As a sports fan I love to root for the very young players and the very old. The sport doesn’t matter; baseball, football, auto racing. I love the young and the old alike. Didn’t we all get a thrill watching a young Doc Gooden jump on the scene as a teenager and set the world of baseball on fire in 1984? And didn’t Cam Newton and RGIII bring us to the edge of our seats on more than one Sunday in their rookie seasons?
I see the young stars representing the future of the sport. The ones who will carry on with the traditions of the sport. Who isn’t thrilled watching Chase Elliot and Kyle Larson and thinking we’re witnessing the newest versions of Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon?
As for the older players, I relate to them best. They bring back memories of the past. Of better days gone by. Of a more pure, simpler days of sport before free agency, big money, steroids and social media. I loved Mark Martin when his hair began to turn grey. Jeff Gordon has grown on me through the years. And I imagine in another 10 years or so I’ll be an even bigger Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. fan.
Before the race on Sunday I was thrilled to see 72 year old driver Morgan Shepherd entered to race in New Hampshire. I thought that it was just wonderful that a 72 year old had kept himself in good enough condition to get on the track with the young ones and drive over 100 mph around the paved mile oval in Loudon, New Hampshire. Just great stuff, huh?
Boy has my mind changed. With about 100 laps remaining and Joey Logano running in second place, Shepherd, who was 15 laps behind the leaders, ran into Logano’s car and caused Logano to crash his car. Logano’s day was finished.
Rarely have I seen a car 15 laps down cause any incident on the track. Never one driven by a 72 year old man. In nearly all cases the drivers will give the competitive cars all the room in the world to pass them. It makes no sense to race them hard or get in their way.
What was Shepherd thinking? He knew he had a car which was not competitive and was not handling all that well. Either he badly misjudged the handling of his car or the car just got away from him. Either way it was driver error. A car 15 laps down should never get in the way of the competition. Never.
After the race NASCAR, in their typical cover-up mode, noted that Shephard had passed all the requirements he needed.
When pressed to explain what those qualifications were, NASCAR Official Robin Pemberton said, “As long as Shepherd passed his physical and qualified for the race he was free to drive.”
For his part Shepherd was equally unrepentant, “Was he the only guy who got wrecked? That answers that.”
Logano for his part handled the situation calmly. “It’s just dumb that it happened. This stuff shouldn’t happen at this level of racing.”
Look, driving a race car at 150 mph takes skill and tremendous reflexes. Heck, there are many elderly people who are no longer allowed to drive on roads where speed limits are 30 mph. The deterioration of many skills with age are well documented. In addition to motor skills, vision deterioration, hearing loss and cognitive reaction time are all impacted by years. How in the world is there no age limit on NASCAR drivers who drive so fast? It makes no sense to me.
There’s no doubt that NASCAR’s initial reaction was to “circle the wagons”. Pemberton’s initial reaction to the incident Sunday was disturbing. I’m guessing that after further review they’ll come up with something to keep 90 year olds from driving on NASCAR tracks.
For his part, Shepherd said he still plans on racing. NASCAR should see to it that he doesn’t.
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