Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 7, 1993 TAG: 9302070029
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
SON FUELS JARRETT'S INTEREST
Ned Jarrett watches stock car racing from a different perspective than any other telecaster.He isn't the only fan or only former NASCAR driver in the booth. He is, however, the only father with a son on the fast track below.
Jarrett, 60, was NASCAR's champion in 1961 and '65, when the Winston Cup series was the Grand National circuit. With 50 career victories and 36 poles in 351 races, Jarrett has been around the track a few times. Still, the RPMs of his emotions run high when his son, Dale, is behind the wheel of a Lumina for Joe Gibbs Racing.
"Doing the television and radio work is a special challenge for me," said Jarrett, who begins another NASCAR season today when CBS Sports airs the Busch Clash (noon, WDBJ) and the Daytona 500 next Sunday. "I get the same question every athlete gets. People ask if I miss driving the race car.
"I tell them no, because now I have a bigger challenge than when I was in the car, and having Dale on the track just adds to that challenge. He's my son and sure, I'm rooting for him, but I try to be a professional. I try to treat him, on the air, like I treat the other drivers.
"I do have people who accuse me of not saying enough about Dale and maybe that's true, because perhaps I fear I'll sound like a shill for him. If a situation occurs where he's gaining or losing ground, I try to make an extra effort not to show my emotion on the air one way or the other."
The younger Jarrett's only Winston Cup victory came in August 1991, at Michigan in the Wood Brothers Ford before he moved to the new NASCAR team financed by the Washington Redskins' coach. That race was televised by ESPN and the elder Jarrett was in the booth, as he will be for 15 Winston Cup shows on the cable network this year.
After Dale crossed the finish line, the noise Ned made into his microphone seemed to be a cross between a cheer and a sigh of relief. A camera turned into the booth caught Jarrett crying.
"That was a special day," the father said of the son's success. "I purposely didn't say a lot on that last lap. I'm not a highly emotional person. On the air, I'm not a Dick Vitale. Regardless, my emotions got to me. The tears were there.
"I won 50 races, but that day, that all went out the window among thrills when Dale took the checkered flag. His winning meant so much more to me than any of mine. I think any parent wants to see his children succeed."
There are times, however, when Jarrett is simply worried about his son's survival - like at last year's Daytona 500, where Dale's car was demolished in a wreck.
"If Dale is in an accident, certainly, then I'm concerned, and I worry until I hear something," Ned said. "I don't worry about him driving. Having been there myself, the style of racing that NASCAR is, with the talent and equipment that's out there, that's safer than driving on the street.
"In the work I'm in, I'm in a good position to find out quickly if he's OK. I guess if he were seriously hurt, I would ask to be excused."
Jarrett sees the Gibbs team as - "at the risk of sounding like a father boasting" - as one of several potential breakthrough stories in a year that is expected to be more competitive than any in NASCAR history. Jarrett also puts Rick Mast of Rockbridge Baths and Michael Waltrip among the drivers in that category.
"Dale, as a driver, learned a lot last year," Jarrett said. "In the last half of the season, he ran up front a lot. Although he didn't win, he was in what you'd call a finishing position. Maybe you don't finish in the top five, 10, but you learn what it takes to run up there with the big boys, with people he hadn't been running with in the past. And, that is a different experience."
The telecast analyst said technical changes in NASCAR rules and the move of former crew chief Gary Nelson to the chief inspector's position will make competition keener and bunch cars tighter on the track.
"Especially at Daytona and Talladega, the restrictor plates and the new design for spoilers [affixed to the rear of the trunk] will slow things down," Jarrett said. "The larger spoilers will probably mean you won't see many laps run at more than 190 miles per hour.
"With Gary Nelson in charge, the cars are going to be checked more and closer than in the past. He's created templates, guidelines, for just about every part in the car. People in the past who have known how to do just the right thing, not to cheat but maybe to cut corners, might not have that advantage now.
"The new technical standards will have a more lasting effect on the sport. There aren't any major innovations this year, but what you will see is more people conforming strictly to the rules than in the past. Drivers' skill will come more into play than the machine.
"That also does set up the potential for more accidents, because the cars will be equalized. When you make a pass, sometimes you have to take chances. Now, there will be more passing than ever. And once someone gets out of shape in a crowd, that can be bad news for a lot of people.
"The competition will only be good for the sport. NASCAR has learned that more competition means more fans."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING