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Tim Richmond vs Neil Bonnett: NASCAR’s 64 Greatest Drivers Match Up

by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

March 21, 2009 3:40 pm UTC 8 Comments

Two of the most colorful members of NASCAR’s Fifty Greatest Drivers face-off in the first round of the One and Done region of the NASCAR 64 Greatest Drivers Tournament at Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie.

Tim Richmond was a shooting star. I doubt that any driver won 13 times in as short a time and in as impressive a manner. Won a series high seven races in ’86 and finished third in the standings. Tim was also the Rookie-of-the-Year in the ’80 Indy 500. The Ohio native turned southern NASCAR a bit on its ear. Died of natural causes in ’89.

Neil Bonnett was one of the original Alabama Gang. He won consecutive Coca Cola 600s, had 156 top ten finishes and 18 wins in his 362 Cup Series starts. Also won two straight Budweiser Shootouts (the called the Busch Clash) at Daytona International Speedway.

More tough choices are coming your way as there are just too many great drivers here in round one. Leave us your vote in the comments.

Filed under: NASCAR, NASCAR 64 Greatest Driver Tourney, Sprint Cup Series

Tagged with: Alabama Gang, Budweiser Shootout, Busch Clash, Coca Cola 600, Indy 500, NASCAR 64 Greatest Drivers Tourney, NASCAR bracket tourney, Neil Bonnett, Tim Richmond

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Kyle Busch vs Darrell Waltrip: NASCAR’s 64 Greatest Drivers Match Up

by Charlie Turner

March 21, 2009 2:35 pm UTC 7 Comments

How about this one: Jaws against the Shrub. One of NASCAR’s all-time greats against a youngster that some think is the best on the Sprint Cup Series circuit today. A round One super match in the NASCAR 64 Greatest Drivers Tournament at Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie.

Kyle Busch. Some call him the Shrub or Rowdy. Many are less kind. But the kid can drive. He won 21 times in NASCAR’s top three divisions in 2008 alone. Think about that. In his Sprint Cup career, Kyle has 13 wins, 47 top fives and 72 top tens in 150 starts. Busch was Raybestos Rookie of the Year in ’05 and his best finish is 5th in series points.

Darrell Waltrip is a three-time Winston Cup Series champion – ’81, ’82 and ’85. In the 61 races run during ’81 and ’82, he won 24 times. Waltrip finished with 84 Cup victories ( tied for 3rd all-time) in 809 starts and qualified on the pole 59 times. And he made boogity, boogity, boogity famous. Or infamous.

I’m looking forward to this one. These two guys bring out more fire – and a fair amount of it is negative – in comments on this blog than any other subjects. Leave us your comments.

Filed under: Kyle Busch, NASCAR, NASCAR 64 Greatest Driver Tourney, Nascar Legends, The Waltrips

Tagged with: Darrell Waltrip, Jaws, NASCAR 64 Greatest Drivers Tourney, NASCAR bracket tourney, Rowdy, Winston Cup

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Buddy Baker vs Jack Ingram: NASCAR’s 64 Greatest Drivers Match Up

by Charlie Turner

March 21, 2009 1:27 pm UTC 7 Comments

The “Gentle Giant” goes against one of the Busch Series‘ all-time greats in a first round tilt in the NASCAR 64 Greatest Drivers Tournament at Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie.

Buddy Baker is 6-foot-6, hence the nickname above. He was also flat out fast and so aka “Leadfoot” stuck to him too. Baker had 19 wins and 38 poles, won the ’80 Daytona 500 and consecutive World 600s. He was a beast on the fastest tracks -before restrictor plates – and still holds the record for the fastest ever Daytona win. One of NASCAR 50 Greatest Drivers, he also did TV commentary after retiring from racing.

Jack Ingram won three consecutive Grand National Division championships (’72-’74). He then won two more in ’82 and ’85. His 31 Busch Series wins were the most ever until Mark Martin passed him in ’97. 29 of his 31 wins were on short tracks. Ingram is also one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers.

