The Elite Forum
The Big Three Plus One => GoldenEye 007 => Topic started by: Jimbo on August 14, 2014, 11:09:42 pm
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I actually really liked Goose's topic, so I made my own. As the Elite's biggest NASCAR fan, I've taken some time to given proper credit and comparison to most guys here. I left out Lockwood because I was sick of typing toward the end!
Rayan I. – Jimmie Johnson : Burst onto the scene in 2002 and, proceeded to become by far the most dominant driver in the modern era with his 6 championships (including 5 in a row) since the start of 2006. Jimmie has shown his ability to win championships with multiple sets of rules and 3 different types of cars in the last 10 years, such as the “old car”, the “transition car”, and the modern “car of tomorrow” we’ve seen tinkered with since 2008.
David Clemens – Tony Stewart : Stewart’s rowdy attitude has personified his career since his rookie year in 1999, and this can also be seen in previous champion and US hero David Clemens. Stewart has won three championships in NASCAR’s top series and has done just about everything there is in racing. Stewart at one time led the points in the Busch series despite starting FOUR less races than everyone else, drawing similarities to his PD career. Clemens has never killed anyone (too soon?), but he’s certainly killed the game with his incredible persistence for those pesky untied records.
Marc Rutzou – Dale Earnhardt Sr. : When Earnhardt was on the track, he was known as the intimidator for his total intolerance of anyone around him and his unparalleled skill with a racecar. Some of Dale’s highlights are considered some of the greatest moments in NASCAR history, much like Marc’s Dam untied records are still considered “beyond insane”. Earnhardt won 76 races and 7 championships (#1 all time), his run in the 80s and 90s was only matched by Darrell Waltrip and Jeff Gordon. Earnhardt’s life was cut short after his wreck in the 2001 Daytona 500, much like Marc’s GE career was cut short when he found the truth cult not too long ago.
Bryan Bosshardt – Jeff Gordon : The golden boy, the first guy to truly dominate in the modern era of NASCAR (1993-1998 as the Rainbow Warrior, won 13 races in 1998). Gordon’s untouchability in the 1990s through the 2001 season is compared to Bosshardt as there was simply no one else on the planet who could even compete on their level. Earnhardt would be compared to Wouter and guys like Sterling Marlin would be compared to Jimbo back in the Bosshardt/Gordon era. Gordon and Bosshardt still show flashes of brilliance, but are for the most part on the twilight of their career and are 1st ballot hall of famers.
Karl Jobst – Kevin Harvick : Severely underrated, wildly rebellious, great under pressure, “the comeback kid”, Harvick has literally done it all in NASCAR in terms of individual races, but has never put it together for a championship season (much like Karl never taking #1 in points, only time). Harvick’s 2009 season can be compared to Karl in 2014. Both do their jobs seemingly effortlessly, and entertain with ease and are fan favorites.
Luke Szklarz – Kyle Busch : The big dissimilarity here is that Busch is mostly hated in NASCAR and the rest of the world, but Luke is very much loved. The career similarities are very similar though, as both show flashes of pure brilliance, both are young, both are extremely accomplished for their age and possess pure raw talent that can only be speculated into how far they will develop. Busch is madly inconsistent in the Sprint Cup (top series) in NASCAR, but absolutely dominates every other race he’s in – like Luke in Agent points and some cherry-picked SA/00A levels. Luke never having a true untied that lasted more than a week would be like Busch never hoisting a championship trophy.
Ryan White – Carl Edwards : Burst onto the scene in 2005 (actually, his first start was in August 2004 – a top 10 finish at Michigan!). Won his first race at Atlanta in Spring 2005 while beating Jimmie Johnson on a last lap pass, which started a furious run of popularity and a fad of doing a backflip off of his car upon winning races. (stay true, gate says BJ, yeah baby, etc). Edwards is always a threat to win any race, can win over any audience, but has never sustained the success it takes to win a championship since his entry into NASCAR’s top series. Edwards is actually leaving his iconic #99 ride this year, much like Goose might leave twitch for hitbox.
Jimmy Bauer – Brad Keselowski : Keselowski was a talent scouted by Dale Earnhardt Jr (later to be mentioned) and brought up through the ranks with his “don’t give a fuck” attitude and pure talent. Keselowski has drawn criticism for how he drives a racecar (with pure fearlessness and pride, which I compare to how Jimmy gets WRs and blatantly ignores levels like Silo). Keselowski’s championship in 2012 with Dodge (considered the “worst” make in NASCAR at the time) goes against everything we know in modern racing, somewhat like Bauer’s Statue Agent 2:18 and a lot of his other times he’s gotten recently, including Aztec A 1:26. Both are massively unpredictable, who knows where they’ll end up in the future?
