NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ON SPEED™ STILL BOASTS A FEW 'ROUGHKINS' WHILE FACE OF DRIVERS CONTINUES TO CHANGE

Darrell Waltrip: 'You can be different and get attention and a chance, but if you don't perform, you will not last.'

Despain: 'Many of the original NASCAR drivers were young guys just home from World War II, looking for excitement.  Those were tough cats.'

One wore a cowboy hat and smoked a cigarette.  The other donned a pair of turquoise shoes and painted his toenails blue. 

Such are the drastic disparities between the iconic "Marlboro Man," to whom several legendary NASCAR drivers could be compared, and Scott Speed, the eccentric and winning newcomer who will trade paint in Saturday's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Talladega (4 p.m. ET on SPEED; NCTS Setup with Krista Voda at 3:30 p.m. ET).

No two images could be further apart than the "old school," rough-around-the-edges NASCAR driver of years past and the younger, hipper generation of wheelmen, the "changing face of NASCAR." With apologies to R.J. Reynolds and its 33-year Winston sponsorship of the Cup Series, the "Marlboro Man," cornerstone of Phillip Morris' ad campaign, exuded an air of autonomy, toughness and rebellion, much as legendary drivers Curtis Turner, Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and others. 

Enter Speed (won June NCTS race at Dover), Marc Davis (18-year-old African-American who finished 16th in NCTS debut at Gateway), Joey Logano (youngest driver ever to win in NASCAR), Chrissy Wallace (20-year-old female with four NCTS starts) and others who comprise a new era, a fresh face behind the helmet.  Nowadays, rugged and unrefined drivers are merely a character in NASCAR folklore.
 
"Stock car drivers as 'tough guys' clearly was a big part of the appeal of the sport," said Dave Despain, host of Wind Tunnel.  "Dale Earnhardt was the embodiment of that, and his popularity expanded that image to a lot more people, but it started long before him.  Many of the original NASCAR drivers were young guys just home from World War II, looking for excitement.  Those were tough cats." 
 
The movement started years ago when the sanctioning body cast its net toward mainstream America.

"NASCAR took us down this road," said Darrell Waltrip, former championship driver and NASCAR analyst for FOX Sports and SPEED.  "They wanted to go mainstream and take this sport from a southeastern regional sport to a national sport, and they wanted young guys who were hip; drivers and young men who had wine with dinner, not wine for dinner.  That's a huge change.  They made the decision a few years ago and did it with entertainment at the track and the awards banquet in New York."

While most of the "roughkins" have disappeared, possibly forever, the few stragglers can be found in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

"Think of the Truck Series as a salad bowl rather than a melting pot," said Tom Jensen, Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and veteran NASCAR journalist.  "Individual personalities stand out and add distinct flavors to the personality mix, rather than blending together in a bland and flavorless whole. You can be an older, 'Marlboro Man' type and fit in there, or a young gun on the way up. Each personality brings something different to the battle."

Along with NASCAR drivers' images, the way in which they climb the ranks has also changed. 

"In my time, very few people took a chance on an unknown," Waltrip said.  "You had to have experience and certain credentials - something more than you drove a go-kart or a Legends car. Now, owners are not so willing to go with the established. They're more willing to go with the unknown.  Jeff Gordon is the guy who created that.  When he came into the sport in 1992, it was like, 'What has this kid ever done?'  He started this whole trend and it has continued to change the face of NASCAR."

The dirt-under-the-nails breed of driver is not completely lost to extinction, though, and often can be found in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

"There are plenty of rugged guys in the Truck Series mix - men like Rick Crawford, Mike Skinner, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Jack Sprague," Jensen said.  "All these guys are hard-nosed racers who aren't afraid to bang a little sheetmetal on Saturday night, but still adhere to an old-school code of racing hard, but racing clean."

"Tony Stewart is kind of obvious (as a "tough guy")," Waltrip said.  "Tony does it more than anyone else.  Kevin Harvick is also a little bit of a throwback and Clint Bowyer is somewhat.  They have that old 'stock car look' and still wear their blue jeans, t-shirts and ball caps, and maybe have a cold beer every now and then.  But there are no more Sterling Marlins or Jimmy Spencers or guys like I knew."

With survival in the sport contingent on sponsors with deep pockets, those bankrolling the teams can greatly influence their on-track representative, creating personas in stark contrast to those of decades past.

"Drivers' personalities too often seem to have been shaped by the sponsors," Despain said.  "It's harder and harder to know what the heroes are really like because most of what they say sounds suspiciously like it came from the PR handler's phrase book.  At risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, I liked it better when they weren't quite so polished."

In addition to the tidy and cultured wheelman look worn so well by Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, some drivers' car know-how has changed over the years, as well.
 
"Years ago, a driver had to know and understand how to make a car work - which springs, swaybar and shocks to use," Waltrip said.  "A driver today doesn't have to have that knowledge.  They have so much technology and things they can do with these cars that the driver isn't even involved in all that.  They are really looking for someone to get in the car and drive it as fast as it will go."

While a younger, clean-cut driver may initially entice sponsors, longevity behind the wheel requires more than handsome and flashy looks.  It demands on-track performance.

"Some of these guys show up and yeah, they're different and have had success other places," Waltrip said. "But back when Juan Pablo Montoya, Patrick Carpentier, Jacques Villeneuve, A.J. Allmendinger, Dario Franchitti and these guys from open wheel racing showed up, we were all asking 'what is going on in our sport?' But where are they now?

"The one thing that has not changed, and you can take it to the bank year-in and year-out, is you have to perform," Waltrip continued.  "You can be different.  You can be male, female, Hispanic, black, white or whatever.  You can be different and get attention and a chance, but if you don't perform, you will not last."

SPEED, now in nearly 78 million homes in North America, is the exclusive home of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, Gatorade Duel at Daytona, NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The only network delivering  live, at-track programming all season long, SPEED offers the definitive pre- and post-race NASCAR Sprint Cup Series programs - NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane, as well as other popular NASCAR programs including Trackside Live, Tradin' Paint, NASCAR Performance, NASCAR Live!, This Week in NASCAR, NCTS Setup,  Go or Go Home and The Chase is On.