Why Late ‘90s NASCAR Was Awesome (Besides Dale Earnhardt)
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- Veteran drivers determined to return to victory lane after several years of trying. Broadcasters who made the action feel bigger than life. Catchy commercials that weren't for insurance or medication. A real-life Russ Wheeler playing the villain. Oh, and Dale Earnhardt, too. This is what made NASCAR great in the late 1990s.
For a more complete feel of what it was like watching NASCAR from 1995-2000, watch the videos used in this one:
PHOTO CREDIT
Darryl Moran (Phoenix 1998)
VIDEO CREDITS
docs.google.co...
I also credit Dennis Miller, who I'm pretty sure I'd heard that Dylan Thomas quote from before.
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The personalities were awesome. But, the tracks weren't all so similar, and the cars weren't so Aero dependent. Guys could pass. The cars weren't so over engineered.
DE 3N8 same thing that is happening to F1 as well. The cars actually drive themselves and it doesn’t take skill to drive like it used to be.
Exactly right. I love the sport today, but not the same love I had for it in the 90s and 00s. The personalities are #1 and there arent as many as there use to be. Too vanilla, and you know some of the drivers nowadays do have that personality. They just don't show it.
@@jamesdb7115 I agree
Races were won in the garage as well as on the track. IROCNASCAR is awful
@@robminmonaca f1 is boring. Mercedes and Ferrari are always at the top with a sprinkle of red bull and ,occasionally, Williams or Renault. I still watch, however.
My addiction is now GT3 endurance racing. Alot of fun, great tracks and a big field of top tier and amateur drivers. I've even raced with pro and pro-am drivers in Sims.
This video needs so many more views. It seems like it’s become popular to rip on the old fans to defend the bad decisions of modern NASCAR. Great video man, absolutely loved it.
They make it to easy to make fun of them. They can't see the forest for the trees because their rose tinted glasses are blinding them. I agree the whole package isn't as good as it used to be, but there's still way more positives than they give credit for.
Thank you! That's very kind of you to say.
The " new " fans, aren't fans at all, it's only about insecure people, having more crap, than the next guy, you can't talk to them about connecting rods, or cylinder heads, the repeat each other's bullshit, like mocking birds,
What do you mean by "It's become popular to rip on old fans to defend the bad decisions....?
@@floydfanTN You offered so much evidence. I'm totally convinced that NASCAR is better now simply because time has elapsed.
THIS. It’s ALL TRUE. It wasn’t just the racing. For me, from the mid 90s to 2004, everything was a labor of love. The commentary, the starting lineups, the commercials. This was a sport FOR the fans, rather than for money.
God I miss Daytona... I miss the era of the Winston cup... I miss all those collectibles ❤❤❤... and dammit those jackets😂😂❤❤❤
"All of this was in service to the greatest hope of all, that Jeff Gordon wouldn't win yet another race". 😀
That sir is hilarious!!
It was true - at least for me. Really tried to tap into how I viewed races back then. Ended up being an interesting experience.
@@LASTCARonBROCK At first when Gordon was winning I was like oh well too bad Dale Sr fans. Then that pesky Jimmie Johnson came along and I felt your pain. One thing I can take to heart is this. Gordon, Dale Jr, and Stewart got out just as Segment racing came upon the scene. Segments were the absolute final nail in the coffin for NASCAR oh and throwing the caution just to refuel!!!!
@@LASTCARonBROCK It was definitely true! Oh how I enjoyed hating on him as a kid! The youth, the looks, the energy, the money, the girl, and trophy...he had it all.
Turns out Gordon is a really good dude...so I look back at it and smile nowadays. But I loved the variety, the stats, the weird storyline....when it felt like he was winning 1/3rd of the races...well it *felt* like even more than that.
@@kateofone He never really did anything wrong...just had the best strategy and team to take advantage of the changes in how they dished out the championship....but I never could put Jimmy Johnson in the same category of racers as those guys. And maybe that isn't fair to him, but I get the sense many fans feel that way, too.
For a sport entirely build on sponsorships and company's branding, it sounds weird to say it....he also felt too "corporate" in a way. Ushering in a more blaze set of driver's that will never get fined by their sponsors or team in their entire career.
Personalities and TV production are really what is missing
Personalities are there.
