Maybe Randy Moss Might Make It After All
Written by Ray Champagne · July 30, 2008
I’ll admit it, I used to hate Randy Moss. There is something about narcissistic pro athletes that really bugs me. The sense of self entitlement, the smugness, the ego, it all drives me completely nuts. In the past, Randy Moss was the definition of the classic pro sports athlete.
Fast forward to the present. Randy Moss joins the New England Patriots, the team that flat-out refuses to let one player embody a whole team’s persona, the team that will humble even the most self-involved athlete. It seems that he becomes the man that everyone can get on board backing. He becomes a team player, and at the very least leaves the tantrums that defined his past off the field. He helps lead his team to the Superbowl, a team that, even though it still lost out on a 19-0 season, will go down as one of the most successful teams to ever take the NFL field. Truly a turnaround.
Where am I going with this, you may ask? “This is a damn racing blog, leave the stick and ball sports to people who care!”. I can hear you yelling now. Well, calm down, I’m getting there.
There have been quite a few pro athletes who have tried to start NASCAR teams without a lick of experience who have failed in the past. A few standouts - Dan Marino, Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman to name a few. I had no doubt in my mind that Randy Moss, when he announced his plans to purchase a 50% interest in Morgan-Dollar Motorsports’ NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team, would very soon follow down his peer’s failure-laden path. It seemed natural.
Today it was reported on ESPN.com that Jimmie Johnson has signed on to drive Moss’ truck team at Bristol Motor Speedway. I instantly changed my tune. If there is one thing that can be a catalyst to transform an “also-ran” team to a win contender, it’s an experienced driver. In the smaller series, the difference between a top 10 team and a bottom 30 team can be that knowledge and insight an experienced wheelman can bring to a crew chief and team engineer.
If the #48 Cup driver stays with that team, even periodically, maybe, just maybe, Moss Motorsports can avoid the bleak future that has plagued so many owner/athletes in the past. As a newly converted Randy Moss fan, I sure hope so.
Comments
8 Responses to “Maybe Randy Moss Might Make It After All”
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
[...] more at Fastmachines.com [...]
This is just an attempt by chevrolet to give some credibility to their brand of truck and by NASCAR to be positive for someone BLACK involved with the sport after the 250M lawsuit they have pending for not treating a BLACK official better. Does any REMEMBER the REBEL 400 or the confederate flag???
Gotta love the conspiracy theorists. You certainly do keep our sport interesting.
No PC here please. Sadly chuck s. is right. Let’s be honest. Don’t throw “conspiracy” out there to defend the naive view you portend to inject. I’m in motorsports and understand the problems Nascar has with their diversity programs and therefore the perception and image Nascar fights. The facts are Nascar has the worst diversity base in all of motorsports, period. This won’t go away in a short while because it took a long while to get here. Randy Moss will get as much help as Nascar can muster so Johnson jumping in to “help” isn’t just Moss’ visibility and persona. This situation has to be attacked from the bottom up and when you go to the short tracks of this country, see how many people are of color or for that matter, women - yea, not too many. I too have not been a Randy Moss fan but let’s hope something can be made of his involvement - because hope is all you have here.
I’m honestly not here to “portend to inject” anything. When someone comments on a blog posting in the manner that he (Chuck) did, with no real evidence, I would call that conspiracy theory. What you did was say that “you are in racing” but never really said how or where you got your information, so I’d say you’re in the same theory boat, albeit maybe with a little less conspirist spin. Where do you get this information? Cite your sources and I’ll take back the conspiracy label. Until then, the theories that you are throwing out there are just that, theories.
I’ll admit that NASCAR hasn’t done the best in the race relations department, but I refuse to wildly accuse them of tampering and helping out the token black man. It’s a lot more sensitive subject than “NASCAR wants Kyle to win” but it still stems from the same non-factual based evidence.
Randy Moss is in NASCAR because he had enough money to buy part of a team; period. Is a side benefit of that, that the possibility exists for NASCAR to improve their reputation? Absolutely it is, and of course NASCAR is going to take any shot they can get at improving their image. That’s not a conspiracy, that’s just good, smart business. But, in the end, if Randy Moss’ team succeeds it will be cause they’ve earned it, simple as that. If you want to call me Pollyanna go ahead, but I just think that things are always much simpler than we try to make them out to be. I; like Ray, think that Moss can succeed, because he’s doing something that many athletes that get into NASCAR don’t do, he’s starting small and trying to build up. Once again, that’s smart business. This marriage can be a win-win for both sides.
Ha! Personally, I could care less what color anyone is and I’m not sure anyone here has it completely right so I’ll throw more fuel on the fire. I’ve been around racing for a long long time and anectdotally, I’d agree Nascar does not have a diverse base. At all levels, I’ve been to many Nascar races, USAC, drag racing, open wheel and sports cars and except for maybe drag racing, all of them could work on their diversity more.
I’m retired now but I know that a year or so ago, stats came out from Scarborough Research saying the NHRA had nearly 30% more hispanics and 10% more African Americans than Nascar.
BTW, the bigger news than Moss was what you didn’t mention and that’s the fact Brad Daugherty (NBA Allstar) now owns a Cup team. And had already owned both a truck and Busch team. And if you don’t think Nascar is helping then maybe you don’t believe they have diversity programs - but they do and it ’s called “Drive for Diversity”.
Now why would they have a diversity program if they didn’t have a problem? And the diversity program covers drivers, crew members and owners. They’ve been at it for some years now and have produced a grand total of 0 for their three divisions so you’d have to wonder just how hard they’re working at it and how much money is actually being spent.
Nascar has been quoted as saying they are the “whitest sport in the country” but are working on improving that. Then again currently, the huge suit by a black lady regarding racism with Nascar officals shows the problem is big and very real. The problem is top to bottom and Randy Moss, Brad Daugherty et al, are only small bandages on a gaping wound.
A key item; I’m for as many fans in motorsports as possible, period.
Now, Will kind of made some of my points for me but if you need down and dirty facts, I could find them for you but then, I get the idea that you wouldn’t believe it anyway, so really nothing I say, will make a difference. If you really to believe everything is coming up roses with this Moss deal or any other diversity campaign, and that Nascar really isn’t as bad as we state with our “conspiracies”, those rose colored glasses are working well, and then yes, you are “refusing” to look at this with open eyes. Nascar, conveniently for you, does not release diversity figures - just ask any major minority organization. Oops, oh you need facts; so check out Association for Diversity in Motorsports, Diversity Inc., or articles in the NY Times and many more places, if you’d just take your head out of the sand. I can’t defend nor should you, an organization that refuses to let anyone know how much money they’re putting into a diversity plan yet, expounds on how much their doing - and as Will states, zero results. It’s wildly known in marketing circles that one of the biggest problems about Nascar is Joe Sixpack and until they can fix their interior problems (such as the $225million racism suit), none of this other window dressing will matter.
Let’s be honest about the situation; Nascar must grow from inside out but until that time, diversity is just a word.