Thursday, October 18, 2007

A Tale of Two Racing Legends

The comparisons between Dale Earnhardt and John Force are almost the same in that they both ave impacted their respected racing organizations they have participated in. Nascar and the NHRA. Both drivers started with nothing in the way of money and cars and financing but still raced for the fun of it, til they finally got noticed and landed big money deals. Through the years both were instrumental in creating safety improvements thru their respective organizations via various accidents and resulting research that follows. Although Dale Earnhardt is no longer with us due to his fatal accident at daytona a few years ago many safety improvements followed aftwards. (see my tribute here). Although it is sad that he is no longer with us his legacy lives on with the fans and me as well as I still have and buy Dale Earnhardt memorabilia. And recently John Force's accident in Dallas has instituted new safety upgrades on his team cars but you can bet that NHRA will institute them into other teamcars as well as in the past. After Eric Medlen's untimely passing earlier this year John Force racing added some safety improvements to their cars as well especially in the headres area for the driver.
Both drivers also have their kids following their footsteps as Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had great success in NASCAR and is just as popular as his father ever was and John Forces daughters all are rcing in NHRA competition with Ashley running Funny Cars. Their kids having the fathers that they do are just as popular as their fathers just look at Ashley forces pits and see the big crowds hanging around there.
And finally both drivers and their kids never forgot who they are or where they came from as they are all fan favorites and cater to the blue collar crowds as they can relate to them as John and Dale both came from Blue collar environments themselves. That is waht makes them so popular. Even after Dale's passing years later how many #3 stickers do you see on the back windows of cars? I know I have one! There are lots of them. And when you see John Force go down the track and blow up,catch on fire destroy a multi dollar car and lose the race and when he comes back down the return road and jump out of his chase vehicle to greet the fans with his crew taking a trashed race car back to the pits, well that is as classy as it gets!


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