Whether its you, bfm, iceberg or brock beard y'all care and make the community a better one.
Bob Jenkins, Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett. They were the best trio
@@dennisbowen452 'Personalities' is referring to the drivers.
@@kl5_racing251 figured he meant the media personalities
@@dennisbowen452 Ok
Remember when NASCAR was on TNN. It was the Nashville network but nicknamed the nascar network. Ahh the good ole days
Yes and they also televised other types of racing like asa, scca, goody's dash, nhra, world of outlaws, silver crowns, soda off road series, sprint cars, monster trucks, tractor pulls, mud buggy drags , arca, imsa, and that indoor motorcycle racing on short dirt ovals and dirt bike racing. I miss those days
@@sportsjefe yes great memories lol. I completely forgot about powerboats lol
Sort of like the Speed Channel.
I wasn’t born then but it sound very good
@@nascarracingfan0423 Back when NASCAR was on CBS, as well.
Bob Jenkins is king, and that speedworld intro is still awesome
Yep. I like most of the modern TV crews, but they'll never compare to Bob Jenkins and Benny Parsons.
@@tbmaynard ...and Ned Jarrett
Even now, just.... chills
Ned, BP and Bob are just absolutely in a class of their own
One of the best booths in sports history, let alone NASCAR. All 3 highly knowledgeable, with 3 distinct personalities that balanced each other perfectly.
Do not forget the, OOOH LIKE A ROCK, Chevy commercials
i genuinely miss good watchable chevy commericals these new ones are just cringey!!
@@fatman1288 Yeah, well it's really out of touch advertisers. They market towards their target demographic which is younger people. They bank on the old school customers to a fault, and it ends up hurting them in the long run when those customers go to a different brand.
Oh snap! I can sing along with those too!
Fords bad to the bone......
Like a rock...to the bottom of a lake!
This was very well done. It's easy to forget just how great NASCAR was in the '90's.
That is unfortunately why it is so hard to watch any more. The Chase, stage racing, and over engineering and over simplifing of the xars
I was born in 91. Loved nascar as a kid. Cannot stand it now. Make of that what you will
I was a crew member in those awesome times for a few different teams I have always said the same thing ...nascar will never be the same again
Things that killed NASCAR for me, in no particular order: changing the points system, homogenizing the tracks, corporatizing the driver's images
The 2nd one happened to pretty much every racing series in the world and the 3rd one happened to everything in general
Cautions for fuel and stages *shakes fists*
@@BloodyBoyBlue and thats why everything sucks now
That piece is truth down to every last word Brock, and while I was a Gordon fan in that era (one of the very very few at that time), and all the way up to the end too, Earnhardt was also one of my heroes, and both still are to this day, I will say 80s and 90s NASCAR was the very best era in the sport for sure.
I'm in that same position. Definitely the best era for sure.
I loved Bobby's green car! I was a child and a teen in the 90's. I knew all these guy's names. NASCAR was amazing back then! Other Series were awesome too like CART, F1, and INDY. 90's the best years. then they all went to shit in the mid 2000's
Gordon had tons of fans. The people that booed him were Dale Earnhardt fans.
big Gordon fan here I dont even feel a need to watch nascar anymore I have nobody to cheer for anyway sense hes retired..
@@carlosb1 F1 I'd say actually got better in the mid 2000s, it was an era when the Renaults, McLarens and Ferraris were all as dominant as each other, and the cars still had a Screaming V8 and racing was still pure, 2009 saw an end to that era with the simple aero, and 2010 ended it for good with both the F duct and Red Bull being dominant. I would kill to have the 2008 season back.
I was obsessed with Nascar in the late '90's and early 2000's.
This was the golden age of NASCAR as far as I’m concerned. Great video.
I think it started in about 84. Of course I was 12 so it started with me. Until 2001 it was the best thing going. Harry Gant Was my 1st favorite. I chewed scoal. And then. pass in the grass. That's all I need it. Plus he was the only one who could go after Bill Elliott. That was my Golden Age
Right from the mid 80s until about 2011-2012…NASCAR was pretty damn good. I grew up with the COT so I’m a bit positively biased towards it, but I still think there were plenty of names, rivalries, and interesting characters to keep the sport going. Gen 6 for some reason changed all of that for me.
