Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Why do people hate him? He is extremely talented, wins a lot of races and is a pretty darn articulate in victory lane interviews. Overall, he seems like a pretty good dude but the majority of my sprint car buddies just hate this guy. Do I just associate with a bunch of haters or is there something to it? What do y'all think about David Gravel?

Because he recently got into it with everybody's golden boy....

I'm loosing respect for him. Telling fans they " can suck it" is terrible for a reputation. He seems to want to polarized the fans in our opinion of himself. He needs higher personal discipline.

David is the face of WOO and one of top 4 drivers. When the fans buy a ticket everybody wins. To boo or cheer comes with the the territory of being a winner. When race is over it is just entertainment and needs to be left at entrance to the track. No place in our sport for hatefull action. When alcohol is served some people say and do things which normally they wouldnt do. Scott is gone but He was one of the best at getting fans to react.Sammy has more fans now and Donny has many hoping He can win one more race.

He is snotty , arrogant, d- bag deluxe. Ive never heard anyone brag on there self like he does. Quotes ive heard out of his mouth( on camera) include, "i want to build my brand and my legacy"(legacy?? Get F outta here lmfao) " im the only driver last year that beat him ( kyle larson) more times than he beat me" . " If there were more laps we could have won" .  Ive never heard any of the great sprint car driver with self centered bragging coming out of thier mouths Hes frequently got excuse throws out excuses why he he didnt win if hes doesnt . He is a very good driver, smooth and clean theres no doubt. But he is an arrogant little punk that rubs me the wrong way 

Everyone hated Donny when he dominated and while Gravel hasn't reached that level, he's still the top WoO guy which guarantees a lot of loud boos and quiet respect. 

There were a ton of semi-retarded KL Nascar fans that happened to tune in during the Kings Royal week and have been piling on ever since. They are extremely stupid low IQ people, to put it nicely.

That's the gist of it. 

He likes to throw blame on other drivers when something happens or they don't race him the "right" way. 

Sounds a lot like about 1000 other racers in the country.........

Not a Gravel comment but a Tulare comment.

Why is there a ramp of dirt on the back stretch by the gate? That's insane. Cars getting air borne. We have machines in Canada to remove that.

Main reason is for the increase of dislike for him in the past couple of years is because he wins a lot. That typically does it for fans in racing in general. They like it when someone new starts winning a lot in a short period of time but generally over a prolonged period of time, its frowned upon for some reason. Now granted, yes like some have said he is arrogant, has an ego that is way bigger than his stature but I can say having watching him while he was younger with the all stars, he has always been that way. He was still the same arrogant guy when people were cheering for him to beat Schatz when he scored the perfect 500 at knoxville back in 17'. He was the same guy that people were hoping could be Schatz for the Championship then when Sweet finally did a lot of those people were cheering for him until he did it too much and started booing him. Now the same people who were cheering the guys to dethrone Schatz are probably the ones who are wanting to see him have just 1 last run as evident when he won his last Nationals you heard more cheers than boos. The race fan is quite the interesting character. 

I'd agree that b/c he's tangled with Larson, all the pro Larson fans now "hate" Gravel. I really like both drivers. 

I've never thought of Gravel as arrogant, and makes himself available to the fans. 100% he's playing up to the boo birds, but he said the fans booing him can suck it. Like Nick said, this probably now sounds arrogant b/c he's winning now. I don't think his personality has changed since he's been winning. 

I think most high profile drivers are trying to build their brand and legacy. Why wouldn't they. Gravel's very active on social media, and is one of the best at the moment if not they best, and will be one of the best of all time. 

We are quick to complain when drivers are all cookie cutter, and it seems as the more they win and move on to higher profile series, the more they become cookie cutter.  I love it when they speak their mind, or are honest, like Dietrich for example. 

By the way, I own more Larson shirts and gear than Gravel, so I don't want to hear " you're a Gravel fanboy" 

Keep It Real

Shame on you if you say you hate any sprint car driver that is risking his life to entertain you. that makes you sound like an immature jinior high kid. Grow up.

