| | The first six races of the 2000 Winston Cup season have produced six different winners. They have also produced plenty of memorable moments, starting with the defending series champion Dale Jarrett on top of the world in Daytona.
A week later at Rockingham, Bobby Labonte, second in the points last season, won the second race of the season. Then it was off to Las Vegas where Jeff Burton beat the weather and the rest of the field. And, just like Jarrett in Daytona, he won a million bucks for one lucky fan.
Then it was off to Atlanta, and Dale Earnhardt was back in Victory Lane. Two weeks ago, at Darlington, came one of the most popular wins in years, as Ward Burton captured his second career Winston Cup win in convincing fashion. And last Sunday, the Bristol Blaster, Rusty Wallace, won his 50th race.
|  | | A year ago, Scott Pruett was in CART. Now, he's struggling as a 40-year-old 'rookie' in Winston Cup. |
These six guys are all off to strong starts, despite some individual setbacks in the first six races. Each are also experienced veterans.
Jarrett, Earnhardt and Wallace are all past Winston Cup champions. Labonte was second in points last year, while Ward is second in points this year. And Jeff Burton is expected to challenge for the championship for years to come.
These six guys know all about winning. They also know all about being young. And when you are young, you tend to lose more than win. And frustration can set in at an early age when trying to build a team in the Winston Cup Series.
Earnhardt is the exception, of course. He had a sensational rookie year, even winning a race. Earnhardt has 75 career wins, but he's also had 572 starts when he didn't win!
Jarrett made 24 starts in 1987 without any top-five finishes. He had a pair of top-10s -- but 11 DNF's. In 1984, Wallace ran 30 races, with four top-10s, and nine DNF's. The next year, he had 12 DNF's in 28 starts.
Sure, these drivers have all raced on and achieved great success. So, why point out the struggles to get up to speed at the start of these outstanding careers?
Because I'm hoping Scott Pruett reads this column. Take heart Scott, it wasn't easy for the best in Winston Cup either. We all know it hasn't been easy for you, at least so far this season.
"They should be selling tickets on this roller coaster ride," Pruett said at Darlington. "It's been difficult. We've had our ups and downs.
"We came out of the box at Daytona real well. Then we went to Rockingham, and didn't make the race. Went to Vegas, qualified on the front row, didn't have a good race car. Went to Atlanta, qualified pretty decent, had a decent race going, then the car just got away from me. And so, it's been up and down."
Over his racing career, Scott Pruett has tried a variety of different seats, and he has been successful in all of them. Trans-Am. IMSA. IROC. CART. This year, at the age of 40, Pruett is trying a new seat in a new series where the change has been rough, and the competition has been tough.
To most it would seem to be an overwhelming challenge. To Pruett, it is a welcomed challenge, the fulfillment of a frightful dream, that has bordered on becoming a nightmare. But Scott knew what was waiting down the road.
"Exactly, I mean this is tough. This is tough racing," Pruett said. "And I didn't discount the fact that it wasn't going to be tough coming in. I mean a lot of these tracks I've never been to, I've never run on before. I haven't run in any cars like these before. We knew it was going to be difficult.
"We're the new team, no teammate. There is a tough set of circumstances here. But we're in it for the long run. We know we have some hurdles, some pretty big hurdles to get over. And we're just going to take them one at a time."
The man in charge of the Tide operation isn't panicking. Cal Wells came into Winston Cup with his eyes wide open and knew the challenges awaiting his race team.
"Some people may look at our performance in the first part season and say, 'Well gee, we need to replace the crew chief or the driver or the owner or the color of the paint job or whatever it happens to be.' Ultimately, what we need to do is more clearly understand our challenges," Wells said.
"We're real weak. We've got a rookie guy, who has never driven (at these tracks), never seen these places. We've got a rookie car owner, some experienced people on the team. But, again, they're guys who are learning how to work with someone who has never driven before. Most of them have worked with veterans at one level or another. So it's going take a day or two to work that out.
"It's not a matter of making changes, it's a matter of continuing to evolve our processes -- and they worked well on the CART side. They've worked extremely well on off-road. So I've got a lot of confidence in the direction we're heading."
In the first six races this season, Pruett failed to qualify for Rockingham, Darlington and Bristol. Three of the most aggravating classes in his crash course on Winston Cup racing.
"There are a couple of those tracks that are a rhythm place. They're an experience place," Pruett said. "You don't get a lot of time as a new driver at those tracks because a set of sticker (new) tires is only good for a couple of laps, then they drop off a half second, then they drop off more after that. So it's one of those things that's difficult and you have to do a lot of perceiving exactly where you want your car."
Pruett debuted with solid runs in Daytona -- 15th in the Busch race and 19th in the 500. But since then he has made just two races, Las Vegas and Atlanta, and completed a total of just 320 laps. That's not much time to learn the tracks or learn the car.
"It's been up and down and that's one thing that we knew coming in," said Pruett.
"The Tide people knew that, Cal knew it. To date, I now have the sum total of a half race at Vegas because it got rained out, and about a half a race at Atlanta. So I have about one race under my belt."
Part of the problem facing the Tide team is Pruett's inability to pinpoint exactly what's wrong with his Ford Taurus. Pruett can tell his crew chief Doug Richert what he's feeling, but pointing the mechanics in the right direction to fix a problem is tricky.
"Being in Indy cars for 10, 11 years, I had a good idea what area to focus on; was it spring, was it shock, was it bar, was it roll-center, camber, caster. I could give them some ideas of which way to focus," Pruett said. "And here I don't. I can't, and when we're kind of not on the mark of where we want to be it's difficult to say what we need to get there."
"It's going to take a while for every thing to come together the way I'd like for it to," Wells said. "I've got the patience to do that, both Tide and McDonald's do also. They understood going in that they we're going to bring a lot of very positive assets with Scott and with the team and all the noise about what we're doing. But we weren't necessarily going to bring on-track performance right away."
Pruett started winning professional races in 1985, now he's trying to win another race, against the competition and against the calendar. He turned 40 last weekend. That's young for a driver, that's young for you and me, but that's old for a "rookie."
The combination of age and adrenaline can be a volatile mixture, or a motivating fuel.
"The nature of who we are, is to achieve, to be competitive, to run up front and win races," Pruett said. "So when you're not doing that, it doesn't make any difference if you're 25, 35, or 45. The pressure of performing is always there."
Pruett brings charisma and commitment to the Winston Cup garage, but that doesn't earn you a spot in the starting field. This week, and every week after it, is another lesson in learning about the cars, the tracks and the way of life in the Winston Cup series.
Wells is sailing on a risky adventure in some pretty rough water. Hopefully, Wells and Pruett can both survive the turbulent seas, keeping their heads above water, until the Tide finally comes in. | |
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