The voice of Bob Jenkins and the music of speedworld always gets me pumped
The 1998 Daytona 500 intro still brings a tear to my eyes.
Even the era of the early 2000s was still pretty exciting. You gotta remember the type of personalities guys like Harvick, Stewart, and Kurt Busch were when they stepped on the scene. Tony gave great interviews because he was liable to say anything he wanted, Kurt had attitude enough for himself, his car, and the backup sitting in the trailer, and had no problem ruffling some feathers on track or voicing his displeasure about "has-beens" and "never-wases" racing with him on track. And Happy Harv used to like vaulting race cars after the finish to get in someone's face about how he was raced on track.
The 90s are what made me love this sport. I used to have the 1993 Daytona 500 recorded on VHS, so I saw Kyle Petty and Bobby Hillin almost fight, Rusty Wallace flip on the backstretch, and "the Dale and Dale show" at the finish over 50 times. I could almost recite the broadcast word-for-word at age 13 in 2000. I got into NASCAR Racing on the PC, and played every NASCAR game I could find until I realized EA was ruining console NASCAR games for me.
It was those years in the 2000s, though, before they started using any playoff system, that settled it for me, that I would be a lifelong fan. The personalities now are... a bit monocrhomatic sometimes... But we also have a changing of the guard beginning to happen, and these young guys have shown a lot of promise. So unlike most people who were fans in the 90s and hate today's NASCAR, I'm still excited week-to-week to see how the next race will unfold. Given enough time, these young guys will start to show some personality. I mean, Jeff Gordon didn't have much in the way of color commentary starting out... he just won races.
Sorry this ended up so long, I just really like these kinds of videos. Thanks Brock!
Thanks for helping me re-live my childhood for a little bit
Everybody knows that Bob Jenkins Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons is the reason NASCAR was so great in the 90s
Benny was the man!!!
One of the things that prevent anybody to be a NASCAR fan is that paint schemes change at every race, so it's impossible to choose someone you want to win. It's like using different football jerseys at every game. Last but no least, sponsors were recognizable: it was Bud againts Miller and Coors, Texaco againt Pennzoil, Valvoline, Castrol and Mobil, Mc vs. BK, Coke vs. Pepsi, Crown Royal againts Jim Beam and Jack Daniel's and so on.
Announcers were really professional. They give you the whole starting lineup and even the non qualifiers. It's a way to get into the climax.
I agree, I've gotten back into the sport as a fan, however I always relate the Driver w/ the number and the paint scheme of the car. They don't paint them anymore, its all wraps so it's much easier to change out each race.
I wish I could've lived in this era. Everyone that experienced it has always told me it was the absolute golden era.
@Versatile Wolf Probably true.
@9:15
"All of this was in service to the greatest hope of all: That Jeff Gordon wouldn't win yet another race."
I've never heard it put that way, but it is so true. The 24 really was the greatest "villain" the sport had ever seen.
MAN...... what a great video! I'm a Jeff Gordon fan but you hit the nail on the head with this video!
Well there was Rusty and Darrell competition. All these guys were old Saturday nite racers. That could and would work on their cars. Old tobacco cars. Wow. .
Outstanding video, almost depressing to watch. stage racing is some kind of sick nightmare
Ya know I dont mind it....but sometimes it shows it's ugly face. It should be tweaked. It kills real long-term strategy.
JD Bennett i feel like there should still be stage winners but they shouldn’t throw a caution for stages.
@@shilpi326 I always thought they were going to follow the same format WEC did and just offer points after a specific duration of the race was completed without stopping the race.
Slim2491 i hope they will adopt a format like that. brian france is gone and nascar now seems to be listening to the fans more. hopefully 2021 is when nascar’s rebirth will be. i’d like to see nascar gain some of the popularity that it had in the 90’s and early 2000’s.
Stage points with no cautions...why don't they do it that way?
The diveristy of teams is something I also miss. Smaller teams could hang with the bigger ones. Maybe not every single week but they'd still get their share of top 5's and top 10's. It grew so fast so much of that magic got lost. It is, was, and will always be my favorite era and it was when I fell in love with the sport.
David C furniture row won the championship in 2017.
