This is the Statt Mann Baby!!  Time to Scatt a little bit.

In all the Super Bowl blather this week I heard Hall of Famer Deacon Jones comment about his respect for quarterbacks like Bart Starr, Johnny Unitas and Sonny Jurgenson, guys who controlled their games by calling their own plays.

He said Starr, Unitas and Jurgenson, among others, changed the game and made it their own.

I immediately thought about Foyt, Andretti, Jones and Donohue, guys who changed races and made them their own, over and over again.

There are so few drivers these days who can leap into a race and change the game plan at a moment’s notice in order to win.

It’s what I call winning on purpose.  They can create a victory at winning time with split second decisions on the race track. That’s just like a quarterback who changes a play at the line of scrimmage to take advantage of what he sees in a split second at winning time.

It’s one reason why Jimmy Johnson rules NASCAR now.  He has the best crew chief in his ear but his crew chief knows Johnson can call the right audible and pull victory from the jaws of defeat, again at winning time.

Changing the race to make it your own is the mark of a winner and not just someone who happens to be in first place when the race ends.

Peace.