{"id":3293,"date":"2013-05-15T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2013-05-15T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/inspiringathletes\/?p=3293"},"modified":"2013-05-14T21:23:39","modified_gmt":"2013-05-15T01:23:39","slug":"a-conversation-with-nascar-hall-of-famer-ned-jarrett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/2013\/05\/a-conversation-with-nascar-hall-of-famer-ned-jarrett.html","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"NASCAR<\/a>
NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Ned Jarrett (Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In NASCAR\u2019s rough and tumble era of the 1950s and 1960s, Hall of Fame inductee Ned Jarrett stood out due to his understated personality and polite demeanor. Perhaps that\u2019s why the media often referred to him as \u201cGentlemen Ned\u201d and looked at him as one of the sport\u2019s original statesmen.<\/p>\n

After winning two Cup championships, Jarrett shocked the racing world by retiring in his prime. He went on to have a stellar broadcasting career and gained additional notoriety as Cup champion Dale Jarrett\u2019s father.<\/p>\n

These days, Jarrett enjoys reminiscing over his glory days on the track and a faith movement that he helped pioneer.<\/p>\n

In this Inspiring Athletes conversation, Jarrett talks about his beginning in the sport, the prevalent nature of moonshine during those early days and how faith has evolved amongst the NASCAR community:<\/p>\n

Chad Bonham: How did you first get interested in stockcar racing?<\/p>\n

Ned Jarrett: My dad had taken me to some races in the area here (in Newton, North Carolina) at some dirt track events and made a racing man out of me. Then they started building a track about eight or 10 miles from the farm (in Hickory). It was a big thing for the community because there were very few forms of entertainment. You had a couple movie theaters in town and high school sports and that was about it. Having a racetrack, that was a big thing. You\u2019d go down to the country store on a rainy day when you couldn\u2019t work on the farm and these farmers and saw millers would be sitting around talking, \u201cBoy, wait \u2018til they get that thing built. I\u2019ll go up there and show \u2018em how to drive.\u201d Secretly I thought, \u201cWow, I want to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonham: How aware were you of the moonshine connection within the sport?<\/p>\n

\"Factory<\/a>
Factory Ford driver Ned Jarrett won the Southern 500 in 1965, beating Buck Baker’s Plymouth (No. 86) by 14 laps, the widest margin of victory in NASCAR Cup Series history. (Photo by RacingOne\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jarrett: Once I got into racing, I knew of people who were involved. In fact, it seemed like back in those days, a big percentage of the drivers were involved in moonshine, one way or another. That\u2019s one of the reasons why my dad did not want me to drive racecars. He didn\u2019t think that it would be good for the image that he had worked so hard to build his family and the respect that he tried to build in the community. He couldn\u2019t see where my participation with the moonshiners could add to the image that he had worked so hard to build. He felt like it might tear down the image. He wasn\u2019t against those people. There were a lot of good people who were involved in moonshine. They worked hard at it. He didn\u2019t talk against them, but he didn\u2019t want his sons involved in it. There was a reputation that came with (moonshine). And the biggest part of that reputation was they were doing something that was against the law. They were breaking the law. I don\u2019t know that my dad or anyone else looked at them as big sinners. They just had a different way of making a living. For some of them, it was the only way they knew. It was just something that sort of accepted. It\u2019s not that my dad wouldn\u2019t associate with them, but he just didn\u2019t want me involved in a sport that didn\u2019t have a very good image back then, especially when so many of the participants were involved in moonshine.<\/p>\n

Bonham: You were one of the few outspoken Christians during the late 1950s and early 1960s. What was the atmosphere like within the sport for you and other believers?<\/p>\n

Jarrett: I never felt any animosity as a result of being a Christian. I never tried to hide the fact that I was a Christian but I also didn\u2019t try to push it on anyone else. Whatever beliefs they had, that was their business and the beliefs that I had was my business. I never felt that anyone felt badly towards me because I was a Christian. I didn\u2019t try to hide it, but I didn\u2019t try to get up and preach because I wasn\u2019t capable of doing that. I don\u2019t think God put me on the earth for that or He would have led me in a different direction.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Why did you retire at such a young age?<\/p>\n

\"Class<\/a>
Class of 2011 Inductee Ned Jarrett (L) and Dale Jarrett (R) pose prior to the 2011 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremonies at the Charlotte Convention Center on May 23, 2011 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images for NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jarrett: There were a number of reasons that I got out as early as I did. One was that I vowed to myself early on that however far up the ladder I got, I would quit while I was there and not go down the other side. People have a tendency to remember the last thing you did and I didn\u2019t want them to remember me as a has-been. Also, we didn\u2019t know how long we could continue to race and how old we could be and continue to race and be effective. We were comparing ourselves to athletes in other sports. You get in your mid-30s and you start losing some of that athletic ability. I was 34 and although I felt like I still had some years left in me, I had broken my back the year before in \u201965, but I continued to drive through that and won the championship. I don\u2019t say that boastfully but that\u2019s the way it was. I felt physically fit to continue on in \u201966 and then Ford pulled out and it made me step back and take a look at the lack of security there was in the sport, for one thing. I was also missing out on a lot of things that my children had going on in their lives and I wanted to be a part of it. My daughter (Patti) was six years old. Dale was nine years old. My oldest son Glenn was fifteen. They were at the stages of their lives where they had a lot of things going on. I couldn\u2019t be a part of their lives as long as I was running all over the country driving race cars. That factored into it as well.<\/p>\n

