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Now with all that out of the way.....Let's make some laps!
It came to me after hearing Gordons interview following the Richmond race that the 'New Wave' or 'Young Guns' type of drivers that have always had some one there to do their set ups or thinking if you will, can tell the crew cheif what they need to do to fix the car. Guys like Rusty, Martin, Smoke, Kenseth can tell the CC what to do but Gordon sounded like 'Well, Loomis didn't know what the car needed"! I was like, WHAT! With Gordos experience why wasn't he telling Loomis what to do at that point? Guys like Kulwicki, Newman and the Bodins have engineering degrees (and I am sure there are more) and are active in building the cars but the 18-20 year olds, are they learning about the cars or just turning the steering wheels? I think if this is true then they will fly when the have the right set-up but flounder like the 24 has been doing when the car is off. The 24 always was know for never giving up and fixing it as the race went on but if you notice the 24 and 48 are not doing that now.
the old school racers like dale sr, kucwicki , rusty and a few others are hands on..... i do beleave the new wave started with gordon, maybe he can tell a CC what needs to be done..... know what to do could be a whole other issue..... i think the old school racers are to the point of saying " i want that shock, i want that spring" plus you have to remember what rusty did say on last fridays nascar live at CALI, if theres a adjustment needed to be made,,,, he KNOWS on what he needs..... he comes in and tells his CC or crew to that fact that he wants THAT spring or shock, ryan newman is among the new wave that is extremely close to what old school use to be, very hands on, but the thing is too, its not just a driver but its the CC as well to comprehend on what a driver needs and maybe robbie loomis is not cutting the mustard ?
Good points. I have seen where & what some of the newer guys like Kenseth & Stewart drove and they where the brains of the operation so to speak coming up. But guys like the Buschs, Kahne and others I believe were just given rides with someone calling the shots. I know the Buschs father raced but come on, Kyle is what 19, has he ever experienced being out to lunch and had to run the car and decide what it needed on different nights at different tracks? Or like you said, communicate it to the CC so he can fix it?
That's why it could be very streaky for drivers in the future. And if they start pressing for BIG $$$ contracts they could get shuffled out the door if the streaks last to long.
Kurt Busch is in that old school league. He transfers so much info it's hard to believe he could take that much in. It shows, he'll win the championship again this year.
Dale SR wasn't very good at it. He was good at driving a racecar hard. He was good at just burning the tires off it coming form 26th to 8th then, falling back to 20th until he got tires again. Look at the 3's qualifying efforts, think he was all that great of anything but a wheelman?
Anyway, on this subject, CCs are hired for a reason, to take the info that the driver can tell them and make the call. Drivers that make calls end up like Rusty Wallace had the past few years, out to lunch at the end of the day.
