Image conscious

Sadler motivated to shed 'underachiever' label

You can't spend much time in the Winston Cup garage without running upon good folk, aggravating folk and people who simply should be avoided.

The latter percentage is small, thankfully. If you bother to learn personalities, moods and reasons behind facades, there aren't even too many aggravating types. But one thing you do learn quickly is that Elliott Sadler is one of the good folk.

So good, that when he crowed about silencing critics after claiming his first career pole at Darlington last Saturday, some in the media center thought, 'Do what?'

I can't think of a reportorial soul that doesn't like the guy. The Gaston (N.C.) Gazette's Monte Dutton, a veteran racing scribe, actually said so, whereupon Sadler explained that he didn't mean to hurt feelings; he was just tired of having his verbally stomped on.

Thin-skinned, is he? Don't know. I do know his public persona is very pleasant, that's he's a nice-looking 27-year-old who says 'yes, sir' and 'no, ma'am.'

No kidding.

And I'm sure, when provoked, he says other, more unpleasant things. He has a temper, absolutely. Remember him hurling his helmet at Ryan Newman's quarter-panel during last year's Winston all-star event?

But scene-setting aside, Sadler is genuine, everybody's favorite brother type. And Saturday's momentary chortling seemed to be a signal that old scar tissue hasn't quite healed.

A day later, with time to mull, Sadler admitted it hadn't, especially those instances, "When you get slammed and get labeled a particular way, or when people say you just have no chance to do this and do that."

Sadler's least favorite label is "underachiever," which he acquired in earnest last season by announcing his intention to leave the Wood Brothers at the end of 2002. The news sparked a flash-fire of media, fan and perhaps private lambasting that didn't end with Sadler's Robert Yates Racing signing, the offseason or the advent of 2003. Granted, one career win and point finishes of 24th, 29th, 20th and 23rd in four Cup seasons will invite such opinions, the most hurtful that Sadler dared to aspire to a powerhouse (which turned out to be RYR).

"I've been competitive, I feel, like my whole life in every racing division I've been in," Sadler said. "Or I think I wouldn't have made it to the NASCAR Winston Cup level. I take all that and read it, and it hurts your feelings because I do care what people think and say about us as a team and as a person."

Had Sadler's Wood Brothers' departure been the fractious soap opera that engulfed Ricky Rudd's from RYR -- the two traded rides -- then Sadler could've digested all the opining. But Eddie Wood stood in line Saturday to congratulate his former driver on his milestone, and the No. 21 still means much to Sadler.

"I've still got great friendships with them and want them to do well and still talk to them on a regular basis," he said. "So there's no hard feelings between us. I just think some of the fans and the media took it maybe the wrong the way, or took it not how we intended it to be."

Still, he knows the career clock is ticking. The Jeff Gordons and Tony Stewarts of the world, and more recently, the Jimmie Johnsons and Ryan Newmans, have made it very difficult on late bloomers. Sadler yearns to excel, to prove himself worthy of his dreams and the equipment underneath him. If that means sneaking up to bite critics' butts, so be it.

"We're the underdogs," Sadler said. "That's not a bad thing to be, but we're under a lot of microscopes to start this season off, too. So we'll just use that on our side and say, 'Hey, people have already written us off because of the way things happened last year, but we want to prove them wrong and when we do that, we're going to get good satisfaction out of it.'

The No. 38 is all no-name -- the still unproven Sadler, crew chief Raymond Fox and car chief Shawn Parker. And, yes, they're off to a nice start: Sadler ranks 10th in the point standings heading into Bristol, his favorite track and site of his only Cup win. That's three spots better than teammate Dale Jarrett, who sits 13th and has already won once this season (at Rockingham).

"We got a lot of fire on our side right now, and we're not leaving any stone unturned," Sadler said of Fox and Parker. "They're getting the most out of that race car every week in the shop. I mean when we unload, we are close and we're fast, and it's making my job a lot easier. Yeah, we might be unknowns right now, but we want to make a name for ourselves."

After five races last year, Sadler ranked 13th.

And he didn't fritter away Sunday's pole. He finished seventh and might have done better if he and Gordon, running second and first, respectively, hadn't swiped an outside wall with 20-something laps remaining.

Away from the track, Sadler's surfing and scanning. Checking out, "all the local sites and seeing who's doing what right and wrong, and seeing what everybody's thinking." Like the hunting trophies he acquires each fall, he's wallpapered a few RYR shop surfaces with electronic printouts and newspaper cutouts.

"I just show it to the guys and say, 'Hey, this what they're picking us to do,'" Sadler said. "'They're picking us to finish 30th in the points and not win a race and no poles, no anything.' We just kind of use that as motivation."

He still chafes at some public perception, but said, "I feel like I've been a gentleman the best I could, and handled everything as professional as I could during my racing career."

He doesn't know if he'll evolve to the point where other people's assessments just don't matter, but he refuses to stuff wool in his ears or prune his reading list.

"I think that has to do a lot with your personality," Sadler said. "But I really do care a lot about what people think."

He also promises he's not stockpiling grudges, or a short list of those who raise his ire. He takes as much fan temperature as the journalistic kind.

"I've been a fan of the sport a long time," Sadler said. "I mean, I've bought tickets just like everybody else did to come to races. And I care what they think. So I'm going to read it and see what happens."

Denise N. Maloof covers NASCAR for SI.com.

 

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