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| | Tuesday, November 30 | |||||
| NEW YORK -- Winston Cup champion Dale Jarrett stepped to the
podium, looked around Manhattan's posh 21 Club and began his
remarks.
"We're glad you get to know there's somebody else out there
besides Jeff Gordon," he said.
Indeed.
Gordon has won the NASCAR series three of the last four years,
but this year Jarrett the journeyman, driving his 15th season on
the circuit, took it away with week-in, week-out consistency.
He won four races, finished in the top five in 24 of 34 events
and in the top six of 14 straight races. His work delivered first
championships to car owner Robert Yates and crew chief Todd
Parrott.
Jarrett's series championship was a triumph of perseverance.
He's been driving the NASCAR circuit since 1984 and has won at
least one race in each of the last seven years. His 22 victories
place him 23rd on NASCAR's career list.
Jarrett follows his father, Ned, as winner of NASCAR's top
series. They are just the second father-son pair to take of the
title, joining Lee and Richard Petty.
"My opportunity to win this championship should inspire others
trying to make it," Jarrett said. "It took a lot of time, but it
can be done with hard work and dedication. You just have to keep
trying.
"It was 1987 before I really got a full-time ride. In those
days, I never even thought of a championship. I was never with an
organization I felt could win a championship. It took time and
being in the right place at the right time."
Things began falling in place in after Ernie Irvan was nearly
killed in an accident in Michigan in 1994. Yates needed a
replacement the next season, and hired Jarrett, who had designs on
starting his own team in 1996.
That didn't work out, and after Irvan returned, Jarrett stayed
on to drive a second Yates Ford with rookie Todd Parrott as crew
chief.
In their first race together, they won the 1996 Daytona 500 and
it was then that Jarrett began thinking of the championship.
"The key was keeping people together, adding to them and making
a good team," he said. "We were able to do that."
Of the 100 people Yates and Parrott assembled for Jarrett in
1996, just one has left.
In 1997, Jarrett finished second to Gordon. In 1998, when Gordon
won for the third time in four years, Jarrett was third.
When Gordon won at Daytona in February -- Jarrett finished a
disappointing 37th -- the chase was on again. This time, though,
Jarrett caught up.
By piling up points, he was able to get in front and maintain
his lead. He won in Richmond, Va., and Michigan, the second time
around in Daytona Beach, Fla., and at the Brickyard 400 at
Indianapolis.
At fifth-place at Homestead, Fla. on Nov. 14 clinched the crown.
Jarrett says he's not the best driver on the circuit.
"I don't think I'm the most talented," he said Tuesday. "Mark
Martin, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt are more talented. They have
the ability to get themselves out of situations handling the car. I
try not to get into those positions.
"There's different ways to succeed. It's using your talent to
the best of your ability."
Jarrett thought his advantage this year was getting out in front
of the others instead of having to always play catch-up.
"We always said we wanted to be out front and see what that's
like," he said. "When you're behind, you're relying on somebody
else having a problem."
So Jarrett clung to his lead tenaciously and let others do the
chasing for a change.
And Gordon?
He finished sixth. | ALSO SEE Jarrett proved consistency counts the most
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