Darrell Waltrip is about to ease into retirement from the Fox Sports booth. And while his broadcast career, like his driving career, likely went on a bit too long, its impossible to underestimate his impact on the sport of Nascar as a driver, commentator, and overall personality. But I’ll try to capture the essence of Jaws…through a cheaply made Lego knockoff project!
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| You gotta start somewhere, and DW started racing local tracks, earning attention both good and bad for his braggadocios trash-talking. Along those lines, trying to put this together had ME trash talking my own meagre motor skills. |
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| Progress! DW ran his first Nascar race in 1972 in a car formerly driven by Mario Andretti. I wound up yelling at this set with the fervor of Marco Andretti. |
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| DW's DiGard years were successful on the track, but fractious off the track due to the team's notorious difficulty in paying people on time. Thankfully my eBay purchase of this...thing went smoothly and I didn't have to buy my way out of the purchase agreement. |
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| 1975 was a big year for DW as he notched his first Cup Series win AND signed to drive with his first major team in DiGard. 2019's been a big year for me as my girlfriend broke up with me and I decided to devote four hours to THIS project. Connected? You be the judge. |
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| The underside of the partially-completed car shows the importance of having a solid foundation. DW had that at Junior Johnson & Associates with team owner Junior Johnson and Associates Jeff Hammond and solid sponsorship. I have no associates, so there's that. |
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| As this, uh, collectable starts to change, so was DW in the mid-80's, as being born-again into the Christian faith changed his priorities drastically. I went to Sunday School briefly and earned the nickname "motor mouth". |
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| Despite winning three championships it took DW's famous 1989 Daytona 500 win for his career to be "complete", just like this car is starting to look. I think my life became complete when my dad and I booed DW for pimping Toyota. |
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| Adding these decals is a slow, steady process-- just like the slide at the end of DW's career and my continuing journey into irrelevance. |
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| Much like DW in 2001, seeing this finished is a breath of fresh air. Much like DW in 2019, looking at it now makes me think it might have been a waste of time. But then again, you can't change the past, and you can't change Darrell Waltrip's impact on the sport. |