Time Marches On

by M.L. Morgan

The 1998 Winston Cup season is in the books. Jeff Gordon won his third championship and moved into the record books beside Richard Petty for having won 13 races in the season. Not too shabby. Perennial runner-up Mark Martin had a career season with 7 wins. It was his misfortune to have to compete against Gordon at this time.

Those two drivers had truly memorable seasons. But several other drivers had miserable performances. And I happen to agree with many other writers who consider the performances of these other drivers to be at the very least, career-threatening if not career-ending. Let's take a look.

Darrell Waltrip used 18 Past Champion's provisional starting positions just to get in the Sunday fields. His ego is monumental . I hate that he can't admit his time has come and gone. He's won 84 races but can no longer even qualify for a race without this ridiculous Past Champion's provisional. Is he waiting to see a burning bush ? What's it going to take ? He's a very talented announcer and he'll have no problem finding something to do on race days.

Dale Earnhardt finally won the Daytona 500 in a race purported to be a set-up by many pundits. The rest of his season was forgettable even though he finished 8th in the points. He was consistently a second-tier car and never a threat to the first-tier. I hope he can see what Richard Petty and now Darrell Waltrip have done to their images by hanging on too long. I hope he'll devote more time to overseeing Little E's future.

Another casualty must be Geoff Bodine. Like DW he is also unemployed. Bodine was a true innovator in this business and deserves credit for his many contributions. But he should look for another job. I'm sure he can get a job from Hoosier tires.

We can't ignore Morgan Shepherd. He tried but he didn't have any success. He's one of racing's truly nice guys, but we all know where nice guys finish, even when he was lucky enough to make the field. One of the last independents, Dave Marcis, went home on Saturday most of the season. Rather sad.

Bill Elliott is pretty much an enigma; I have no idea why he is struggling so much. He endured some personal problems a few years back but has since come back with a new team but hasn't shown any of the fire he once personified. Rusty Wallace is becoming a master of excuses. He won his token race, as did Earnhardt, under dubious circumstances.

There's a changing of the guard - it's inevitable. Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Jeremy Mayfield, Bobby Labonte, young Dale Earnhardt, Jr , Casey Atwood and more are ready to make their various presences known. I hope the other drivers who've had their time in the limelight will graciously make room for them. Ain't gonna happen but I can put it on my list to Santa Claus.

Have comments or questions? E-mail: M.L. Morgan

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