April 28, 2008
On NASCAR: 'When Is Junior Going to Win a Race?'
By Cathy Elliott
Special to Huntingtonnews.net
One of the most enjoyable things I do during the course of my normal work week in the Darlington, S.C. area is serve as part-time co-host of a morning sports talk radio program, the Powerade Press Box (see, it really is all about the sponsorship, even in the Small To Mid-Market Radio Series.)
It's a blast. Friday, the day I’m in the studio with the show's host, Allen Smothers, AKA the “Bad Boy of Sports Radio”, is NASCAR day, so listeners save up their questions and fire them at me from 8 to 10 a.m. By the end of each week we generally have a pretty decent variety of topics, such as the most recent race, any penalties and fines, the upcoming events, and the latest Tony Stewart comment.
We also talk about Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus, a lot.
One week I had the distinct pleasure of discussing the intricacies of the sway bar for an extended period of time, at the end of which I almost sounded like I knew what I was talking about. Please don’t ask me to explain camber.
But there is one topic so predictable that we actually have an over/under side bet on it in the studio. Inevitably, a call will come in, and we will answer it, and the following question will be asked: "When is Junior going to win a race?" It is the one topic we can never seem to get away from.
I don’t mind, really. While NASCAR has become ubiquitous in the mainstream media, certain of the sport's stars, like Geico's gecko or Travelocity's roaming gnome, have become the faces of the franchise without bearing its actual name.
Along with guys like Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards, the same can be said of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Sometimes quietly and at other times quite publicly, he has become the central axis around which a major portion of NASCAR-mania revolves.
I can't tell you diddly about soccer, but I know who David Beckham is. Legions of folks who have never watched one single, solitary golf match seem to know an awful lot about Tiger Woods. Sometimes that elusive but specific combination of location, timing and circumstance converges in just the right way, and the result is a supernova that for a while eclipses everything around it with the sheer force of its light. Currently, in NASCAR terms, Junior is that star.
Of course, the top of anything is an exhilarating but precarious place to be. The view is spectacular as long as you continue to look forward, or upward, but don’t look down, because all you’ll see there is a very slippery slope.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., the most insanely popular driver in the sport, represents the very pinnacle of NASCAR recognition. Fans who don’t technically “pull for him,” as the saying goes, still like the guy. They know who he is, of course, but they feel they know him, too.
He is the guy, after all, who likes to eat crushed-up Doritos on his bologna sandwiches. He is real. Fame may not fit him as comfortably as a tailor-made suit, and in fact he seems almost embarrassed by it at times, but he wears it well. It has admittedly been difficult to watch him work so hard and come so close and still remain winless in this, his first year with Hendrick Motorsports.
I don't know when Junior will get that next win, although in my heart I truly feel it won't be long now. Let me be the first to admit that I'm ready for it to happen, so we can all celebrate, heave a huge sigh of relief, get past it, move on and talk about something new … like when Junior will get his second win of the season.
Cathy Elliott is the former director of public relations at Darlington Raceway. She currently lives in Florence, SC.
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On NASCAR: 'When Is Junior Going to Win a Race?'
By Cathy Elliott
Special to Huntingtonnews.net
One of the most enjoyable things I do during the course of my normal work week in the Darlington, S.C. area is serve as part-time co-host of a morning sports talk radio program, the Powerade Press Box (see, it really is all about the sponsorship, even in the Small To Mid-Market Radio Series.)
It's a blast. Friday, the day I’m in the studio with the show's host, Allen Smothers, AKA the “Bad Boy of Sports Radio”, is NASCAR day, so listeners save up their questions and fire them at me from 8 to 10 a.m. By the end of each week we generally have a pretty decent variety of topics, such as the most recent race, any penalties and fines, the upcoming events, and the latest Tony Stewart comment.
We also talk about Jimmie Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus, a lot.
One week I had the distinct pleasure of discussing the intricacies of the sway bar for an extended period of time, at the end of which I almost sounded like I knew what I was talking about. Please don’t ask me to explain camber.
But there is one topic so predictable that we actually have an over/under side bet on it in the studio. Inevitably, a call will come in, and we will answer it, and the following question will be asked: "When is Junior going to win a race?" It is the one topic we can never seem to get away from.
I don’t mind, really. While NASCAR has become ubiquitous in the mainstream media, certain of the sport's stars, like Geico's gecko or Travelocity's roaming gnome, have become the faces of the franchise without bearing its actual name.
Along with guys like Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards, the same can be said of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Sometimes quietly and at other times quite publicly, he has become the central axis around which a major portion of NASCAR-mania revolves.
I can't tell you diddly about soccer, but I know who David Beckham is. Legions of folks who have never watched one single, solitary golf match seem to know an awful lot about Tiger Woods. Sometimes that elusive but specific combination of location, timing and circumstance converges in just the right way, and the result is a supernova that for a while eclipses everything around it with the sheer force of its light. Currently, in NASCAR terms, Junior is that star.
Of course, the top of anything is an exhilarating but precarious place to be. The view is spectacular as long as you continue to look forward, or upward, but don’t look down, because all you’ll see there is a very slippery slope.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., the most insanely popular driver in the sport, represents the very pinnacle of NASCAR recognition. Fans who don’t technically “pull for him,” as the saying goes, still like the guy. They know who he is, of course, but they feel they know him, too.
He is the guy, after all, who likes to eat crushed-up Doritos on his bologna sandwiches. He is real. Fame may not fit him as comfortably as a tailor-made suit, and in fact he seems almost embarrassed by it at times, but he wears it well. It has admittedly been difficult to watch him work so hard and come so close and still remain winless in this, his first year with Hendrick Motorsports.
I don't know when Junior will get that next win, although in my heart I truly feel it won't be long now. Let me be the first to admit that I'm ready for it to happen, so we can all celebrate, heave a huge sigh of relief, get past it, move on and talk about something new … like when Junior will get his second win of the season.
Cathy Elliott is the former director of public relations at Darlington Raceway. She currently lives in Florence, SC.
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Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
