Valvoline.com

The Men of the Year 2011

It is tempting -- oh, so temping, like a second dessert at a holiday party -- to take what happened in the NASCAR Sprint Cup finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and cast it -- along with Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards -- in overarching terms to cover all the twists and turns of Motorsports 2011.

Absolutely no disrespect to Stewart and Edwards, who thrilled us with an epic heavyweight championship bout, one which Don King would have been proud to stage at Madison Square Garden.  But the season is more than a Chase -- no matter how compelling. Yes, Homestead put a nice topper on Cup’s upward direction year, which made NASCAR stand alone amidst all the pretenders.

Congratulations certainly go to Nationwide series champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. To top trucker Austin Dillon, double World of Outlaws titlist Jason Meyers, repeat world champ Sebastian Vettel and his design genius, Adrian Newey. To Del Worsham, who retired following his NHRA Top Fuel championship, Funny Car comeback kid Matt Hagan, and King of Speed Kenny Bernstein, who called it a career.

Also to Scott Pruett, on yet another sports car championship. To Joey Hand, who probably won’t get a single Driver of the Year vote even though he won Daytona, Sebring, Long Beach and the ALMS GT crown.  And, despite the sad circumstances, to three-peat IndyCar title-holder Dario Franchitti.

Plus, there were popular first-time victory lane visitors, like Regan Smith at Darlington, Marcos Ambrose at Watkins Glen, and Ed Carpenter for Sarah Fisher’s team at Kentucky.

For our purposes, however, the Man of the Year has to do more than win. He has to elevate his team, his series, his sport and his industry. He has to find some bit of racing magic that we all thought was lost in what has evolved into a Big Business. He has to remind us of a higher purpose in life than money, fame or trophies.

For doing that, Trevor Bayne and Dan Wheldon have earned this column's 2011 James P. Chapman Man of the Year Award. The honor is named in memory of Chapman, the legendary public relations pioneer and respected motorsports executive. Chapman, who was Babe Ruth’s PR man and confidant, also orchestrated the Driver of the Year Award and was director of racing for CART series sponsor PPG Industries before his death in 1996.

In an era of the mega-teams, which operate like racing factories, and bad behaving egomanic drivers, Bayne and Wheldon proved the biggest events could still be won by good guys on small teams with smallish budgets.

Bayne won the Daytona 500, Wheldon the Indianapolis 500. Those were two huge -- and welcome -- surprises in the year’s two most important races. Those were the two feel-good moments in a year of soaring high-highs and a sorrowful low-low -- Wheldon’s death in the IndyCar series finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Nobody -- except maybe drafting partner Jeff Gordon -- saw it coming for Bayne, a largely unknown 20-year-old rookie without even a Nationwide series win on his short resume. In the Great American Race, Bayne not only made history for himself, he revived that of the Wood Brothers and the No. 21. His joyful fresh-face and humble down-to-earth attitude impressed people everywhere during a national media tour.

You couldn’t help but like the kid. And cheer for him, especially when he was hospitalized with an illness, then came back for a late-season Nationwide win at Texas Motor Speedway. All of it was good -- very good -- for NASCAR.

Three months later, Wheldon -- without a full-time ride -- accomplished what most thought was impossible: He fired-up Bryan Herta’s Little Team That Could and won the Indianapolis 500 against the technical and financial might of the Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi and Michael Andretti multi-car powerhouses.

Then, again rideless, Wheldon became IndyCar’s best ambassador and showed himself to be an interesting and insightful TV commentator. Andretti’s team, Danica’s sponsor, and an all-out series championship run awaited in 2012 . . . 

It doesn’t matter that both Bayne and Wheldon benefitted from the late-race mistakes of others. What does matter is they were there, in position to win. It matters even more what they did and how they did it with faithful fans and mainstream media after the checkered flag, making new friends for their series, and re-energizing old ones.  

In the end, their personal enthusiasm carried the day. At Daytona. At Indy. And beyond.

“Dan was the glue that bound our little team together,” said Herta. “It was his spark and belief in us that carried us all to victory lane.”

Those warm words provide more than a touch of comfort at year’s end. They remind us of how one man, performing on the biggest stage under the brightest spotlight in front of the largest audience, can make a difference. To his team. His series. His sport. His industry.

That’s what Trevor Bayne and Dan Wheldon did in 2011. And that is why I say, with appreciation and gratitude to them both, they stand above all others as the Men of the Year.

Thanks, guys. God bless.   

Previous James P. Chapman Man of the Year Award Winners:

2000  --  Jacques Natz (news director, WTHR-TV, Indianapolis) and Terry Brookins (news director, Speedvision RaceWeek).
2001  --  Richard Childress
2002  --  Tony George
2003  --  NASCAR fans
2004  --  Brian France
2005 --   Carl Edwards
2006 –  Jimmie Johnson
2007 – Rick Hendrick
2008 – Tony Schumacher and Alan Johnson
2009 – Mark Martin
2010 -- Scott Pruett