Thursday, Dec. 18, 2003 | 9:26 a.m.
Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.
While there is a Las Vegas, N.M. (keep going north at Santa Fe), our sometimes fair city doesn't yet have a namesake in North Carolina -- although you wouldn't know it based on what has been happening on the NASCAR Nextel Cup circuit.
Provided Roger Penske gets around to naming Brendan Gaughan as his third driver while the combustible engine is still in vogue, there will be three Las Vegans on the starting grid at some of NASCAR's biggest races next season.
On any given Sunday there are only 43 men -- or 42 and Shawna Robinson, in the years she insists on getting in the way -- in the entire world who qualify to drive a 200-mph billboard in NASCAR's premier division. So I find this development more mind-boggling than Jimmy Spencer's driving line at Watkins Glen.
With Gaughan expected to join Kurt Busch as a Nextel Cup full-timer next season and "The Shrub," Kurt's precocious kid brother Kyle, having signed to drive one of Rick Hendrick's Chevrolets in six races despite being just 18, Las Vegas may be on the verge of becoming as well known as Kannapolis or Concord or one of those other stops along Tobacco Road that are synonymous with America's most popular form of motor sport.
As comedian Jeff Foxworthy would say, you might be a redneck if you drive a stock car for a living. But Busch, Busch and Gaughan are proof that these days, you might not.
Just getting there from here is a huge accomplishment, like lining up the 7s on a McCarran slot machine. But driving a race car is a cutthroat business, and don't be surprised if the Las Vegans will have bulls-eyes on their Adam's apples.
For starters, "y'all" isn't part of their vocabulary, although it shouldn't be long before Kurt Busch starts pronouncing "oil" without the "i," given he will be starting his fourth full year of left-hand turns in 2004. So they will be considered outsiders. At best.
Just look at what has happened to Kurt Busch, the original Fast and Furious guy. On his way to becoming the next Jeff Gordon, Busch made the mistake -- at least in the eyes' of NASCAR's fickle fans -- of getting on Spencer's bad side, when nobody thought Not-So-Slim Jim had a good one.
Until Busch appeared in his mirrors, Spencer, who has more reckless driving convictions than Leon Spinks, was almost universally despised. Now, in the daytime drama that is NASCAR, Spencer has become a sympathetic figure, while Busch is about as popular as a wine cooler in the infield.
If you thought managing the Yankees was the toughest job in sports, try selling T-shirts out of Busch's souvenir trailer.
Expect Kyle Busch to be painted with the same brush, just because he's Kurt's kin. While that hardly seems fair, why does the restrictor plate under Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s hood always seem to have bigger openings than the ones in the other cars? Because in NASCAR, that's just the way it is.
Gaughan might get a little grace period, until fans look him up in the media guide and discover that his old man and Roger Penske have more in common than their love of racing. Then, Gaughan probably will be perceived as the spoiled rich kid whose daddy bought him a ride.
Not true.
Gaughan spent the last two seasons being educated in the Craftsman Truck Series. Before that, he got a feel for the big stockers while barnstorming the NASCAR Winston West circuit, winning two points championships.
There are worse fates -- I think -- than spending Saturday night in Bakersfield driving around in circles. But it's not as if Gaughan hasn't paid his dues.
Still, I give him about six laps in his Twin 125 at Daytona before he and Tony Stewart are swapping paint swatches.
When you throw in that in Jack Roush, Roger Penske and Rick Hendrick, Las Vegas' three NASCAR amigos have aligned themselves with three of the very best car owners in the business, the pressure on them to succeed will be immense.
But no more immense than the potential they've shown in getting this far. Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4088.
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