Cup rookie/champion trivia

openwheelracer · Admin/Mod/Eyewitness

Cup rookie/champion trivia

The Mayor · Car Owner

dale earnhardt 79 80 driving the rod osterland 2 car was yellow and blue and crew cheif was jake elder or eldige something like that

Date: Fri Oct 28 17:34:16 2005

Right. Jake Elder started the '79 season with Earnhardt but that combination wouldn't last; Doug Richert - Greg Biffle's current NC crew chief - would replace Elder and Earnhardt would edge out Cale Yarborough's bid for a 4th consecutive Cup title by winning his first Cup title.

yankeeracer · YankeeRacer.com

Last post was by me. My fault, I forgot to sign in. Actually, Richard Petty broke Cale's bid for a 4th consecutive title in 1979.

It is ironic that Petty won his last title during Dale's rookie season and Ol' Ironhead would go on to win his first of seven the following year, thus preventing the King from savoring a simply-amazing 8 championships. Fifteen years later, Earnhardt dominates and wins the season finale at Atlanta only to fall short in the bid for his 8th title to the "Wonder Boy" Jeff Gordon. Neither North Carolina native would ever savor another Cup championship.

Jeff has done well for himself with 4 championships, and given current conditions ie: Chase format, etc., Gordon will probably lucky to get 6. 7 or even 8 isn't impossible - the man is only 33 years old.

Gordon won his first title at the age of 23 and his most recent at 29 years of age. Earnhardt won his first title at 29 and his last at 43. Petty won his first at 26 and his last when he was 41. With those numbers in mind, -and if the rumor that Gordon will retire at age 40 (2012 season for those of you that are keeping score at home) proves to be false - Gordon has an excellent chance at getting 7 championships.

Note this is all coming from a statistician and diehard Dale Earnhardt fan.

See you at Thompson and Waterford.

-- Edited by yankeeracer at 17:45, 2005-10-28

openwheelracer · Admin/Mod/Eyewitness

Mayor, you are correct. The late Dale Earnhardt Sr winning the rookie tittle in 1979, and going on to be champion in 1980, was the answer. Thanks for the history lesson as well Yankee.