@@shilpi326 true. They were also getting much of their resources from jgr though
David C true, jgr caused furniture row to shut down by upping prices for their equipment.
@@shilpi326 I don't fault JGR for that. It's business, prices go up for performance and the exit of Edwards took out an avenue for FRR to reduce that cost by fielding the second car for JGR. The loss of sponsorship first and foremost was the cause for them shutting down.
The late 90s also saw the highest average driver experience levels and ages in NASCAR history. A great deal of continuity.
Happened before the 1999/2000youth movement which imo is the greatest level of driver talent
Don't forget 2000-2003 NASCAR. Those years were good as well.
osurocks 24 then the cancer know as brain France came into power and just dropped a nuke on all the momentum NASCAR was having at that time with his stupid rule changes and the COT and it led to stage racing.
@@robminmonaca Exactly! You got it! I wish he didn't go into power because NASCAR became brain dead after that.
@@robminmonaca The safer car and soft walls were necessary. Aside from that, run the races themselves just like they were in the mid 90's. Pit speed limit yes, racing back to the line, mostly yes. Lucky dog, no. If the reason for the caution is at start/finish and precludes racing to the line, throw the lights on around the track to freeze the field as it is.
BlueTrane2028 they should have waited until the safer car was actually, you know, ready. The COT killed the tv ratings more than the chase, just google it
@@BlueTrane2028 Pit speed limit yes, all the safety features added in the last 20years yes, last lap once the leader has taken the white flag race back to the line but freeze the field electronically during regular cautions other than the last lap for safety reasons. Lucky dog yes but no wave around, no attempts at a green white checkered, no stage races except for the Charlotte All-Star race. No Chase racing back to the old points system.
I'm for the lucky dog for one reason only. It was a time honored tradition amongst drivers going back to the first ever NASCAR race that the race leader would slow down and let the first car one lap down pass him racing back to the yellow flag for the caution. It was never a NASCAR rule it was a gentlemen's agreement that went unbroken until around 2003 when either Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, or Ryan Newman I forget who broke that long honored tradition. NASCAR implemented the lucky dog the following race. Between that and automatic timing I'm for the lucky dog, especially if the double file restart for the lead cars were to be left in place. Go back to single file restarts with the one lap down cars restarting on the inside front rows I may have another outlook on the lucky dog subject but I doubt it.
Needs a sequel: Why Late 90s/Early 2000s CART Was Awesome (Split Be Damned).
it was but IndyCar is being revitalized right now the racing is awesome and so are the personalities
However the didn’t have the Indy if they did I’m sure they would have been classics with Greg Moore winning one in the late 90s and maybe Alex Zanardi. Tony George make stupid decisions which he shouldn’t have ever have gotten the power to do in the 90s from his mother.
And why it all fell apart when Penske left in 2002 and Ganassi and Andretti left in 2003.
Cart was absolutely amazing.
you mean why 97-00 was good, after that they started to lose people and manufactures. because early 00's is also including 2002-2005 and those were the death years of CART
Well done video. I fell in love with NASCAR in the 1990s as a child. Growing up every weekend we would go to my uncles to cookout and watch NASCAR. My first favorites were Dale Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan. I thought Irvan looked really cool with the eye patch when he was in the booth after the accident. The late 90s is a million times better than today. Wish we could capture that same magic today but its long gone.
One of the most vibrant decades in all of sports, including auto racing. I grew up in the 2000s era, when NASCAR (and literally everything about the sport) was undoubtedly at its peak. This era though, should be known for its fresh and colorful style, and vibes. It was an aesthetic version of what good was to come in the next decade. Almost everything in the sport at that time got as creative as possible, and then some. Innovations were prominent-- they were seen left and right, while some traditions still existed, providing young fans a glimpse of the past.
Historic moments were seen more often than ever, and in some cases the racing was top-notch. It didn't reach the height in popularity that 2000s NASCAR had but the variety in creativity reached its peak. I wish I could've lived in this era of NASCAR because it seemed like a good portion of the fanbase watched together as family, and the only things fans were split on were on-track occurrences. I don't think NASCAR will ever get this vibrant again. It isn't entirely impossible for popularity levels to be what it was at the time, but the vibes that were felt in that era look like they're gonna stay in that decade locked up as in a treasure chest. If only we had a time machine!
