The end appears in sight for some proud names in NASCAR
Nothing lasts forever. You’re on top one day and lost in the crowd the next. Name any profession - singers, actors, athletes, retailers, manufacturers - yesterday's giants are frequently today’s has beens.
Even worse they simply fade away and disappear from the scene. Love ‘em or hate them when they are on top, it’s sad to see their decline and disappearance.
Auto racing has for years been unique for being a family business that carried on from generation to generation. Famous families like the Earnharts, Labontes, Jarretts, and Wallaces, to name just a few. Maybe it’s something in the genes. The next generation seems to be born with the parent’s talent. They’re born destined to carry on the family tradition. How sad it is to see once strong trend-setting racing family dynasties you have followed for nearly a lifetime struggle for their very survival.
As long as there has been NASCAR racing there have been the Petty family and the Wood Brothers involved in the sport. Robert Yates came along a bit later. Beginning in the engine department of Holman-Moody in 1968, Yates quickly gained a reputation as one of the most innovative engine builders in the sport.
Robert Yates engines set the standard for power and endurance for years. Robert Yates really came into his own in 1988 when he bought the race team of Harry Ranier, largely at the urging of the team's young driving sensation Davey Allison.
Allison won 15 races for Robert Yates Racing before losing his life in a helicopter crash at Talladega Speedway in 1993. Ernie Irvan took over the driving chores following Allison’s death and won twice in his first nine starts. He drove to victory lane three times for Robert Yates Racing in 1994 before a near fatal practice crash at Michigan. Dale Jarrett came on board while Irvan was recuperating and would go on to win 29 races and capture the 1999 Winston Cup Championship.
If you followed racing in the fifties, sixties or seventies and heard the announcers introduce the Pettys from Randleman, North Carolina or the Wood Brothers from Stuart, Virginia, it sent chills up your spine. They seemed like mythical towns, where these royal families created magnificent racing machines.
Nothing lasts forever.
Last year the Wood Brothers closed their shop in Stuart, Virginia and moved to the Charlotte area. The Pettys have followed suit, abandoning the family compound in Level Cross for the sports epicenter in Charlotte.
It hasn’t helped.
The Wood Brothers, who first brought precision pit stops to the sport and won 96 Cup races with such legendary drivers as David Pearson and Cale Yarborough behind the wheel, have struggled to remain competitive the past few years. A one car team in an era of multi-car powerhouses.
They hired fan favorite and former champion Bill Elliott with the hope this past champion's provisional would get their car into more races if he couldn’t get it up to fast enough speed to qualify. Today the Wood Brothers car is out of the top 35, missing races with no light at the end of the tunnel in sight.
Robert Yates, worn out by the pressure and the grind that is today’s Cup racing, retired and turned the team over to his son Doug. They have moved into a satellite building with Roush-Fenway racing to save money. Last Sunday, Yates racings two cars went to Texas without sponsors.
Petty Enterprises' 45 car, driven by third generation driver Kyle Petty, has fallen from the top 35 and failed to make the field at Martinsburg. Kyle stepped out of driver’s seat for last weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. For the second straight week the 45 car failed to qualify as young Chad McCumbee was unable to get the car up to speed.
This past week General Mills, the primary sponsor of the famed No. 43 car for the past nine years, announced they will be leaving the Pettys at the end of the year, and will sponsor a car for Richard Childress Racing. Speculation is that driver Bobby Labonte will leave the Pettys at the end of the year to join Richard Childress Racing. Without a name driver and without a win since 1999 the future looks bleak indeed
The clock is ticking and sadly, one day soon and one by one, these once proud powerful, names will be gone from the scene.
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