NASCAR’s veteran drivers are disappearing too quickly
By T. Walker
Personality, What?
During driver introductions at Bristol, when the first three or four drivers were announced to the crowd, like many fans, I said “who?” In fact, I screamed at the TV and asked, “Who are these guys?”
Nowadays, some of these guys–and I’m not going to say who–but there are many drivers that do not have much of a personality. They are cookie-cutter drivers who stick to the script. As a NASCAR fan, I want to see something off-script.
I want to see another Kyle Busch. I want to see another Clint Bowyer. And of course, I want to see another Tony Stewart–perhaps another Dale Jr., although we know he doesn’t ruffle any feathers.
Case-in-point, Kevin Harvick said some unpleasant things about him and his response was, “I’m disappointed.” Stewart would have been like, “What!? Okay, I’ll see you on the track. I’ll catch you on Lap 1 of the Daytona 500 and wreck the field!” That’s the old school way, but I don’t feel like any of these young drivers have that in them anymore. They really don’t.