Ernie Irvan was who kept me watching in the 90s . Ernie could win and wreck in back to back weekends . Always exciting knowing your favorite driver has a brick taped to his foot !!! Ernie drove every lap as if it was his last...............and Ernie could stay out on worn tires and stay at speed better than most could even dream about . Hard Charging Ernie Irvan !!!
Great video!
Thanks for mentioning Gary Bradberry and Billy Standridge, and the footage of the 78 and 47 cars. My Dad worked/volunteered with those drivers and teams in the mid to late 90's. He would help them out in the garage area on race weekends. Real independents. It was an honor just to make it into the races in those days.
That's so cool! I love writing about those drivers, always love the independents. Billy was particularly impressive qualifying for all four plate races in 1998 in a Thunderbird.
man, the 90s was the height of not only NASCAR, but humanity
Sam Mattox not sure that’s true
@@LouieMeekin Ok, maybe it was the 80s
@@sammattox7945 That's DEFINITELY not true
@@OccasionalNASCARRaces 70s? Am I getting closer?
Pitt Burgh waaah phone bad anything past 1999 bad!Grow up and learn to get with the times and accept 2019 you washes up 30 year old
Good moments that probably never been the same. The today's NASCAR is abysmal compared with this
lol nah, it's not as bad as you think. It's had its fair share of issues in the past but the dark ages are starting to get farther and farther away.
How did it take me 3 years to see this?!? I missed the 90's and 2000's Nascar is the peak to me but I'll be damned if that isnt something special. Very well done👏
The guys racing in the 90s were my heros. Now I'm 30 and I don't feel like cheering on silver spoon 19 and 20 year olds
Well yeah? They aren’t the guys you grew up watching
1:21 never knew Mark Martin was that jacked back in the day haha
Still is
100% agree on the commercials. We went from Drive the Big Brown Truck to Like you do sometimes grandpa?
Sounds dirty, like Grandpa had a big, Brown accident, in his Dale Jarrett Depends.
100% agreed, went from the Michael Waltrip NAPA Auto Parts classroom instructor commercials to the You maybe turning into your parents Geico commercials.
Early 2000's were great too. 2007 was the last great year of the sport.
This is one of the best NASCAR videos on UA-cam
Brock Beard said it best it was a perfect storm of several things that nobody had control over. One thing though that people don't realize is that when the movie the fast and the furious came out it really put street racing to a whole new light. When you say the word racing back in the 90s people thought about nascar. Now it's one of the last things people think about, especially young people.
I used to watch every practice, qualifying, Wind Tunnel, etc. I had a paper on my wall where I updated the points each week. Hell, I even used to watch the replay of the race that they had if it was on ABC and then ESPN on the same day.
I'm kind of a new fan, I knew most of these things but just how u explained and what u touched on really changed my mind on what made the 90s so amazing and what NASCAR could do to make it better today! Thank you for this amazing video!
I was a Jeff Gordon fan, but watching him race wasn't enough to keep me interested in the sport. When certain veterans started retiring and Earnhardt passed away, it left Gordon competing with some rookies and just wasn't the same anymore. I sure miss rusty, mark Martin, labonte brothers, dale Jarrett, Earnhardt all on the track, good ole days
The 90s were, in my opinion, the absolute peak of color schemes. Bill Elliot's McDonald's cars, Ricky Rudd's Tide car, the Ernie Irvan Kodak and Texaco-Havoline cars, the Terry Labonte Kellogg's car, the Bobby Labonte Interstate Batteries car, Jeff Gordon's legendary DuPont cars...there's so many good ones I struggle to think of a BAD one.
Crazy I never did the Nascar thing but know every single name you said.
This video is dead on. I started watching with my dad when I was about 5 in 1990. The deaths of Davey Allison and Alan Kulwicki are the earliest senses of personal loss I can remember. Cheering for Richard Petty (shared the last name) over Dale Earnhardt. Cheering for Dale Jarrett over my middle-school English teacher's favorite: Jeff Gordon. Cheering for Yates and Roush drivers over Hendrick and Childress. Basically anyone in a Ford over anyone in a Chevy. Listening to Ken Squier, Ned Jarrett, and Benny Parsons. Texas Motor Speedway got built an hour from my house. I had NASCAR '98 on Playstation. The beer and autoparts commercials.
