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Interesting history behind NASCAR's best nicknames
By
Raygan Swan, NASCAR.COM - March 14, 2008 - 03:02 PM EDT
Love them or hate them, personalities of the
NASCAR drivers are constantly a topic of conversation. A driver's color and candor is what draws fans near, or in some cases, turns them away.
And if the persona is strong enough, said driver is bound to pick up some type of moniker, nickname or perhaps a term of endearment.
In
California, I cracked up when I saw
Kyle Busch's significant other wearing a
T-shirt with his semi-new nickname "
Rowdy" on the back.
It made me giggle and wonder, "Where do all these nicknames actually come from?"
Their personalities dictate the labels, sure, but there's a story behind most and signs to back them up.
More about the "signs" later ...
Early in his career,
Busch was dubbed "
Shrub" for his younger brother status to
Kurt Busch; a play on words if you will. Creative, yes, but fitting for his driving style?
No.
His current name, "
Rowdy Busch," fits and is perfect for the same driver who won the inaugural new car race this time last season at Bristol Motor Speedway and then said it "
sucked."
The story behind the new name dates back three seasons when
Busch drove for
Billy Ballew Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series.
But first you need to know that in
1989 the late Bobby Hamilton drove a replicated car from the film
Days of Thunder in which he qualified fifth in the
Auto Works 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. The car was the
No. 51 Exxon-sponsored machine, portrayed in the movie as the car driven by character
Rowdy Burns.
Fast forward to
2006 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Busch drove a throwback paint scheme replicating the car
Hamilton drove in support of
Hamilton who was undergoing cancer treatment. The name on top of the door on
Busch's truck read "
Rowdy Busch" and he won the race.
Busch has kept the paint scheme, uniform design, and
No. 51 for many of his Truck races and short-track efforts to pay homage to
Hamilton. He's found great success in that truck and the nickname has stuck. People are now using it outside of the Truck races and he prefers this nickname over any others handed to him.
By the way, synonymous with "
Rowdy" is unruly, disorderly and boisterous.
Kyle Busch? Never!
As for
Tony Stewart, everything but his nickname has been used to describe the driver, which most people know as "
Smoke." But the story behind it? The name was born back in
Stewart's Sprint Car days, 1991, when he was running
USAC.
"I wasn't very good about not slipping the right-rear tire, initially,"
Stewart said. "So it started as '
Smoker,' then it got shortened to '
Smoke.' Then when I got in the [
Indy Racing League] it was
'Smoke' because one of the guys on the crew who was my roommate, and knew the nickname, carried it over to the Indy car team. But then when I started blowing engines,
'Smoke' really stuck. I've had it ever since."
So for all the new
NASCAR fans, contrary to public opinion, his nickname is not cantankerous, tumultuous or obstinate. But I will point out that
Stewart is a
Taurus; ferocious, stubborn and determined.
Here's more about the signs, astrological signs that is.
Taurus people are very hard working and love to be given flowers as a mark of thanks.
Hmmm, Stewart, likes flowers? Also, according to his horoscope this week,
Stewart can verbalize and articulate his ideas very well at this time. That explains why he was able to articulate his thoughts so succinctly on the subject of
Goodyear's tire in Atlanta.
Interesting,
Kyle Busch's astrological sign is
Taurus as well.
On the other end of the spectrum we have Kevin "Happy" Harvick.
Harvick, a Sagittarius, got his nickname in
1999 during his rookie season in the
Nationwide Series when he used to walk around all the time with a big smile on his face. I'm unsure of who said it first, though to be honest, what rookie isn't a little smiley in their first year. They haven't been in the series long enough to be jaded or disillusioned yet.
Is "
Happy" a fitting moniker for
Harvick now? Maybe so, but it's a bit bland.
Harvick has shown plenty of times that he can get scrappy with the best of them: The face off with
Juan Montoya last season at
Watkins Glen International, the 2002 season when he wanted to give
Greg Biffle a good beat down at
Bristol Motor Speedway -- if you haven't seen it in a while, visit
You Tube.
I will say that
Sagittarians are said to be cheerful and friendly beings although
Greek Mythology says they historically are adventurous, brave, and wise but also give into brawling and uncivilized behavior.
Matt Kenseth is occasionally referred to as "
Matt the Bratt," unfairly in my opinion but what I was able to learn is that it came from his Late Model days. The track announcers called him that because he was only
16.
The persona I've seen displayed by
Kenseth, much like his wife,
Katie, is peaceful, which is why it makes sense that he is a
Pisces.
Pisces is a sensitive sign, both sensitive to criticism and sensitive to others' feelings. Easily touched by human suffering, at least in theory,
Pisces wouldn't hurt a fly.
They believe in people, are deeply hurt by compassionless human behavior.
Maybe
Hendrick Motorsports driver
Jeff Gordon and
Kenseth's teammate
Carl Edwards will take that into consideration next time they try to beat the crap out of him.
And speaking of
Carl, "Cousin Carl" is an unfortunate nickname but was given to him by his cousin,
Ken Schrader, because of his good-natured, homespun personality. I agree unless, as mentioned before, you cross the "
beast."
Edwards is a Leo and symbolizes the lion, "King of the Beast."
Leos are noble but more interesting where Edwards is concerned: The worst thing you can do to a Leo is accuse them of bad intentions. And displaying behavior that makes a Leo think you don't appreciate him or her runs a close second. These happy, jovial people become mighty hurt when others don't see them for their noble intentions.
Awfully accurate description for
Edwards after his team was penalized and accused of cheating after their victory in Las Vegas.
Now one nickname coming right out of left field is the one
Dario Franchitti was recently given at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.
His
Chip Ganassi crew has affectionately dubbed him "
Dash Riprock, International Playboy" a character from the classic television sitcom The
Beverly Hillbillies. Dash was a movie star who frequented the backwoods family which moved to
California after striking oil.
A good sport,
Franchitti rolls with it. He knows
NASCAR doesn't tolerate
Hollywood attitudes and doesn't care if his wife is
Ashley Judd. Much to my surprise, the
Scotsman is a Taurus. I don't see it but maybe it's because he's minding his P's and Q's as a rookie in American stock-car racing.
Franchitti and the other drivers mentioned aren't the only ones with nicknames, obviously, but I can't sit here and play
Miss Cleo all day long.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.