There are more than enough "retired" racers who could be wooed behind the wheel for a circuit mirroring the PGA's haven for the over-50 set. Yet there is no "senior tour" for motorsports legends.
"If there was ever anything with success written on it, this would be it," said Lowe's Motor Speedway President H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, perhaps NASCAR's most innovative race promoter. "Because people love to see these guys race, and there's a bunch of guys who could still get in race cars. Harry Gant, Buddy Baker, Cale Yarborough . . . there's a bunch that would like to get back in one."No surprise Humpy Wheeler is behind this idea, master showman that he is. As can be expected there are opinions of both sides of the issue.
In Favor
Darrel Waltrip "I'd love it!" he said. "They could pay about a million dollars to win. That's been kicked around for years, but no one has ever had the resources to do it."
Against
Buddy Baker "In golf, if you go out of bounds and don't like what's out there, you say, 'I'm not going after it,'" Baker said. "In racing, you go out of bounds, it's ugly. There's quite a bit of difference in hitting a ball and a wall wrong."
Larry McReynolds Golf's much easier to play as your bones get older," Fox analyst Larry McReynolds said. "Racing is such a physically demanding sport. It wouldn't be exactly like having a seniors football league. But other than the contact, it probably wouldn't be far from it."
Source: Richmond Times Dispatch
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