Then around the time I was nearing the end of high school, Senior was dead and The Chase came around, and the Thunderbirds had given way to the Taurus and then the winged Fusion "Car of Tomorrow," and the WWF Attitude Era-style drama between the drivers was picking up, and nothing seemed like the same racing I'd grown up with.
I looked forward to every race. Man I miss those days. Bunch of rich brats today. Rip Kenny Irwin too.
I know it's easy to say "NASCAR was so much better then!" but there's some kind of magic about that era that the current one lacks.
Absolutely amazing insight, Brock. Great job on this video.
Damn dude you got that spot on. Everything about that era was great, especially whenever Gordon DNF.
Segmented races and the “chase” format is how you destroy a racing series, there’s a reason why the IRL and the FIA don’t do those things. It’s because they’re absolutely stupid ideas
Zachery Abrams Brain France destroyed NASCAR plan and simple.
@@robminmonaca The drug charges were not a surprise at all... you had to be on on something to ruin the best thing America had going.
BlueTrane2028 however the damage has been done. NASCAR will never be like it was back then.
Tristan Ellis he should have been the CEO of NASCAR not Brian France.
Tristan Ellis the chase format wasn’t too bad but these extra gimmicks like playoffs and stages have killed my interest in NASCAR nowadays.
Yes! First time viewer here and love it!
Great video. This brought me back to the carefree days of my early teens when all I cared about was NASCAR.
And that ESPN intro for the Richmond race at 6:42 with Bob Jenkins...I could watch that a hundred times.
I remember hoping Gordon would crash every race, which is embarrassing to think about now. By the end of his career, I was pulling for him to win.
As someone who was a teenager in the late 90's, and as someone who has read Lastcar extensively, and has come to love and support the great people who have made this sport what it is... thank you, Brock! I doubt the sport will ever get back to its late-90's glory days (which, as you mentioned, happened as a result of a confluence of factors that no one had any control over), but I'm glad we, the viewing audience, are glad to have lived it when we did.
Something I think that hurts nascar a lot with young fans is the constant revolving door of sponsors for each race instead of just having one sponsor for a year that fans can identify with and associate with each driver. The late 90’s was golden age for this and I know I miss it terribly.
There are MANY adjectives to use on Dale Jarrett. I don't know if "mean" was one of them, haha. Aside from yelling at Gordon after a race, he was as gentlemanly as his dad.
He was definitely not one to cross on track though. Really, many drivers were not ones you'd want to cross back then.
Fair point - might not be the best word to describe him. But he was tenacious as hell, and I think rivaled Earnhardt in that regard. Shows in the results when they ran one-on-one. Certainly not ungentlemanly, but very serious in his professionalism and will to win. I was envious of him when he and Ricky Rudd were teammates - Rudd was my guy back then.
One of the best videos I've seen on UA-cam.
I've kept pretending to myself that NASCAR is still great, that it's still the sport I fell in love with and it's the fans who have ditched the sport who are missing out.... then I watch this video and it hits home just how much less fun the sport is now. Depressing.
Hell yeah! Made the credits. Where's my cut of the royalties?
You were sent some Water, in the form of Rain, for to make some Moonshine, with, is what i heard.
This video took me back to my teenage years and my favorite time in the sport. Brought tears to my eyes more than once and a lot of laughs. Thank you for this. Go JG#24 🏁
“Crawling out of a pretty deep one right now..”
Can’t imagine how DW felt in that moment. I know he said on one Jr’s podcast that Dale asking him to drive the 1 car helped him dig himself out of the debt he put himself in with his owner driver endeavor. Probably felt like he started to see a light at the end of a long dark tunnel.
The very best NASCAR video I have seen. 80s to 90s would be a great follow-up. Davey Allison will always be my favorite driver so see you in that 28 when an Ernie irvan getting his revenge on that track was awesome
Great vid. I miss 90s Nascar. I was just a kid then as well so it made the drivers all seem like super heros and only one true man was evil. And his name was Jeff Gordon. Younger fans should realize he was like the Tom Brady of Nascar. Felt like he won everyweek and nobody could do anything to him.
