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

I've recentlly read Wolfgang's book and without a doubt had to be one of the hardest guys to please as far as owners and crew chiefs and think he admitted as much.   I found his match:  this month's issue of Flat Out,  interivew with Damion Gardner, after about the 3rd page and several car owners and several crew chiefs gone by the wayside, the interviewer, after Gardner talks about his 2010 parting ways with new crew chief and former driver Kevin Briscoe, interviewer says:  "that statement brought to mind perhaps one of the most poignant questions I had for Damion", and probably a difficult question to ask any driver, "over the years he had developed a reputation for being difficult to work for"?  Damion answered by saying he never asked anyone to work any harder than he worked, that if he wasn't winning, sometimes it just wasn't meant to be, that hej didn't always blame the car owner or crew.  Followed by "that's the biggest misconception people have of me". 

But, man, the article, year after year, a new car owner or new crew chief or both.  rarely two consecutive years with same people. His Scott Sales Co sprinter pictured on cover and a great full page picture of him, tough looking, cool looking, handsome guy and very nice full page picture of his Bonneville Salt Flats Green Demon car on pages 2 and 3.  Streamlined look.  didn't make the 200mph barrier but 195, going back for 2nd try at 200.  Kind of a short and scary wheelbase for a Salt Flats car I'd think. 

Lawlessness + liberalism = HELL -  NYC, Detroit, Chicago, 
Seattle, LA  Who the H runs those cities. 

I don't think ANY driver could be easy to please.  They ALL put a lot of pressure on their crew to have the car prepared well. (And owners put a lot of Pressure on the DRIVER to put the car in victory lane).

Anyone that thinks Karl Kinser was easy to drive for should ask Steve Kinser or Mark Kinser (Mark stated in PA interviews when he WON THE RACE that Karl was bit$hing at him in the pits because they had different ideas on how to make the car fast.

No different than any of these drivers either:  Lasoski, McCarl, Swindell, Dollanksy, Meyers, Saldana, Pittman, etc., etc., etc..

I too, think this is a symptom of the need to be successful. In Wolfgangs book he talks about the string of 17 wins he put together with the Weikert team in 85 and talks about that on the 18th race when they took 3rd that night, Weikert was upset about the loss that night, even though they'd won 17 in a row before that and by all rights took 3rd that night. Obviously some people in life are more difficult to deal with but I think the stress's of the life these guys chose of being a proffesional driver do harden them to people and breed this. Doug talks about the fact that he actually got along good with Davey Sr and Jr as the wrenches on the Weikert team but in that situation I think it was Weikert himself's demand for winning every night that wore on him. Where as in other situaitons the owner can be more laid back but then your mechanic looks down on you if your not winning or thinks he needs to pass the buck on to you so he justifies that he is doing a good job.

I think that if you were to look at most successful business peoples personalities, they become quite cut throat as well, and I'm talking about the type of person that is making lots of deals and dealing with lots of other people, not the guy that owns 1 local store. But once again these types of personality are likely developed because of the need to do so, if you don't harden some and are trying to be everyones friend you will immediately be ran over by the others.

In the society we live in, we all like a success story, but we also like to root for the nice guy but in actuality those 2 things often don't pair up because with success come desicions along the way, whether the decision was right or wrong, often those decisions aren't agreed with by someone or a group. Wolfgang can tell his story and we all can look at it now and say he was one of the best ever, but he kept the ball rolling himself by making the hardnose decisions he did.

http://gph.is/XMLGff

They are all hard to work for if you don't like hard work. Man, it is there job and they want to be the best and to be that you have to have the best around you, equipment, staff etc. That is how they got there.