YOUTH MOVEMENT TODAY?
Question Quest Story and photos by Dwight Drum
© 2008 Dwight Drum Web work by Larsen & Drum
Ask those presently in the NASCAR garage about a substantial youth movement among drivers and expect a barometer of answers that could change with the next big wind. Racetake asked notable veterans and rookies about that presence. The sum of the details in the answers probably adds up to reality, although not everyone is on the same field where the wind changes.
As always the reader can be the judge in balancing these thoughts.
Is there a youth movement in NASCAR levels or have young drivers just been a part of normal change waves caused by attrition and strategy?"I think there is too much made out of driver development." Kyle Petty
"The young gun era ended because everybody on their teams were so young." Kenny Wallace
"Indirectly he has a little bit to do with guys coming into the sport at the age they're coming in now." Dale Earnhardt Jr. about Jeff Gordon.
"What I've always like about the Cup Series is that you have car owners out here who are willing to go to their sponsors and convince them that here's a young, talented race car driver that has a long future if we bring him up right." Jeff Gordon
"I think that today's world is better for young drivers that are trying to develop and come along." Jimmie Johnson
"We did it the hard way, I guess." David Gilliland
"It all sort of happened around the same time." Bryan Clauson
"There is a lot of talent in this garage, guys my age." Bryan Keselowski
"Now you've got 18 and 19-year-old drivers that have been racing for 15 years." Landon Cassill
"We're so young that we're still learning about life." Brad Coleman
"I had been a ballerina before that and I can drive a race car." Kathryne Minter
Veterans:{Kyle Petty, Kenny Wallace, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, David Gilliland}
Youths:{Bryan Keselowski, Bryan Clauson, Landon Cassill, Brad Coleman, Katheryn Minter}
Note: We include Kathryne Minter, a 17-year-old aspiring sprint car driver and journalist, with drivers in the top level because of her gender and determination. Diversity has had good emphasis in recent years and Minter is working to get into that special NASCAR program.
Questions by reporter Dwight Drum at Talladega Superspeedway, Daytona International Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway and EastBay Raceway Park. Some quotes from NASCAR Transcripts.
Veterans
Kyle Petty
How about the young guys training to come in. Do you have a comment about whether that's a movement?
"Here's the way it works. I learned this in Health. You start and you get older. And when you get older there's another group that comes behind you and they're younger. And they're going to be good and they are going to be great guys out of that. We can go through this garage area and look at Dale Jarrett, myself, Ricky Rudd and Kenny Schrader. And then you can look at Bobby Labonte and Jeff Burton and the next wave that came though. And then you can look at the next wave and the next wave. There are just more waves coming.
"I think there is too much made out of driver development. There is too much made out of young drivers. You either have talent or you don't have talent. They ran a great race yesterday. When you watch them. They didn't do anything stupid. They raced hard. I think that's healthy for the sport.
"When you look around this sport at some of the seat-hopping and some of the stuff that's going on this year with open-wheel guys and other race drivers from other series coming in and with the young guys coming in - the face of NASCAR will change a lot over the next three or four years."
So the young guys coming in it's just a natural progression?
"It's just natural. The younger guys just get better cars to race in and that's how they bring it to your attention more than anything else. If you go back 15 years those 20-year-olds would be running at the back of the pack because nobody at the front of the pack would give them a shot. Now because of the way the sport is they're getting a shot."
Kenny Wallace
About young drivers:
Do you think the youth movement in drivers is just a natural progression in the sport?
"It's over now and I'll tell you why it's over right now, because what happened is Hendrick and all those guys jammed their teams full of such young drivers that there is no reason to get young drivers any more. You're look at a lot of these teams and their oldest driver is 32-years-old. That's why this thing has calmed down.
"You got Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin under 25-years-old and we're calling Tony Stewart an old man at 35. What happened is the young gun era ended because everybody on their teams were so young. It's a natural effect and it finally ended.
"What it did was log the teams up and a lot of teams got rid of what they called developmental drivers."
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
"Jeff Gordon was winning championships when I was just kind of getting started. And I think indirectly he has a little bit to do with guys coming into the sport at the age they're coming in now, because to see him in there challenging and winning races and beating guys five, ten years older than him, it drove a lot of people that were really young.
"It drove a lot of people harder. It drove them harder to get there sooner. People were sort of -- had a pace about getting into the Cup Series. Whenever you got there. However old you were, that's how old you were, you know. You just got there however you could.
"I think Jeff, being as young as he was, I think he was 26 or so when he started really getting really some good results, you know, that drove a lot of guys, like myself back then, to thinking that we should -- I thought I should already have been in the series and that I was a late-bloomer, got a late start.
"I was sort of upset with myself that I didn't push myself to be in the sport quicker and apply myself sooner. When I was in my early teens, to try to apply myself to racing sooner instead of goofing off so much. And I think that's what you really see today."
Jeff Gordon
A lot of young guys are in training right now. Has the garage and track conditions changed a lot since you trained and moved up?
"Sure it has. The cars have changed and competition has changed. What I've always like about the Cup Series is that you have car owners out here who are willing to go to their sponsors and convince them that here's a young, talented race car driver that has a long future if we bring him up right. And their willing to give that guy a chance. And there's not too many series out there that really go out there and do that. So I hope that we continue to do that. That's what happened with me. But things have changed, certainly. We've got 38 races and a bigger audience and more pressure and a lot more competition - especially going to the Car of Tomorrow next year. It's going to make it a lot more challenging. For a young, aggressive driver to come up the same way they have been over the last four or five years. The cars we've been driving, you can be aggressive and it pays off. With this car, you can't be aggressive."