You pick between two of NASCAR’s best, with different backgrounds and careers. Tough. Leave your comment.

Filed under: Daytona 500, Mark Martin, NASCAR, NASCAR & the Media, NASCAR 64 Greatest Driver Tourney, Nascar Legends, Nationwide Series

Tagged with: Buddy Baker, Busch Series, Grand National division, Jack Ingram, NASCAR 64 Greatest Drivers Tourney, NASCAR bracket tourney, World 600

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Benny Parsons vs Joe Weatherly: NASCAR’s 64 Greatest Drivers Match Up

by Charlie Turner

March 20, 2009 3:18 pm UTC 6 Comments

A round one face-off in the On Pit Radio region pits two more of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest – one a two-time champ. The other – also a Cup Series Champion – one of NASCAR’s most beloved personalities. It’s the round of 64 in the NASCAR 64 Greatest Drivers Tournament at Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie.

Benny Parsons made people smile. Sure he was NASCAR’s top series champ in 1973 and won 21 times in a 526 start career. He was the first driver to qualify at over 200 mph – in ’82 at Talladega Super Speedway – and the 1975 Daytona 500 Champion. He nearly lost that ’73 championship after an early incident in the final race. But several teams stepped forward to help rebuild that car, so he could finish the race and beat Cale Yarborough by 67 points. Known as the “Taxi cab driver from Detroit”, he was a very popular TV commentator, until his death in 2006.

Joe Weatherly was one of NASCAR’s first “personalities” to attract fans in a big way. Known as “Little Joe” and “the Clown Prince of Stock Car Racing”, Weatherly actually made his name in modifieds. He won 101 races during ’52 and ’53 in the modified division. Joe drove in the convertible division from ’56-59 and won the first of two consecutive Cup Series titles in 1962. 25 career wins in 229 starts with 18 poles. Joe died as a result of a racing accident at Riverside in 1964.

Tough choice here, I think. What do you think, though – that’s what’s important? Who moves on to the round of 16? Leave us a comment with your answer.

Filed under: NASCAR, NASCAR & the Media, NASCAR 64 Greatest Driver Tourney

Tagged with: Benny Parsons, March Madness, NASCAR bracket tourney, the Clown prince of Stock Car Racing, the Taxi Cab Driver from Detroit

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Fireball Roberts vs Ricky Rudd: NASCAR’s 64 Greatest Drivers Match Up

by Charlie Turner

March 19, 2009 3:17 pm UTC 19 Comments

NASCAR’s first super star and its last truly successful owner-driver face off in a first round match up of our March Madness – NASCAR’s 64 Greatest Drivers Tournament at Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie.

Glen “Fireball” Roberts won 33 times in 207 starts. Roberts won the 1962 Daytona 500, had 93 top fives, 122 top tens and 32 career poles. He was nicknamed “Fireball” because he was a hard-throwing high school pitcher. Roberts died after an accident in the 1964 Coca-Cola 600.

Ricky Rudd drove for many of NASCAR’s legendary owners: Richard Childress, Bud Moore, Rick Hendrick, Robert Yates and the Wood Brothers. He hold the record for most consecutive starts, 788. Rudd had 23 wins, including the 1997 Brickyard 400, 29 poles and was runner up for the 1991 Cup Series Championship.

Tell us who you like in this showdown. Leave a comment. Which one of these great drivers – both selected members of NASCAR’s 50 greatest - will move on to the round of 32?

Filed under: Bench Racing Contests, Daytona 500, NASCAR, NASCAR 64 Greatest Driver Tourney, Nascar Legends, Richard Childress Racing, Robert Yates Racing

Tagged with: Bud Moore, Coca Cola 600, Fireball Roberts, March Madness, NASCAR bracket tourney, NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers, Ricky Rudd, twitter

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