At the beginning of the Martinsville
Cup event, many were asking just who this David Ragan was that Jack Roush had hired to drive Mark Martin’s famed #6.
By the end of the day many were further wondering would David Ragan be Nextel Cup’s “next big thing”—or
a moving chicane.
The answer to the first question
is that David is the son of Ken Ragan, an occasional Cup racer himself from 1983-1990, with under funded teams. David grew
up watching his Father struggle and dreaming of the day that he might have his chance in a sport that has grown geometrically
more difficult since his Father’s day.
David was a Bandelero National
Champion at age 12, first raced a NASCAR late model by age 16, and by 19 had earned the interest of the talent scouts from
none other than Rousch Racing, and participated in their “Driver X” shootout for a ride in a Jack Rousch Craftsman
truck.
Competing against hundreds
of competitors, David entered the final rounds and, along with standouts Danny O’Quinn and Eric Darnell, was tapped
to run a few races in a Craftsman Truck in 2006.
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No one can accuse the Roush
organization of not being a tightly run ship. As far as car owners go, Jack is primarily performance and business driven and
heads have been known to move around—or roll, after under performing, or for being difficult to work with regarding
team orders. One of the Driver X criterion was the “marketability” of the driver and his ability to be a “team
player”. There were some concerns by the suit-types about talented—yet cocky, David Ragan, but he could carry
the car better than many on the track today and ran laps at Darlington faster than a Roush series driver that set the baseline marks to hit.
Jack Roush has had his share
of headaches behind the wheel and notably fired 2005 Chaser Kurt Busch for being difficult, amazingly, during the chase. But
Jack has also had his share of so-so performers, drivers that looked good, were steady, but were not internally driven winners.
Not only can Jack not be accused
of not running a tight ship, he also cannot be accused of not recognizing talent when he sees it and that is why Mr. Ragan
earned—and received, the ride in the coveted number 6 car.
Fast forward to the Martinsville
Cup race, and a series of cautions that the David Ragan car was involved in, notably one that was clearly Ragan ending nice-guy
Ken Schrader’s best run of the year. Tony Stewart made disparaging remarks, and finally NASCAR withheld approval of
his license for the following race at Atlanta.
Heavy sigh… I seriously
wondered if David would remain in the car. But Jack Roush again showed the stuff that champions are made of and defended his
young driver, saying, "So David got spun out twice. And he spun out Kenny [Schrader] and he shouldn’t have. But he shouldn’t
have been spun out either…he wasn’t angry when he ran into Kenny,-he just misjudged the closing speed. …
NASCAR is unimpeachable in its authority and made a decision - I think it was a good one for David, because he'll have pause,
and now he understands NASCAR can do whatever it wants whenever it wants."
NASCAR had approved David Ragan
to run at Texas Motor Speedway, however, he unfortunately failed to qualify. In all probability he was making sure to err
on the safe side, since NASCAR has let it be known that during his next event he
will be “under observation” for approval to “the next level”.
To those that are quick to
judge David Ragan, I would question just which driver has not either accidentally or not-so-accidentally put a fender on someone.
Tony Stewart? Kurt Busch? Robbie Gordon? Okay, those are kind of obvious, but then there is Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and
Michael Waltrip… Yes, race fans, Michael had a little disagreement with one Lake Speed that earned him a trip to the
NASCAR trailer. Of course, this would be the list with no end, for all, drivers and fans alike, have made mistakes along the
way.
In life, mistakes can either
be denied, blame placed elsewhere for the mistake, or one can take responsibility for the mistake, improve, and move on. The
final choice is to chastise oneself repeatedly and never fully get over the mistake. Racing drivers typically opt for one
of the first three.
Regardless, NASCAR is not the
ultimate judge of events in life, but there are NO mistakes that escape that Judge. Choosing to own the error and improving
moving forward is clearly the only acceptable answer, and David Ragan has committed to doing just that.
Welcome to the club,
David. You are in very good company in that Nextel Cup lineup, both with the best hot shoes in the business, and in most cases,
excellent teachers of patience learned from hard knocks on and off the track. The next time you hit the track drive with your
heart, David, but temper it with judgment—for now. As with us all, be patient, learn from your mistakes, and your time
to shine as a winner will surely come.
2006 StockCar Review.
