In 2024, let’s not take for granted racing’s living legends
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Ryan McGee, ESPN Senior Writer
As the race shops and racetracks of the world begin to fill up with the racket and noise of crew members working and the roar of preseason testing, before we stand on the loud pedal of the 2024 motorsports calendar, let’s take a moment to pause and make ourselves a quiet promise to keep in the year ahead. Don’t take for granted the people who are still here with us.
Over the holidays, auto racing lost a pair of driving titans. The first was on Dec. 29, when Indy 500 and two-time IndyCar champion Gil de Ferran died at the age of 56, suffering a heart attack while behind the wheel during a private racing event in Florida. All one needs to know about the universally beloved Brazilian is what he did with his final moments of life. Sensing something was wrong, he was conscious enough of his worsening health condition that he pulled off to the side of the raceway, using his last bit of strength to find the brake pedal and ensure the safety of his co-driver, his son.
Only two days later, New Year’s Eve, NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough died at the age of 84. Last fall, when we began revealing our NASCAR 75 Greatest lists, the first of those top-five compilations was Toughest Drivers. Determining the top spot of those rankings was the easiest decision we made all fall. Yarborough, winner of three Cup Series titles, 83 races and four Daytona 500s also survived — and all of this true — a poisonous snakebite, a lightning strike, falling 20 feet out of a tree and onto his head, bouncing off the ground after a parachute didn’t open properly, and holding off an angry bear with one hand while flying an airplane with the other. He also walked away from a crash at Darlington Raceway when his car jumped the guardrail and tumbled down an embankment into the parking lot, as well as his legendary flip while qualifying at 200 mph in 1983.
The last lengthy conversation I had with Yarborough was in 2020, not long after the passing of Junior Johnson, aka the Last American Hero and Cale’s car owner for all three of his Cup Series championships. We talked about this very topic, all the crazy stuff Yarborough had survived and the fact that while he definitely spent some time in the hospital, he never once had to spend a single night in a medical facility because of something that happened in a race car.
“I am a lucky man, just as I was a lucky kid, still to be here and still have my wits about me,” he said to me from his home in Timmonsville, South Carolina. “But I don’t care how fast you were as a race car driver, no one is fast enough to outrun Father Time.”
My last chat with de Ferran was last May, when I saw him in the paddock at the Miami GP, where he was working as a consultant with McLaren. We were in the infield of Hard Rock Stadium, and during a ten-minute chat we spotted Formula One champions Damon Hill and Emerson Fittipaldi, as well as four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon and 1985 Indy 500 winner Danny Sullivan. Our talk turned to the deaths of Al and Bobby Unser, brothers and multi-time Indy 500 winners who had both passed away in 2021, as well our mutual friend, legendary IndyCar writer Robin Miller, lost that same year.
“How unbelievably fortunate are we to have come along when we did?” he said giddily, with a smile on his face as bright as the South Florida sun beating down. “I never got to race against A.J. Foyt or Rick Mears or Jackie Stewart. I missed Mario Andretti by a year. But I know all of them. I see them. It is amazing just to walk where they walk, isn’t it?”
It is. And that’s why it is so crucial to appreciate that “is” before it becomes a “was.”
I had no idea that talk with de Ferran in Miami would be our last. If I had, when I saw him at Indianapolis a few weeks later I wouldn’t have settled for a wave across Gasoline Alley. I would have run to him, shaken his hand and said thank you for three decades of chats, insight and that smile.
I also had no idea that my phone conversation with Yarborough was the last time I would ever hear his trademark raspy, confident, staccato voice. The one that sold so many t-shirts, Holly Farms chicken, Hardee’s hamburgers and warned the Duke Boys about Boss Hogg’s roadblock up ahead. If I had, I would have kept him on the phone for another hour, repeating again and again, “One more story, please!”
I suppose that everyone believes their era was the best one, but those of us who first arrived in the garages and pit lanes of American motorsports in the late-1990s, we know the truth. We’re the lucky ones.
We caught the tail end of what many still believe was the golden era of auto racing in the United States and also witnessed the beginning of the next wave of talent that rolled in. Even after the driving retirements of Richard Petty, Foyt, Andretti, Mears, Bobby Allison, and yes, Yarborough, they all stuck around for years as team owners. It created this amazing crossroads of timelines, as the greatest of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s were there to watch the youth infusion of the next three decades that followed and continues to this day.
The living legends of Petty, Foyt, Andretti and Mears can still be found walking and working at today’s speedways. They aren’t alone. Seemingly every race weekend, no matter what series or event, is packed with legends, either passing through or still on the payroll. Parnelli Jones. Don “The Snake” Prudhomme. John Force. Don Garlits. Ned Jarrett. Shirley Muldowney. Jackie Stewart. Ivan Stewart. The list of living legends is endless. For now.
