The Side Line
Some of the most famous dynasties in all of sports are the UCLA Bruins basketball teams that won ten national titles in 12 seasons in the 1960s and 70s, the great Yankee teams through the years, and the Green Bay Packers who won five Super Bowls in the 1960s.
With college football being ultra-competitive from season to season, no team can currently be referred to as a dynasty, though Urban Meyer is brewing some scary stuff in Gainesville.
So what dynasties, if any, are going right now? Certainly the Yankees and Red Sox have lost a bit of their luster, and younger, more talented teams are stepping in to usher in a new era of baseball. The answer may surprise you, and comes from a league that many people do not even consider to be a true sport: NASCAR.
33-year-old Jimmie Johnson just captured his third consecutive Sprint Cup championship, a feat that has only been accomplished by one other driver, the great Cale Yarborough. However, the difference is clear between the legends; Johnson’s road to three titles has been much, much more difficult. Yarborough’s wins came in the early years of NASCAR when maybe a handful of drivers could even think about winning each week. Now, in a series that attracts some of the world’s best drivers, including pulling top talent away from the Indy Car series, more than half the field each week has the talent and equipment to win the race.
I mentioned Johnson a few weeks ago in my Side Line about the postseason, about he and crew chief Chad Knaus finding ways to dominate in the Chase for the Cup playoff system. Well, they played it to perfection again. This was surgery. No, it was complex brain surgery, cautious and deliberate. Johnson is the talent on the track, but Knaus makes the championship-winning calls from his seat above the #48 pit.
How dominant is the 48 team in the Chase? Try eight wins in the last 30 Chase races. What?! That is ridiculous, considering not only the talent they are competing against, but also that the team has not been as dominant during the regular season any of the three years. Johnson and Knaus seem to find another gear come crunch time.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Nov 21 2008. Filed under Sports.
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