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JENSEN: It’s About The Heroes
The late Cotton Owens had his priorities in order…
Tom Jensen  |  Posted February 10, 2013   Charlotte, NC
Cotton Owens died last June at the age of 88. (Photo: ISC Archives via Getty Images)
This weekend’s visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame was a startling reminder that no matter how great the racecars are — and the new Generation-6 Sprint Cup cars are superlative — the secret to NASCAR’s success isn’t the cars, it’s the people in it.

NASCAR’s success has always been the result of the human drama that happens when common men perform uncommon feats of greatness. And when common men perform uncommon feats of greatness they become heroes to race fans.

It happened at Daytona in 1959, when Lee Petty nosed out Johnny Beauchamp in front of 41,000 fans in the first Daytona 500, a photo finish that wasn’t decided until the following Wednesday.

It happened again at Daytona in 1976, when NASCAR’s two greatest drivers of all-time, Richard Petty and David Pearson, crashed coming to the checkered flag, with Pearson limping to the victory.

Then there was the Allison brothers brawling with Cale Yarborough in 1979 and Darrell Waltrip nursing his fuel load to win in 1989.

There wasn’t a dry eye at Daytona when Dale Earnhardt ended two decades of frustration to win in 1998, with virtually every crewman from every team lining up on pit road to show their respect for the seven-time champion and get a high-five from him.

More recently, it was Trevor Bayne winning the 500 in 2011, putting the fabled Wood Brothers No. 21 Ford in Victory Lane for the first time in nearly a decade. And, oh by the way, Bayne won in only his second Sprint Cup start, one day after he turned 20 years old.

Just last November, Brad Keselowski and Jimmie Johnson waged an incredible battle in the closing laps at Texas, bumping and beating each other, while getting sideways at 190 miles per hour, neither man giving an inch. They drove hard, they drove aggressively and they drove cleanly. Afterwards, when Johnson was in Victory Lane, Keselowski was there to shake his hand, look him in the eye and congratulate him on an epic triumph.

Common men, all performing uncommon feats of greatness. That is the very essence of NASCAR.

Friday night, I listened to all the induction speeches at the Hall of Fame and I heard stories of real drama that created legends. No one talked much about their cars. Instead, it was about moments that defined them as racers and defined them as men.

It was Rusty Wallace, who had turned down a chance to drive for Junior Johnson in 1990, shaking a finger at Roger Penske and telling him “Don’t you spin out on me now!” when Penske took Wallace to a hotel in Daytona Beach and told him he was going to pull out of NASCAR. Wallace’s pleas kept Penske in the sport and the rest was history.

There was Buddy Baker talking about when his father Buck basically kicked him out and told him he had to find his own ride. “He said, 'I promised you a start, not a career. You've got to go. I'm running for a championship and you're barely running,'" Buddy said. " … I didn't know at the time and didn't realize how wise he was, but he wanted me to earn my way just like he did.”

For the Wood Brothers, the NASCAR Hall of Fame brought the family together again after some very lean years. David Pearson went in in 2011, Glen Wood last year and Leonard Wood Friday night.

“The really cool thing about the Hall of Fame is this whole night, and every time they have one of these, it fixes so many things,” said Glen’s son, Eddie. “It fixes relationships and it gives people a chance to say things that they normally wouldn't say, wouldn't be brave enough to say. I know I said things I wouldn't be brave enough to say.”

Victor Thomas, the son of the late Herb Thomas, watched an old video of another deceased legend, Smokey Yunick, talk about how great a driver Herb was. “To hear Smokey Yunick say at the time Daddy was the best there was, that means he probably was the best there was,” said Victor. “Because we know that Smokey Yunick at the time was the best mechanic out there.”

Cotton Owens’ grandson, Brandon Davis, said the last time the legendary driver, mechanic and car owner ever smiled was when he found out he was going into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. That was last year, just two weeks before he died.

Kyle Davis, another grandson, added, “I think my brother Brandon said it best at my grandfather's funeral: That Pop lived his life by four unwavering principles … and that was God, family, country and the 426 Hemi.”

God.

Family.

Country.

The 426 Hemi.

Hard to argue with the order Owens came up with.

I head to Daytona Wednesday for 12 days. And while SPEED and SPEED.com will keep you absolutely up to date with the G-6 cars, what I’m most looking forward to is sharing stories of common men — and now, women — performing uncommon feats of greatness during Speedweeks.

See you in Daytona.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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