So, we need to promise ourselves that we will not take that for granted, because, as he was with most topics, Cale Yarborough was right. Father Time and his checkered flag comes for us all. And the average age of the dozen drivers named in that last paragraph is 83.
“People ask me all the time, Mario, how do you stay so young?” Andretti, himself 83, said to me at Indy last May. “The answer is, well, first of all, I’m not young. But I feel young because of this right here, all around us. The energy of the racetrack keeps me young at heart.”
Or as Petty, now 86, once said to me, paraphrasing baseball great Satchel Paige, who pitched in the big leagues into his late-50s: “I never stop moving, because if I do, it all might catch up to me.”
Throughout 2024, whether we are at a racing event in person or watching on TV from our easy chairs, when we spot an icon, a transcendent champion, a steering wheel superhero, we need to make sure we take a beat. To reflect. To remember all those times that they made the hairs stand up on our arms or even if they made us raise that arm in anger because they’d just whipped our favorite driver. We need to pause and give thanks that we have been gifted a window in time in which we were allowed to share the same air with those who found a way to slip through air a helluva lot faster than the rest us.
Because, as we learned too many times just before the page turned on 2023, that window will close without warning and without the opportunity to give them the thanks that they deserved when we had the chance.
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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama blew a 28-point lead against No. 2 Georgia at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night.
And then the No. 4 Crimson Tide broke the Bulldogs’ hearts again in a 41-34 victory in which the SEC heavyweights scored touchdowns on consecutive plays from scrimmage late in the fourth quarter.
Alabama didn’t seal the victory until cornerback Zabien Brown intercepted quarterback Carson Beck‘s pass to receiver Colbie Young in the end zone with 43 seconds left to end Georgia’s furious rally.
After the Bulldogs rallied from a 23-point deficit at halftime, they took their first lead on Beck’s 67-yard touchdown to Dillon Bell to make it 34-33 with 2:31 to go.
But Alabama scored on its very next play from scrimmage. On first-and-10 from the Crimson Tide 25, quarterback Jalen Milroe threw a deep ball down the right sideline for freshman Ryan Williams. The receiver spun out of cornerback Julian Humphrey‘s tackle at the 8-yard line and beat safety KJ Bolden for a 75-yard touchdown with 2:18 remaining. Milroe threw a 2-point conversion to receiver Germie Bernard to give Alabama a 41-34 lead.
Milroe completed 27 of 33 passes for 374 yards with two touchdowns and ran for 117 yards with two scores. He is the first player in FBS history with 300 passing yards, 100 rushing yards and 2 rushing touchdowns against an AP top-five opponent, according to ESPN Research.
Williams, a 17-year-old freshman, had six catches for 177 yards with one score.
Beck recovered from a slow start to complete 27 of 50 passes for 439 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. He also lost a fumble and was sacked three times.
The loss ended Georgia’s 42-game winning streak in the regular season, which was the longest run by an FBS team since Oklahoma won 45 in a row from 1953 to 1957. It also snapped Georgia’s 16-game winning streak on the road.
It was new Tide coach Kalen DeBoer’s first meeting with Georgia, but the results were the same for Alabama. It has won nine of its past 10 games against Georgia, including a 27-24 victory in last year’s SEC championship game, which led to the Bulldogs failing to make the College Football Playoff.
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Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff Writer
AUSTIN, Texas — No. 1 Texas got its first SEC win behind the arm of Arch Manning, who helped the Longhorns overcome a slow start and some self-inflicted setbacks to beat Mississippi State 35-13 on Saturday.
Manning was 26-of-31 for 324 yards and two touchdowns and added 33 rushing yards and another score, despite Johntay Cook II dropping a wide-open touchdown pass that would’ve added another 62 passing yards in the second quarter. A week after throwing two interceptions in his first start against UL Monroe, Manning said he felt more relaxed.
“I think last week I didn’t have as much fun as I wanted to,” Manning said. “I think I had a little bit more fun today even though it was a little rocky.”
It was rocky because running back Jaydon Blue lost two fumbles — one in the red zone — Cook dropped a touchdown and there were eight penalties on the Texas offense. Coach Steve Sarkisian criticized himself for kicking a field goal, then going for it on fourth down after a defensive penalty gave the Longhorns another chance. Texas failed to convert, taking three points off the board.
The Longhorns went into halftime with a 14-6 lead, with Mississippi State running a ground-heavy approach behind true freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr. The Bulldogs ran 73 plays on the night to Texas’ 62, but the Longhorns outgained them 522 yards to 294. There were also 17 penalties in the game, many with lengthy reviews.
“It was hard for the game to get a rhythm to it,” Sarkisian said.