Bonham: How would you compare your era to the current era where so many young drivers are openly sharing their faith?<\/p>\n

Jarrett: It\u2019s very different from when I was driving but it\u2019s very refreshing. I love to see it. I happened to be at Daytona when Trevor Bayne won. I went to Victory Lane and I\u2019d never met him. It\u2019s great to see that. It certainly is a sharp contrast to the days when I was racing. But you\u2019ve got a different platform now then we had back in those days. There was no television and very few media members that were there and those media members were either not Christians or they didn\u2019t talk about it either and they wouldn\u2019t write about it. I don\u2019t recall many stories that were written about me being a Christian while driving racecars. What little that was written about the sport back then, they would write about what the driver was doing on the racetrack. There were some complimentary articles written about me being a family man and those kinds of things over the years, which I really appreciated. But as far as digging deep into my faith, I don\u2019t recall much of that going on.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Why do you think NASCAR has become so friendly and open to the idea of public expressions of faith and ministry at the track through organizations like Motor Racing Outreach?<\/p>\n

\"NASCAR<\/a>
NASCAR Hall of Fame member Ned Jarrett poses beside his 1964 #11 Ford Galaxy, during the Hall of Honor unveiling at the NASCAR Hall of Fame on May 24, 2011 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jason Smith\/ Getty Images for NASCAR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jarrett: The sport has always been pictured as a family sport, starting with the France family. I think the family image has been and has become even more important to NASCAR as years have passed. If the families are made up of down-to-earth type people\u2014fun-loving, God-fearing people\u2014then I think that has certainly helped. That image has grown and NASCAR is more interested now in seeing it grow more. I think they like that and they should. I feel that has helped to open doors for Christianity and faith in the sport. It\u2019s good to see that (NASCAR is) actually encouraging the things that go on in the sport and the work that God\u2019s doing in the sport.<\/p>\n

This is a just a small portion of a longer interview conducted with Ned Jarrett for an upcoming Judson Press book called Faith in the Fast Lane set to release in January of 2014. This book chronicles NASCAR\u2019s rich faith story and include additional commentary from legendary drivers such as Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Mark Martin, Bobby Labonte, Darrell Waltrip and Phil Parsons.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In NASCAR\u2019s rough and tumble era of the 1950s and 1960s, Hall of Fame inductee Ned Jarrett stood out due to his understated personality and polite demeanor. Perhaps that\u2019s why the media often referred to him as \u201cGentlemen Ned\u201d and looked at him as one of the sport\u2019s original statesmen. After winning two Cup championships,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,382,388,5],"tags":[975,16,966,23,151,1329,217,198,10,208,971,1315,204,141],"class_list":["post-3293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-athletes","category-qa","category-racing","category-sports-features","tag-bobby-allison","tag-bobby-labonte","tag-dale-jarrett","tag-darrell-waltrip","tag-daytona-500","tag-gentleman-ned","tag-mark-martin","tag-motor-racing-outreach","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-hall-of-fame","tag-ned-jarrett","tag-phil-parsons","tag-richard-petty","tag-trevor-bayne"],"yoast_head":"\nA conversation with NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett - Inspiring Athletes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A conversation with NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett - Inspiring Athletes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In NASCAR\u2019s rough and tumble era of the 1950s and 1960s, Hall of Fame inductee Ned Jarrett stood out due to his understated personality and polite demeanor. 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Chad\u2019s professional journey began at the University of Tulsa where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (1993) while working extensively in athletic media relations and serving as a sports editor for The Collegian. Since then, he has written extensively for such publications as Relevant, CCM, Christian Retailing, New Man, Charisma, Today\u2019s Christian, Ministries Today, Breakaway, Brio, Sports Spectrum, Christian Single, Faith & Friends, Sharing the Victory and Gospel Today. He has authored, co-authored or ghost written and edited 13 books including Life in the Fairway (New Leaf Press), Glory of the Games (Cross Training), Wrestling with God (River Oak), Spiritual Journeys (Relevant) and the four-part Fellowship of Christian Athletes Core Value Series; Excellence, Teamwork, Serving and Integrity (Regal Books). Chad is currently working on five new books including Sooner Legacy, Husker Legacy and Lessons From Sooner Football (Cross Training) as well as The Faith of Stock Car Racing (Judson Press). When he's not writing, Chad lends his efforts to various independent television and film projects. He was the coordinating producer for Choosing Life (2010) and Life Happens (2011). Chad is currently serving as producer on a forthcoming documentary about Super Bowl champion Brian Kinchen. Chad and his wife Amy live in Broken Arrow, Okla., with sons Lance (September 2003), Cole (February 2008) and Quinn (February 2011).","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/author\/cbonham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3293"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3301,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3293\/revisions\/3301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspiringathletes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}