Instructions from a racing legend

Thursday, Feb. 12, 2004 | 10:24 a.m.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- During his 34-year career as a driver in NASCAR's premier division, Buddy Baker won 46 races, including the 1980 Daytona 500, and raced against all of the legends of the sport.

Since his retirement at the end of the 1992 season, Baker has mentored many aspiring drivers through the Buck Baker Racing School and served as a driver coach for Ryan Newman early in Newman's career.

Although Newman has proven to be Baker's most successful protege, Baker said he believes Brendan Gaughan has what it takes to become a star in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. Baker has been hired by team co-owner Roger Penske to serve as a "driver coach" during Gaughan's rookie season in the series.

"He's going to be a great driver," Baker said matter-of-factly after watching Gaughan practice for Sunday's Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

"Normally, I don't say that until I see someone run a full season but he just has a lot of natural talent."

Baker, who raced from 1959 to 1992 and was named one of NASCAR's "50 Greatest Drivers," didn't heap such praise on Newman until after he had won the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award in 2002. Last year, in his second season, Newman led the series with eight victories and 11 poles.

Baker said Gaughan, a Las Vegas native, reminds him a lot of Newman and fellow Penske Racing driver Rusty Wallace -- who has 54 career victories and a series championship.

"I look at Brendan and I see a little bit of a young Rusty Wallace in his enthusiasm, his go-getter attitude," Baker said. "I also see a little bit of Ryan Newman -- because he thinks a lot like Ryan. Even though (Gaughan's) talking fast, he's thinking the whole time."

Not only does Gaughan have a tendency to talk fast, he has proven he can drive fast, as well.

During one of Gaughan's first tests with Penske-Jasper Racing, at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, Baker took Gaughan around the 1-mile oval in a rental car to show him the preferred line to use to navigate the track.

Once they pulled into the pits, Baker encouraged Gaughan to take Wallace's racecar out for a few laps.

"I show him the line around the racetrack and he goes out and he runs the same speed as Rusty Wallace in Rusty's car," Baker said. "You're talking about a guy (Wallace) who has been there and done that on that track."

In addition to being impressed with Gaughan's talent, Baker said he is equally taken by his passion for racing.

"How many people drive racecars because they enjoy it?" Baker said. "Most of them are after the money and that's it. That's the least of Brendan's concerns -- not that he wouldn't enjoy being wealthier -- but it's not a do-or-die situation for him; he does it because he loves the sport and that'll make him even that much better.

"In hard situations, I think he'll think his way through where a guy who's desperate would make mistakes."

Despite their age difference, Baker, 63, said he enjoys being around Gaughan, 28, because of that passion.

"He has so much energy and it's all directed toward being better at what he does," Baker said. "He's definitely running on full current.

"He's a lot of fun to be around and it won't be very long before he makes his presence known around here -- just like he did in the Truck Series."

All it will take, Baker said, is a little polishing.

"When you read all the things he has been involved in and how many championships and how many different divisions he has driven in, you automatically understand that you're not dealing with a rookie; you've got a guy here who has been around the block already," Baker said.

"All we've got to do is take that diamond and make sure it has the shine it needs."