Submitted by NASCAR Eclectic

The year was 1973. I was a high school sophomore and Lennie Pond was the Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. You’ll hear Lennie’s name from time to time and usually out of “Jaws”, D.W. Lennie beat out Darrell for the Rookie honors. It was one of the tightest contentions for the Rookie title of all time, but Waltrip went on to become a Champion and Lenny… well he had the makings of a champ but had too much bad luck. He had many runner up finishes but only one victory in his 17 years… Talladega in 1978. I cannot locate anything on what he does today or where he is. This is the case of many past greats.

2007 Rookie of the Year… looks like it’s going to Montoya. Not a surprise, but it’s been a boring season for the rookie contenders. The ‘08 season promises to be better, with several open wheeler’s coming into NASCAR. My money is on Franchitti next year.