But thanks for shining a light on that era that isn't focused on just Dale. It had the greatest era of drivers to ever drive.
Gordon and Evernham were the Brady and Belichick of racing.
I’ll tell you what I’m not a fan of NASCAR but the video was so damn well put together. I watched the whole thing like I was a fan of NASCAR
Wow - that's high praise. Thank you so much!
Because they didnt have the dumbass chase. That's why it was awesome.
That's right that sorry ass chase sucks shit if DALE EARNHARDT was still here it wouldn't be there cause the GREATEST called alot of shots to the head dogs of NASCAR and they would agree most the time. Losing the GREATEST RACECAR driver is a major down fall to the sport!!!!!!!!
Calm down keyboard warrior. The chase isn’t at fault here and we all know it. One thing is at fault here that led us into the dark age is: the racing product.
@@burlingtonfan7492 no. The chase was a major killer for long time fans. And not only did they not get rid of it. They made it worse and worse.
Thru the 90s, I watched EVERY NASCAR race. Busch, Truck, Cup. The turning point for me was in 2005, when NASCAR started guaranteeing 36 spots. I remember Robby Gordon finishing 7th in a 125 Qualifying Race at Daytona and still missing the 500. Then came the Chase. Then the "Playoffs" - and I drifted away. I haven't watch any races in last few years.
The Valvoline scheme is underappreciated. That thing was fire.
8:58 *proudly sings the Busch jingle* "I don't even drink beer!"
Even though I didn't start watching NASCAR until 2001 this puts a huge smile on my face
I'm not crying you're crying..... what a great video. Well done. I think that "perfect storm" will be hard to come by again but what a ride it was. I grew up in this era. Anyone who was anyone knew about nascar even if they weren't a fan. The paint schemes were always my favorite. We have some sharp ones today, but it's less special nowadays with 5 sponsors for each car, and 3 different schemes per car (it seems).
Great video. The best era of NASCAR by a long shot
Some people will never know about the “22 Cataputer Doge.”
I'm in a different country, never watched much NASCAR, but I understand the feeling, almost the same happened on F1 80/90's with Senna here. Golden years.
Great video man! very entertaining!
The Shumacher/Hakkinen rivalry, was a good one, from what i remember, with Shumacher being the Jeff Gordon, of Formula One, sort of.
This is the NASCAR I grew up on. It was exciting! I could name every driver and team to every car number, back then. It was awesome because popularity grew for the sport organically. They didn't need silly gimmicks. It was so fun to witness! How those days are missed.
This was beautiful. I smiled the whole way through.....unless Jeff Gordon was on the screen....unless Jeff Gordon had wrecked.
It's like a video on Dale Earnhardt I saw mentioned, although he was the most prolific name in the sport at his peak, not just with the number of titles he won, but with his antics as well to get his way, with the exception of 2001, where he won it posthumously, he was never the most popular driver. For those less familiar with NASCAR, like I was prior to 2020, it's another example of how a successful sports person doesn't necessarily mean that they're the most popular
Rich Bickle #98 thorn apple valley was one of my favorite paint schemes of the 90s
It was awesome from Daytona 79 to Daytona 2001. Great video
You hit it right on the head. It’s not all about the product on the track that draws fans to the sport. It’s the personalities as well, and today’s NASCAR doesn’t have much personality. I admire the talent of all of today’s younger drivers but nobody wants to root for a rich entitled 19 year old brat who’s mediocre at best but can afford great equipment. People admire the grit of someone who’s paid their dues to get there and appreciates their accomplishment that much more. Guys who didn’t get a shot until their 30’s. And when someone like tony Stewart calls people out on that he’s a villain because hurting people’s feelings is illegal in 2019. Spoiler height and horsepower aren’t gonna fix the sport but people in the car with personalities similar to those in the stand will. NASCAR was a blue collar spot with blue collar fans when clean cut Gordon came in and it attracted a different crowd. The problem is, most of the drivers after were just like Gordon but all of those newer fans lost interest. The blue collar fan stuck around and now has nobody they can relate to.
My two favorite things have so much in common. Wrasslin' and Racin' were AWESOME in the late 90's and now they are both struggling. I still watch them both but neither are the same as they were. I will always watch hoping for the good ole days. Sadly, once the good ole days go they don't usually return.
