NASHVILLE, Tenn. — One may not think the current NASCAR Cup Series champion would have an ongoing dialogue with a Hall of Fame dirt-track racer of the 1970s and 1980s.
But that’s most definitely the case with third-generation racer Ryan Blaney, who will be crowned Cup Series champion tonight in The Music City. Blaney was asked during Thursday morning’s media session:
“Who was the coolest person to reach out after winning (the Cup Series title)?”
Blaney quickly pointed to National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Doug Wolfgang, who raced against Blaney’s father (Dave) and grandfather (Lou).
“I think personally, to me, I don’t know if you know who Doug Wolfgang is, but he’s a great sprint car racer,” Blaney told the media. “Doug texts me every now and then. Through the year he will always congratulate me, so he called me Monday night after Phoenix and that was super cool to be able to talk to him.
“My dad is a huge fan of his. My dad respected Doug so much and was always very envious of his success. He was so good. So he called me Monday, which was super cool. I’ll tell you this story,” Blaney continued. “He was like, ‘I have a dilemma. I have this debate internally with myself.’
“I was like, ‘What’s that?’ He’s like, ‘Well, I raced with your grandpa and I was jealous of him, so I tried to mirror my driving style off of him.
“And then your damn dad came along and he was even better, and I tried to mirror myself off of your dad, and now I’m not even racing and I’m watching you and now I’m thinking back that I need to mirror myself off of you, so I have this Blaney curse that I just love watching them.’
“That meant a lot to me because I love Doug Wolfgang and my dad respected him so much,” Blaney related. “That was probably the coolest one personally for me to get a call.”
Blaney’s dad, grandfather and uncle (Dale) are all inductees in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.