Statistically Speaking: NASCAR dynasty

Hendrick Motorsports has signed Dale Earnhardt Jr. to a five-year contract that will see him replace Kyle Busch as the fourth driver in that organization. He joins Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson to become part of what might be the greatest collection of talent the Modern Era of NASCAR has seen, but it is not a scenario without precedent.

This comes as Hendrick is dominating the '07 season with 10 victories in the first 14 races, leaving fans of other teams – who already are battered, beaten and discouraged by the current state of affairs – confused and angry. The rich truly are getting richer.

Dynasties are a part of sports, and if your team does not happen to be the one on top at the moment, they always are difficult to accept. Much of the nation's hatred for the Dallas Cowboys comes because of their five Super Bowl victories, three of which were earned in a four-year span from 1993 through 1996. Despising the New York Yankees first became a national pastime in the 1930s when they won four consecutive World Series championships from 1936 through 1939, and with 26 total championships throughout the past century, they have reinforced that feeling many times over.

Auto racing has not been immune to this same trend, and throughout its history, smart, well-funded owners have tried to lock up all the talent at their disposal.

Hendrick Motorsports first staked its claim to a dynasty in the 1990s when it won four consecutive Winston Cup championships from 1995 through 1998. Gordon took the top honors in 1995 and then again in 1997 and 1998. Terry Labonte won the championship in 1996, and that year Hendrick captured the top two spots with Gordon finishing only 37 points behind.

Gordon added a fourth championship in 2001 and Jimmie Johnson won the Nextel Cup title last year. But for all their dominance, all has not been perfect in these shops.

Hendrick Motorsports was founded in 1984 with the No. 5 team and Geoff Bodine behind the wheel, but in recent seasons, this team and the No. 25 have seemed more like red-headed stepchildren. While Gordon and Johnson have been of championship caliber, former No. 25 driver Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch struggled to become weekly contenders.

Last year, Vickers asked to be released from his contract early to move to Red Bull Racing, and this year Busch's exploration of free market opportunities for 2009 and beyond opened the door that eventually will see him leave his contract one year early to make room for Earnhardt.

The hiring of Earnhardt could be the final piece of the puzzle for Hendrick, as now three of the most talented drivers in the field race for a single operation.

In 2008, Hendrick Motorsports will be reminiscent of several dynasties that have dotted auto racing's history. Petty Enterprises has won 268 races during its history, but most of these victories belonged to Richard and Lee Petty, which was as much attributable to their considerable skill twisting the wheel in the family sedan as the team's ability to attract outside talent.

In the 1960s, Holman-Moody Enterprises was the team to beat, and that team's 96 victories were allocated across multiple drivers. But with factory backing from Ford at its disposal, this team also requires an asterisk behind its name.

Ten separate drivers won for that organization from 1958 through 1971, with David Pearson leading the charge with 30 victories. Fred Lorenzen (25 wins), Bobby Allison (12), Dick Hutcherson (12), Fireball Roberts (five), Joe Weatherly (four), Curtis Turner (three), Nelson Stacey (three), Dan Gurney (one) and Mario Andretti (one) rounded out the list of talented drivers who raced for Holman-Moody.

A true visionary in the sport, however, was a little-known engineer named Carl Kiekhaefer. When he purchased a small outboard motors company in Wisconsin, he had no intention of turning it into one of the biggest corporations in the country. But his engines were so good that the boating industry demanded he keep making them. He named his motors after the speedy Roman god Mercury and the brand still is in use today.

Kiekhaefer decided that NASCAR would be a great place to showcase his company and he attacked ownership in that arena with the same single-minded determination with which he approached business. His iron-fisted philosophy of ownership was successful on the track, and in a very short period of time (1955-56) his drivers won 52 races.

His personality was so overpowering, however, that drivers could hardly stand to race for him, and Tim Flock – whom Kiekhaefer coaxed out of retirement at the end of 1954 – ran screaming from the team immediately after winning a second championship in 1955. If the owner had been easier to work for, he might have become one of the architects of the sport.

Flock won 21 races for Kiekhaefer – 18 of which were scored in 1955 when he won the championship – and the next year Buck Baker took the yearly top honors after winning 14 times. The list of drivers who raced his cars to victory lane includes a who's who of stock car racing, including Speedy Thompson with nine wins, Fonty Flock (three), Herb Thomas (three), Jack Smith (one) and Norm Nelson (one).

In 1956, Kiekhaefer's drivers finished first, second and third in the final standings. During one incredible streak, his drivers won 16 consecutive events, which sounds eerily similar to what is being played out on the 2007 NASCAR stage and could happen with Junior joining Hendrick in '08.

Fans were no happier to see a single team dominate then than they are now, and Kiekhaefer's success actually worked against him. Because his drivers essentially were ruining the competition, NASCAR responded with an unfavorable rules package specifically aimed at slowing his cars. In the public relations tussle, fans sided with NASCAR and responded by booing the teams at the track – which Kiekhaefer believed would cause them to boycott his outboard motors. Since his foray into NASCAR was primarily a marketing tactic, Kiekhaefer took his fast cars and went back home.

Of course, the fact that few drivers actually wanted to race for him also played a role in Kiekhaefer's short-lived status, and that is the difference between then and Hendrick Motorsports now.

Notably, both Mears and Earnhardt have said that a major factor in deciding to come to Hendrick Motorsports was the close, personal relationships they had with Rick Hendrick even before they joined his organization. Hendrick's engaging personality separates his reign from those who have come before and is a huge reason why fans should settle in to wait out a long-lived dynasty.

Dan Beaver of dba Media provides editorial and fantasy racing coverage and analysis to Yahoo! Sports. Send Dan a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

Updated on Thursday, Jun 14, 2007 5:07 pm, EDT

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