The current generation of drivers in motorsports is unlike any in history. Kids start their careers young, develop their skills to an insanely high level, and end up as incredibly talented professionals. Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney is in complete awe and admiration of this. Speaking to the press during the playoff media day, he explained what these young and fledgling crops bring to the sport.
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He said, “I think it’s a lot of talent. I raced with all these guys growing up, and they are so good at what they do. It’s super, super hard to just compete with them, so I think it’s just a new wave of talented race car drivers.” Age is a significant performance factor in many sports, including racing. There is a lot of information that shows how drivers are better when they are young.
Blaney pointed this out and expressed his pleasant shock at children being put into karts when they are as young as five or six years old. He did not begin racing until he was eight or nine years old. His father did not start racing till he was 18 years old. So, this change that has come with the years is something to be impressed by. Going forward, he has but one hope.
He broke it down, “I think as the years go by, you just see these younger and younger kids come up. They’re really talented, and they have a lot of info about them. I think we bring a lot of talent and hopefully enough personality to where people can latch onto this human being as well as a racer.”
That’s a reasonable expectation in times when driver personality is not in abundance.
Blaney marked his name in history forever when he won the 2023 Cup Series championship. But, as any great driver wouldn’t be, he is not satisfied with his career yet. His long-term goal is to leave a legacy behind akin to the ones that the four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon and three-time Cup Series champion Tony Stewart did.
He told the press ahead of the Bristol race, “You never know. Hopefully, 10 years down the road, if I’m still around, you’ve got somebody who feels that way about me like I felt about Jeff and Tony and that stuff. That’s the special part to me.”
He intends to be the larger-than-life hero to the kids of today, just as Gordon and Stewart were to him back in the day.