I mean, not the friendliest guy on earth, but I've probably met 20-30 sprint car drivers less friendly than David Gravel.  The funny thing is, many of the 20-30 less friendly drivers are praised as super friendly people.  I think all of these drivers can have good and bad interactions.  I don't really approach drivers unless they want to be approached.  Scheduled autograph sessions and after the races if they look like they want to meet and greet are about the only time I try to strike up a conversation with any of them.  If they are rude during an autograph session, that is all I need to know.  You wanted me here, and then when I show up, you act like you don't want me here.  I get it, I'm out.   I met David at an autograph session, and once after the races, and both times he was just fine.  I don't plan on approaching him again----what's the point?  They don't want to be our buddies, they want to do their jobs.  I've met Kyle once, and he was terrific.  I don't plan on approaching him again like all of the groupies I see in the pits, and following him down the Knoxville front stretch shoving things in his face to autograph while on the way to the press conference. 

I met Steve Kinser once, and it was a scheduled event, and he was extremely friendly.  Because my son loved Sammy growing up, I would get numerous items from his trailer over the years when he was signing, I got an autograph for my son.  Might as well have had the oak tree 50 feet away sign it-----I would have gotten more emotion.  I don't care what anyone says about him being quiet, or shy, or whatever, he's just not a friendly guy.  Ever.  At least not to adults.  Don't get me wrong, I love watching Sammy race.  I just don't think the world of him as a person. 

I've run into drivers in other areas where they want their space so they can live.  I leave them alone.  If you're bothering them when they want to be doing something else, newsflash for you:  There's a good chance they're gonna sound rude.  It doesn't mean they're jerks.  Just find them at a time when they want to be found, otherwise leave them be. 

I think part of it is that he doesn't have any home town fans, cause Connecticut doesn't have any dirt tracks

He also pissed off plenty of Pa. fans a few years ago when he punted Stevie Smith to win the National Open

I don't hate him, root for him sometimes, but he's not my big hero either....

He just isn't likeable. Everything about him seems "forced" from a personality standpoint. Comes off like a Northeast d-bag like I've met in my travels so many times before. An arrogant prick with a blah personality. There's so much monotony in his voice and nothing insightful comes from anything he says.  He's trying to force the villian role but he's not good enough at it. Sammy was much better at it because he literally gives zero thought to what others thought about him (or so it seems) in a way that drew people to him.

People loved Bloomer because he was a showman and, like it or not, is/was the best LM driver ever (an argument can be made for Billy Moyer Sr.) If Bloomer wasn't as good as he was, I'm sure there'd be far more people that dislike him. Even if you disliked Scott, he had the coolest merch in the late model game so it was hard to walk by that trailer and not get something. 

I think the hate is for different reasons, though. Donny doesn't have a dislikable personality, they just wanted someone else to win from time to time. People have a genuine disdane for listening to Gravel talk. Similar to listening to Saldana. Never happy, always whining/complaining. Couldn't stand those interviews, either. 

Gravel isn't winning 30-35 races in the WoO per year, either. Buddy has three less wins. 

I don't know, Donny's personality was not real bright during his prime years either.  And talk about never being happy if he didn't win, and wanting to blame someone else, Donny did all of those things every bit as bad as Gravel.

I do agree with your Saldana comment.  There's a few guys like this, but Sammy takes the cake.  No one in the history of sprint car racing has blamed more other people for a second place finish, than Sammy.  Hell, I would even say any motorsport, period.  I guess not everyone can be like Kraig Kinser.  

I'd have to disagree with Donny after asking him for an autograph. He had hero cards on his bumper that he was signing. I walked up to him while he was standing there, NO ONE else was in line. I thought he'd hand me a card and start signing but no. I awkwardly grabbed the hero card, that was inches from his leg, handed him  the card and said can you sign this. He signed it and never said a word. 
I've had similar reactions from Sammy to. Nothing, no thank you or hi. Silence. I don't hate them for it. 

I've never had anything like that with David. AGAIN, I've never bought a shirt or anything from him, but never got the impression he was arrogant or thought he didn't have the time for small talk. 

Keep It Real