Jimmie Johnson
A lot of young guys are in training for Cup right now. Has the garage and truck situation changed a lot since you trained and moved up?
"I think that today's world is better for young drivers that are trying to develop and come along. Even six years ago when I started in Cup there were less drivers paying to attention to short tracks, dirt tracks, off road racing, sprint cars, whatever it may be and with today's pool of drivers that have made it from different backgrounds and the way they're giving back and involved in other forms of racing and the car owners are now looking there, I think that as a young up and coming driver you have more opportunities in today's world than even when I started a few short six years ago so it's exciting to see these guys come along and have a shot to come in and run the big times. It doesn't matter if it's just here on our own soil we're now having guys like Juan Pablo (Montoya) and Jacques (Villeneuve) and Dario Franchitti, guys coming in from all walks of life that want to have a shot here in NASCAR so it's a good time to be in the sport."
David Gilliland
About making it to the top level at an older age:
"We did it the hard way, I guess. I never had money behind me to be able to go and put myself in an opportunity. I feel like I could have done it years ago. I always felt like all I needed was an opportunity, but I think it can go both ways.
I guess the old-fashioned way. We worked our way up throughout the NASCAR plan that they've laid out with late models and grand national cars in Busch and then Cup. I think both ways can work. The younger you are, the more patient the teams are going to have to be when you get there."
Youths
Brad Keselowski
About young drivers:
"Just being with a quality team like Junior Motorsports and having the opportunity that I have, there's a lot of pressure that comes with that. I feel like I'm ready for it. There is a lot of talent in this garage, guys my age like Landon Cassill and Bryan Clauson and all those guys. It's going to be tough to beat them, but I feel like I'm ready for that."
The ups and downs at this level, how do you think it will apply to your future here?
"Just keep thinking one week ahead. Every week is going to be your best weekend. Try to put your best foot forward. Try not to worry about the past. Try to make it run next week. It's just core values, working with the guys and working hard. Get the most you can out of a race car and have fun doing it."
Bryan Clauson
Do you think there is an actual youth movement going on other than natural attrition to get to a Cup seat?
"I think a little bit. I think what you're seeing a few years ago there was a real big push for guys for driver development in finding some younger guys. A lot of teams put a lot of effort into not only developing and helping them race but as far as directing them for other various aspects of their career. I think we're just getting to the point now where a lot of the guys are starting to become ready to move up to the Sprint Cup Series and it all sort of happened around the same time. So it seems like you got all these young guys that are coming in at the same time because a few years ago they all started their driver development program. They really started putting their effort into bringing a kid along to eventually not just come into Nationwide but ultimately into Cup."
Landon Cassill
Do you think there is an actual youth movement going on other than natural attrition to get to a Cup seat?
"That's a very good question and it's something to think about because you compare today to the 90's or something. In the early 90's people would grow up and start driving race cars when they were 16, 17-years-old and get in the Cup Series when they were 23 and 24. Now you've got 18 and 19-year-old drivers that have been racing for 15 years. It's hard to compare but the teams are trying to get an edge and get really good drivers younger and younger and develop them and mold them into fitting in with their team. I don't know about youth movement but I think it's a good observation."
What advice would you have for someone younger than yourself about driving a race car at this level?
"One thing I've really noticed just in the past year reflecting on my teammates compared to 2006 driving with my dad and working on my own cars. We didn't have a full crew. We didn't have all the technology. We had to kill to survive so to speak. We had to work hard to survive to make it to the racetrack every week. In this series you don't necessarily have to kill to survive. There are people who fix the cars. There are people to pay the bills. You may not make it forever and you can just ride, but you've got to kill to succeed. That's one thing that I've been working on. That's probably a real good thing I learned last year. You can drive to the racetrack and get there and you drive on the racetrack and you may not do well and you may not lose your job. But if you really want to be successful, you've got to dig hard and find the things that you can control and control it."
Brad Coleman
Do you think there is an actual youth movement going on other than natural attrition to get to a Cup seat?
"I think the big thing about young drivers is we're so young that we're still learning about life and how we're going to be when we're adults and how we are right now. If they start training you and developing you while you are young it's a lot easier to get you the way they want you. They train you how to get feedback on the car and how to drive this way and how to drive that way on different tracks. It's just a slight advantage. There's been a good run and stuff on a car that everybody doesn't know how to keep up with. I think there is a little bit of a youth movement."
What advice would you have for someone younger than yourself about driving a race car at this level?
"It definitely takes a lot of hard work and negotiation to get to this level. There's not one of us that hasn't given up going to the prom or going to parties with friends or going to concerts. On the weekends, every weekend you're on a race track. It's what it takes. When I was 14-years-old I moved away from my family in Houston to live in Virginia play with race cars, do that every day and take school on-line. You just have to dedicate your life to it and work as hard as you can. Once you get there, it's all worth it."
Kathryne Minter
A young start for a 17-year-old: Is your family involved in racing?
"No. actually my cousin used to race. That's actually how I got started. My dad bought a car from him and I was 13 at the time and thought it was really cool. I had been a ballerina before that and I was like, 'Hey I can drive a race car. This is cool.' That's how I got started. After my first race I fell in love with it.
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