Racing's new hot wheels

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Flip on MTV and watch Dale Earnhardt Jr. showing off the nightclub in his basement and his collection of cars. Check out the newsstands and take your pick of magazines with Kevin Harvick on the cover.

Elliott Sadler hawks products on TV and Jimmie Johnson's smiling face is everywhere.

They're young, hip and the hottest things in racing right now. With the death of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, the face of NASCAR has shifted from the good ol' country boys who built the sport to the fun-loving kids who are taking it over.

NASCAR's new young guns are out in full force this week for activities surrounding the Feb. 17 season-opening Daytona 500. They're putting their time in on the track, then hitting the beaches and clubs.

The fun-loving 20-somethings are taking NASCAR by storm, winning races while luring in a new group of fans -- who, for the first time in a while, can relate to the drivers.

"These new fans aren't coming from the same core as the ones who have been following the sport for so long," Harvick said. "It's people who like to wear their hats backward, play video games and like to watch MTV.

"Those are things I like to do, so they can relate to me and some of the newer drivers."

Suddenly, NASCAR is hot and hip and not just for gearheads and rednecks.

Now it's cool to tune into a Sunday race, watching to see when Harvick will infuriate a veteran with his aggressive driving. And it's acceptable to wear a Budweiser shirt with Earnhardt Jr.'s likeness, and even popular to watch him slice through the field for another strong finish.

They've brought a fresh new attitude into the sport and a tendency not to take any grief from the veterans. Some of the NASCAR graybeards don't care for them, but most appreciate the excitement they're creating.

"Boy, am I glad they brought life back to the sport," veteran Jimmy Spencer said. "I think the charisma is there in these drivers coming in. They have a tough attitude and they speak what's on their mind."

With the youth movement has come a change in marketing and advertising the sport.

Earnhardt Jr., the rage in NASCAR right now, hawks cologne and was on a recent cover of TV Guide.

The notorious party boy was featured in two commercials during the Super Bowl, has made a guest appearance on the "Tonight" show, starred in a rock video, introduced a band during the MTV Music Awards, and has a book rapidly climbing up the best seller list.

He wears what he wants, gets into all the hottest events, has an entourage called the "Dirty Mo' Posse" and is usually trailed by a half-dozen women.

He knows he's the new face of NASCAR but won't change who he is to conform with the sport's tradition.

"Maybe I don't fit the mold," said the 27-year-old, who prefers to be called "Junior" these days. "I don't go around with a sponsor's logo on my head. I wear what I want to because I think it's cool and it's what I like.

"I just try to be myself because you can't fool the public in trying to be something you're not."

One thing he's not is his father, who was an intensely private man with a completely different set of interests.

Earnhardt, the elder statesman of NASCAR who died in a wreck here last February, loved country music, spent his free time working on his farm and perfectly fit his starring role in the old Chevrolet ads with the "Like a Rock" slogan.

With his North Carolina roots and his racing background, Earnhardt was NASCAR. But with his death, that image changed to reflect his son's lifestyle.

"For so long we were a sport made up of hard-nosed men who wore cowboy hats and went hunting and fishing," said Richard Childress, Earnhardt's longtime car owner.

"Now we've got this younger group coming in with a whole different lifestyle and different interests. I've always believed that if you don't change with growth, you will wilt. NASCAR and the people involved with this sport for so long are having to accept that."

Childress, especially.

In hiring Harvick to replace Earnhardt, he went from one extreme to the other.

Harvick, a 26-year-old Californian, prefers trendy Dr. Marten shoes to cowboy boots and would rather play with his remote control cars than go hunting and fishing with the boss.

When not at the race track, he might be found sitting courtside at a New York Knicks game or throwing out the first pitch at a Yankees game.

Then there's Johnson, a rookie this year driving for Jeff Gordon and Hendrick Motorsports. He's gone on a party cruise to Jamaica the past three winters and has a brand new jet ski to tool around the lake near his North Carolina home.

Sadler, a Virginia native with a deep Southern accent, has a trace of the old-timers in him through his love of deer hunting. But he's also active in sports, avidly supports the North Carolina Tar Heels and is well known for his now-infamous stunt of eating 16 bologna-burgers in one sitting.

They go door-to-door and bumper-to-bumper with the veterans, rarely backing down and always defending their actions later.

Ricky Rudd, in his 27th year of Winston Cup racing, points to Gordon's emergence in NASCAR as the start of the changing of the guard.

Rudd says Gordon, who was 21 when he ran his first race in 1992 and has since won four Winston Cup title, has paved the way for other young drivers to be successful.

"Gordon proved there were dollars out there to get from that 18- to 26-year-old crowd," Rudd said. "When I came up, NASCAR probably had five people working on advertising. Now there's probably 1,000 and they recognize what Gordon started and are feeding off it.

"There's never been a better time to be young and get into this sport. Guys like me, our time is done. It's a young man's game now."

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