the 1972 Rebel 400 at Darlington, the first of 43 victories he would claim for the Wood Brothers (please note that one sentence includes three "firsts".) Yarborough and Pearson, of course, are members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and native South Carolinians.

Cotton Owens won nine races as a driver before moving on to team ownership, and is on NASCAR's list of its 50 greatest  drivers. Pearson won a championship for Owens, and on Feb. 8, had the honor or inducting him into the HOF.  Owens is also a South Carolina native.

Herb Thomas, whom I recently heard someone much more educated in NASCAR history than I refer to as one of racing's first superstars, won back-to-back Southern 500s at Darlington, in 1954 and 1955. The only other drivers in history to accomplish this difficult task are Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Dale Earnhardt, and Jeff Gordon, who won four in a row.  Thomas also won the 1951 Southern 500. Two-time championship Buck Baker was a three-time winner at Darlington.

By the way, the only checkered flags Rusty Wallace ever saw at Darlington Raceway were waving for somebody else. He never got a win at the track "Too Tough To Tame."

So despite my deep admiration and respect for Wallace, and my firm belief that his inclusion in the NASCAR Hall of Fame is merited, I guess I do take issue with the placement of that one small story after all. South Carolina is extremely well represented in the HOF, and Darlington Raceway has played a significant role in that.

In my mind -- and in this neck of the woods -- that should be front-page news.