Coming back to this video a few years later, I'm kinda super glad Busch Beer brought back the jingle.
I'm gonna go ahead and take credit for that. :D
Just seeing this for the first time. Everything said in this is exactly what I have said when ever I talk about the good old days of NASCAR with my friends, or when talking to a current fan about why I'm no longer a fan. I haven't watched any full NASCAR race since 2016, a full race live since 2015, and a full season since 2013.
Everyone back then was pulling the same rope. NASCAR, the Tracks, the sponsors, the drivers, teams, car owners, TV networks, and announcers. They were all part of the same team, making the sport more and more popular.
This is a great video. NASCAR definitely peaked in those late 90s. It was the perfect mix or old school and new school. And unfortunately NASCAR doesn't seem it will ever return to the feel of the late 90s
No crash clock. I remember at Bristol, Martinsville & North Wilkesboro, half the cars would finish the race looking like a dirt modified, & the sides would be covered in donuts.
I'd love to see a video of the crossover of fanbases of WWF and NASCAR as they both went through their "Attitude Era" in the late 90's.
Don't forget the nascar video games. I had nascar 99 and 2000, I prefered the latter for gameplay and mechanics but the former had a kickass intro. I also played nascar rumble 24/7 with my sister back in the day and she loved Dale Jarrett. My Dad loved the Earnhardts, mom Tony Stewart, and I Kyle Petty. Now we're more of an Indycar family since our first Indy 500 back in '08. Imo, outside of the crown jewels, it doesn't have the charm it once had.
I love this thank you for making it. Validated the 90s nascar scene hard for people who could think less. The 90s fucking rocked man, muscle cars were making a huge comeback, baseball was AMAZING, the economy was banging. Man take me back
My childhood. Grew up during this era and absolutely loved Nascar. Back when it was actually worth watching. Before the Chase ruined the championship. Before the "Car of Tomorrow" ruined the racing. Before stage racing managed to make bad even worse. Thankfully, as my fandom was dying, Indianapolis brought MotoGP in 08 and I had a new series to follow.
Fantastic video. Took me back to some great times. Love this sport but glad I got to live during the 90s.
You also forgot about the cartoon series NASCAR Racers that aired from 1999-2001. That was a great show.
I remember you could win with the front ripped off basically
I seem to remember Earnhardt lapping faster with the front end removed, but something like 35 laps down at a mile track. Rockingham?
Harry Gant did it. Mr October.
The 50s-60s-70s-80-and the 90s were all great racing from the local short tracks to the super speedways...when racing was at it's finest...I'm glad I was around to enjoy the real racing day's. 50+ years of the good stuff !
everything in this video is so on point. the cars were beautiful and the drivers were just happy to be there, nothing taken for granted.
Yep , the 90’s was the best time to be a NASCAR fan. Racing will never be that good again.
This video made me want to go watch some old races.
Awesome video. 👍👍👍
Another amazing video! This brought back all the warm fuzzy feelings, thank you!
I don't consider myself a NASCAR fan, but I remember a lot of these races; Ernie's crash and win. It goes to show just how popular the sport was. Great video!
Honestly this video shows why I still go back and watch races from the 90's it was so damn good and I love getting to go back and watch those races one more time
For being born in 1998 and watching chase-era NASCAR this is interesting.
James Foster definately a different time.... this video explains it mostly.. however the bad thing was that once in awhile, there was a guy that clinched the championship with 4-5 races to go...... kinda was lame last couple races.. however the racing was great, plus the additional IROC series, and the exhibition race they do in Tokyo for a couple years
@@leethear3303 Sometimes guys would clinch with a few weeks to go if they dominated, but the payoff for that was always at the beginning of the season. The intensity of the races from February to May were on another level because every single race mattered and if you fell too far behind you were going to have to spend the rest of the year digging out of that hole. The same thing happened within the races too as there were no debris or stage cautions and no free passes to give laps back, so right from the drop of the green flag every week there was a sense of urgency and excitement we just don't see anymore.
I miss the 90s sure but man we are still seeing some great talent and great racing. I think some of you are seeing the stands and thinking what happened to nascar? Nothing we are still recovering from the recession. People realized the best seat was at home. It's free and in HD.