by kh550 » February 2nd, 2008, 2:32 am
[quote=jhooper/HRE]This is a tough one. I guess to really crown a "King" we would need to agree on the various qualities that a King must have. We would never all agree on that either! I would crown Jacques "King" because of his longevity at or near the TOP of the sports premier class and his showmanship on & off the track. If you are giving a "BEST DRIVER" award J.V. would also be a contender BUT there are a few others that certainly qualify. Considering only driving talent and Huevos size, My choices would be: Mike Houle, Larry Day, Terry Wahl, Jacques and Gary Vessair. Other greats would be: Dave Wahl, Tim Bender, Brad Hulings, Guy Useldinger
One of the best ways I have found to judge a driver, is his ability to extract every bit of speed from his machine. When you have a Larry or Terry on your sled you don't really even need good comunication all you need to do is watch closely to what the machine is doing in the corners, they will drive it in deep enough to make the sled do something wrong and they will get on the gas earlier each lap until it does something wrong exiting the corner. Race drivers that have the ability to run a sled on the edge every lap are rare. A driver that drives reckless and far beyond his sleds capability is also not what you want. If you see a race sled that looks like it's handling fine but it's not out front, the driver isn't doing his job.
I cannot judge guys that raced before 1985 and the new crop have not had enough time to prove themselves yet.[/quote]
Good post -- thanks. What would this sport have been like without this list of names (and others). I think of "King" of the sport as only JV because of not only his love for racing but his longevity and fans love to watch him race. A "Best Driver" would be very very hard to pick because these guys were all so good and so professional. Tim Bender made those old Yamaha FIII sleds absolutely fly around the track. I loved to watch him drive. Brad Hulings had the whole package -- smart, detailed, great driver, and knew his sleds. He helped to raise the bar of what it took to succeed in this sport. [i](By the way, I noticed a couple years back the Brad was trying to get his son Aaron into Nascar. I know Aaron was a successful driver at the local and regional tracks -- has anyone heard how that is all working out????)[/i] Mike Houle was the same kinds of driver -- you almost expected him to win every time out. Still, as for the "KING" of the sport -- two guys come to mind first for me -- Dave Wahl and JV. But there can only be one king and IMO #96 you are the man! JV -- I once heard you say that you plan to race until you are 60. This could only come from the King of Ice Oval Racing.