But he was pleased that the Longhorns navigated this stretch of the season and Quinn Ewers‘ injury to start 5-0. It’s the second straight season Texas has started 5-0, marking just the second time in the past 50 years the Longhorns have done it in back-to-back years. Texas has an off week coming up, followed by the Red River Rivalry in Dallas against Oklahoma, before Georgia comes to Austin the following week.
Sarkisian said the Longhorns showed poise, and he was pleased they were able to survive their first SEC challenge while letting Ewers recover from a strained oblique injury without having to rush him back.
“We need Quinn back because he’s our quarterback and he’s our leader,” Sarkisian said. “I think that impacts the entire team and belief, but what I think we learned and what Arch learned here over the last 2½ games is this team can count on him too.”
Manning said he’s ready for Ewers’ return whenever that might be.
“I think Quinn’s proved himself,” Manning said. “I mean, he led us to the Sugar Bowl last year and he’s played really well this year, so this is his team. I think he’s going to come back and play really well, but I’ll be ready for when my number’s called if they need me. So we’re just going to try and keep this thing rolling.”
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Max Olson, ESPN Staff Writer
LAS VEGAS — UNLV made a statement Saturday in its first game without former starting quarterback Matthew Sluka: The Rebels are going to be just fine.
Rolling to a dominant 59-14 win over Fresno State and moving to 4-0, UNLV proved it will be a contender in the Mountain West Conference race regardless of its quarterback change.
Hajj-Malik Williams threw for 182 yards, rushed for 119 yards and accounted for four total touchdowns in his first start for the Rebels after Sluka opted to leave the program Wednesday over a dispute about his NIL compensation.
“It was business as usual,” UNLV coach Barry Odom said. “We’ve got a very mature team. … Our players, we’ve got strong leadership. They understand the mission that we’re on and they got it done.”
Williams, a sixth-year senior and FCS transfer from Campbell, joined the Rebels in January and lost a close competition with Sluka in fall camp. The 24-year-old quarterback played in 41 games at Campbell, leaving as the program’s career leader in passing yards and touchdowns, and was ready for his opportunity.
“I thought he was effective, I thought he was efficient,” Odom said. “I thought the offensive line did a tremendous job protecting him. I thought the receivers ran great routes. I thought the runners ran hard. We played well as an offense.”
UNLV wide receiver Ricky White III led the Rebels with a season-high 10 catches for 127 yards and two touchdowns and said the quarterback change was “definitely good for us.”
“He’s just a great quarterback that us, as an offense, we can rally behind and just go by his pace,” White said.
After starting three games for UNLV, Sluka opted to redshirt and was expected to enter the transfer portal in December. Sluka’s father and agent have alleged he was verbally promised $100,000 by UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion during his recruitment but received only $3,000 from the school’s NIL collective. UNLV said in a statement that Sluka’s representatives made financial demands for him to keep playing that it interpreted as “a violation of NCAA pay-for-play rules, as well as Nevada state law.”
Odom read from a prepared statement during his postgame news conference and did not take questions regarding Sluka. He said UNLV complied with applicable rules and was committed to the development and success of every player in the program.
“Many have expressed very strong opinions about the events of last week without full knowledge of the facts, without full knowledge of the events of last week and without full knowledge of the rules in the ever-changing, evolving NIL system,” Odom said. “And regrettably, some have even used this circumstance as a platform for their own agendas. I respect everyone’s right to an opinion, and I won’t comment on others’ opinions or their motivations for expressing them.”
White also had a message for Circa Sports CEO Derek Stevens after the Vegas casino expressed interest in offering $100,000 to keep Sluka on the team, telling the Las Vegas Review-Journal that doing so would be worth it “to keep the Rebels’ playoff hopes alive.”
“I would ask that somebody reach out to the Circa CEO and ask him, with that $100,000 that he wanted to donate, give it to our O-line please,” White said.
The Rebels ended a six-game losing streak against Fresno State and achieved the program’s first 4-0 start since 1976 with a strong day in all three phases of the game. Their defense produced four interceptions and four sacks while giving up only 30 rushing yards, and their special teams delivered a blocked punt that White returned for a touchdown in the first quarter plus a 90-yard kickoff return touchdown by Jai’Den Thomas in the fourth quarter.
The victory kept UNLV in the race for the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff and concluded a chaotic week for an athletic department that was simultaneously dealing with the latest round of conference realignment in college athletics.
UNLV officially decided to remain in the Mountain West on Thursday, turning down a move to the Pac-12 following that league’s addition of Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State for 2026. The seven remaining schools in the Mountain West agreed to a grant of rights that will bind them to the conference through 2031-32.
After already defeating Big 12 members Houston and Kansas in nonconference play, UNLV gets one more opportunity to take down a Power 4 opponent and strengthen its CFP résumé when it hosts 3-1 Syracuse on Friday.
“Our guys will flip the page really quickly,” Odom said. “I could tell in the locker room we’re ready to do that and get on to the next game.”
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