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NASCAR Thinking About Raising the Age Requirements

by Tim Zaegel on January 26th, 2008

Ever since NASCAR President Mike Helton made his “State of the Sport” address early last week, people have been talking about the possibility of raising the minimum age requirement in the Sprint Cup Series to 21. The current age requirement in both series (Sprint & Nationwide) is set at 18, which makes all the sense in the world because … well, hey, that’s when you officially and legally become an adult.  So, why raise the age limit to 21 in the premier series?

The basis of the thought process behind this move would be because it gives drivers three extra years to mature before hitting the big-times. Now, most people probably think that a very large percentage of people are unable to actually mature in a three-year period, but I believe that the years between 18 and 21 are when people have the ability to mature the most in their life – if they want to, that is. Of course, I could be seriously misguided in my thought process on that since those years for me were spent playing in whatever various sandbox overseas that the United States Marine Corps deemed appropriate for me at that time, so I myself had little choice. On that same token, however, these are typically the years that most people first experience not having the homecooking every night from their mother and no longer being able to rely on their folks to pay their petty bills for them. These are the years that they realize that going out every night to the clubs doesn’t pay the bills and that being an asshole to the wrong people can hold serious consequences, so I say yes, people can mature a lot in a three-year span.

Of course, on the flip side of things, the argument that many people throw out there in dispute of raising the minimum age is the comparison to professional sports. I’ve heard several people use the NBA as an example, citing that players are eligible for the big leagues of basketball straight out of high school. What these same people aren’t talking about, though, is the age requirement that leagues like the NFL have in place. Let me ask you … which sport is probably in a better state this day and age? Yes, that would be the NFL. For the last 10 to 15 years, the NBA has been nothing more than a breeding ground for young, ignorant, cocky punks, and it’s caused many viewers such as myself to change the channel. No disrespect intended for you NBA fans out there, but that’s just the way that it is … I’ll take NCAA basketball any day of the week, but NBA? No thanks. It’s all irrelevant, though, because NASCAR has no business being compared to sports like football or basketball. To drive a stock car means that you’re responsible for a very large and expensive piece of equipment with a brand name on the hood of it that sponsors are paying a lot of money to have there. In all seriousness, I don’t think that sounds like something I want to hand over to an 18-year old kid.

At any rate, making any kind of move on the age limit is still all talk at this point, so I wouldn’t be looking for an immediate change … not this year at least. That I know of, I don’t believe there are any full-time Cup drivers that would be effected by this rule anyway. But, that might not quite be the case by the end of the 2008 season. Joe Gibbs Racing has two young 17-year old drivers sitting in the back right now by the names of Joey Logano and Marc Davis. I wouldn’t think that Gibbs had any plans of getting Davis any seat time in a Cup car until probably towards the end of the 2009 season anyway, seeing that he will be running in the Camping World East Series this year along with a few ARCA races, so he might not even make it to the Nationwide Series until next year. Logano, on the other hand, won the Camping World East Series championship last season and will be making his Nationwide Series debut in a Gibbs ride at Dover in May as soon as the young driver turns 18 years of age. He will then run 17 more Nationwide races on the year with hopes that Gibbs can get him in at least one or two Cup races by the end of 2008.

 So, it should be interesting to see what NASCAR decides to do, and if they do, when it will take effect and whether or not there will be a grandfather clause put in place.  Meaning, if this all happens and goes into effect after Logano and/or Davis get some Cup Series time under their belt, will that qualify them to be overlooked by the rule?  Like I said, though, it’s all just talk at this point.

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