Motorsports

Fuzzy math? Go figure it

NASCAR's numerology craze didn't start with Earnhardt Jr.

By BRANT JAMES, Times Staff Writer
Published September 22, 2007

Michael Jordan was 23.

Johnny Unitas was 19.

Ted Williams was 9.

Their uniform numbers are etched onto the recollections of generations who fawned over their careers. But those digits do not possess the same defining power as they do for race car drivers, in a sport where car numbers are not only etched in memories, but on fresh, pale skin for perpetuity.

Dale Earnhardt's iconic 3 will go to the grave with many a Southern man and woman. And the increasingly iconic 8, the number used by his son, was destined for the same immortality until Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced this year that he would leave Dale Earnhardt Inc., and later revealed the team would not allow that number to go with him.

Diligence by his sister and business manager, Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, and either sentimentality or astute commerce by another car owner, spared his fans from the bite of a tattoo-erasing laser and made continuing devotion easier. Beginning next season at Hendrick Motorsports, his car will carry the 88, now employed by Robert Yates Racing.

In a sport where the driver is sheathed in a helmet and firesuit inside the car, sometimes on a piece of track a mile from spectators, symbols mean everything. A red car, a sponsor logo, and most important, a number. For Earnhardt Jr., stock car scholar and admitted beneficiary of rabid fan support, the No.88, driven by the likes of Darrell Waltrip and Dale Jarrett, felt better than a compromise.

"I was really trying to do the best I could to do good by my fans because that was very important for them," he said. "That was one of the more popular questions: would it have an 8 in it? What's the number? So I think they can be twice as happy about the situation."

Tampa's Aric Almirola understands that. He'd better. He and veteran Mark Martin will split time in the No.8 Chevrolet next season., though the car will no longer be swathed in the familiar red of Budweiser (which will sponsor Kasey Kahne's No.9 Dodge). Martin, 48 and universally respected by peers and fans, is unlikely to suffer much wrath from disenfranchised Junior Nation splinter cells. Almirola, 23, and yet to run a full Nextel Cup season, wonders how he will be greeted. It's of concern, especially since he hopes to become the next full-time driver of the car when Martin retires.

"I hope all the Dale Jr. fans would just say, 'Okay, Dale Jr. is No. 3,000, now we're fans of No.3,000,'" he said before Earnhardt Jr.'s new number was announced. "That's my gut on it, that they will just switch over and stay Dale Jr. fans and the 8 car will just be different."

In an unusual twist, Earnhardt Jr.'s devotion to the No.8 was stronger than his fans' because it had threaded through his family's history, his late father and grandfather both using it. Ralph Earnhardt drove the No.88 in a 1957 Grand National Race at Martinsville.

Zephyrhills' David Reutimann was ecstatic to drive the No.00 Toyota at Michael Waltrip Racing this season because several family members have used it since the late 1930s. But drivers rarely dwell on such nostalgia.

"We don't really get attached to the number," Almirola said. "We get attached to racing. I'm sure you can go up and down this garage and ask every driver what they wore growing up and raced in their Late Model or sprint car or whatever and I'm sure it's not the number they are in the Cup garage right now. So, to us it's just a race car."

Jeff Burton, who drove the No.8 for the Stavola Brothers in 1994, said numbers are actually a reflection of the owners' identity, not the drivers'.

"I understand and have a great deal of respect for why Junior wants to run the No.8," he said. "I ran the No.12 because that was my dad's number that he played football and baseball with and that was what my brothers ran. But that number doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Roger Penske and I'm not entitled to that number because it belongs to Roger Penske. It's just that simple."

But nobody had an 8 tattooed on their arm for Teresa Earnhardt, and scores of ink parlors will soon add another of the digits as Junior fans update their allegiance. The new eight is a little thinner, more vertical, and the centering is going to be a mess. But it could be worse.

Said one fan in an e-mail to the Times: "As soon as I can afford to I am going to add an 8, tho I don't think his 88 is configured the same. On the picture of the car I saw the numbers were in red, which is good, since my one 8 is. I definitely will have it done before we go to Daytona."

Notable numbers

00 David Reutimann, Nextel Cup:Uses the same number at Michael Waltrip Racing as his family has run for decades

01 Mark Martin, Nextel Cup:Synched with "Army of One" marketing.

07 Clint Bowyer, Nextel Cup: Sponsor Jack Daniels, "Old No.7", couldn't coerce the 7 from Robby Gordon.

11 Tony Kanaan, IRL: His sponsor is 7-11.

48 Jimmie Johnson, Nextel Cup: His program was gene-spliced off teammate Jeff Gordon's No.24.

83 Brian Vickers, Nextel Cup: Sponsor Red Bull sells its energy drink in 8.3-ounce cans.

All about 88

- Ralph Earnhardt, Dale Jr.'s grandfather, drove a No.88 Petty Enterprises "Oldsmobile 88" at Martinsville in 1957.

- Top drivers who have wheeled that number at NASCAR's highest level: Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison, Buck Baker, Buddy Baker, Geoffrey Bodine, Ernie Irvan, Dale Jarrett, Benny Parsons, Jim Paschal, Fireball Roberts, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace, Darrell Waltrip and Joe Weatherly.

- The No.88 has 65 victories since its first start in 1949, ninth best. It is 10th in starts (1,264).

[Last modified September 21, 2007, 21:30:39]