Ilari Pekkala – Matt Kenseth : The silent killer, scary consistent, literally changed the rules after his consistency dominated the rest of the field. Kenseth dominated the field in 2003 when he led the points for 33 consecutive weeks (36 weeks total) en route to his first championship despite winning only ONE race that entire season! This unprecedented domination (and subsequent drop in ratings from the championship chase being so boring) gave birth to the “Chase” in 2004 and has been in NASCAR’s vocabulary since. Illu might be mostly done with IL gaming, like Kenseth is with most other series in NASCAR, but both have left their mark in the past.
Jim Barrett – Dale Earnhardt Jr : Dale Jr, despite being the son of a legend, has always been considered to be a fraud / chump / undeserving of any of his accolades. Dale Jr. has proven his talent in countless ways in the past, including 2 Daytona 500 wins (compared to Jimbo’s 3 untied records), countless restrictor plate wins including the unforeseen run of dominance from DEI in 2001-2005, and a sick run with 6 wins which fell just short of a championship (finished 5th) in 2004 during the first race of the chase. Jimbo’s peak was 3rd place, Jr’s was 5th. In 2014, Dale Jr. posts the biggest chip on his shoulder and possibly the very best team in NASCAR and has a real shot at finally winning the championship, much like Jimbo’s chip-on-his-shoulder attitude to proving he truly belongs in the top 10 and beyond. (Pro note: Dale Jr’s popularity is intentionally discarded here, and I almost compared him to Goose, but decided this was the better option instead).
Eise Smit – Greg Biffle : A veteran of the series, Biffle was once the points leader after the June Sonoma road course race in 2005 (actually beating out Jimmie Johnson that year for a week). He also won the most races that year, but fell short of the championship to Tony Stewart by a wide margin. Eise/Biffle have been slowly crawling back to relevance lately, but is mostly obscured by their teammates and sub-par results. Biffle will be the only “older” driver with Jack Roush next year, as Eise is the only player nowdays that posted untieds back in the true stone ages of Goldeneye.
Wouter Jansen – Richard Petty. The King of NASCAR. Has the most wins by ridiculous margin (200 to 105 in 2nd place), like Wouter has the most untied records in GE history. Wouter was the first true dominant champion of Goldeneye, like Petty was for his era. Nothing else needs to be said other than both careers are hall of fame caliber and both are possibly the greatest of all time depending on your criteria.
Cliff Hampton – Trevor Bayne. Trevor Bayne’s lone fluke victory was the 2011 Daytona 500, and he got massive publicity from it. Developed Lyme Disease from a spider bite and has been irrelevant since then. The 2011 Daytona 500 = Runway 00A 0:35.
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Nice! I was kinda thinking about this too in my head when Goose posted his topic and we have similar choices! Ace->Johnson, Clemens->Stewart, and Boss->Gordon were exactly what I thought as well. I kinda thought Marc was more of a Kyle Busch though. Marc of course has gotten a shitload of WRs and untieds since he joined in 2009 just like Busch has gotten wins (who is actually tied with Stewart for the 2nd most wins since his rookie year in 2005). And some people will say Busch has just as much raw talent as anyone like some would say about Marc. But Busch has never been close to a Cup championship kinda comparable to Marc never really all that close to points champion. Also Busch has had a bunch of off track issues which maybe can be kinda comparable to Marc having times backrolled in proof calls back in the day and having video quality issues. Also I don't really agree with your usage of Earnhardt Sr. since everyone else except Wouter has comparisons to active drivers.
However I think Wouter to Richard Petty is perfect. And maybe Sterling Neblett can be compared to Lee Petty? Both very old champions and Hall of Famers but never really considered the greatest. And both eras aren't talked about much and have lost relevance to current eras (For example, I forgot the exact number but a vast majority of Lee Petty's wins were on dirt).
For newer guys, maybe Wodah->Joey Logano? Wodah has started getting really good times like Facility 44 while Logano has finally started to show that he can compete for wins on a consistent basis.
And TroubleClef or JustinDT to Kyle Larson? Very new players that have already gotten multiple WRs just like Kyle Larson has already had a really good rookie season even though no wins yet.
Oh and I think you lost your title of Elite's biggest NASCAR fan when you admitted you watch football over NASCAR since 2008. :kappa: :kappa: :kappa: :nesquik:
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I don't know crap about nascar but I like your writing about me, it seems pretty accurate.
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Jimmy!
Really glad you read and responded to those, since you're literally probably one of only five people who would fully understand all of those comparisons. I felt compelled to use Dale Sr. somehow, even though I sat here and struggled to figure out how I'd use him. (I originally had Marc listed as David Pearson, a guy who dominated when he competed but rarely gave it his all).
As I pondered this some more, I came up with more comparisons like...
Shawn Johnson - Mark Martin
Alex Anderson - Rusty Wallace
Daniel Coelho - Joey Logano (for sure)
Anyway, that's probably it I guess. Can't really peg Dale Jarrett/Bill Elliott on anyone either :(
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This is a good thread Jimbo. Good choices.