I know a lot of driver nicknames but don't know why they have that name. For example dale blaney "low rider" is it because he's tall ? Mad man balou , why is that ? I get mad man for Ian madsen but not balou . Ton of others that I'd love to hear the story for so if u know one please throw em out there.

Ballou has this weird quality of somehow getting behind the eight ball, Either not qualifying well or not doing well in heat. Flat tire or just some reason he's not up front to start.

Just last Friday he had a problem and caused a yellow at Gas City. Restarted on the tail and finished second.

Driving like a *MADMAN* to get to the front. He's done it many many times.

Anybody know Pauls to the wall story ? Surely someone can clear up "the people's champion " for me .

Chad Boespflug started racing and won several championships in Lemoore,CA. Lemoore is the home of Lemoore navel air station where the f18 Hornets are based. Chad being from Hanford was called "the Hanford hornet" when he went there. His grandmother called him that name first, one night at the track, and it stuck from there.

It is like boxers. Every top ranked contender had a moniker, Some of my pugilist favorites: Thomas "The Hit Man" Hearns, Mike "The Body Snatcher" McCallum, Ray "Boom! Boom!" Mancini, and "The Brockton Blockbuster" Rocky Marciano. It is all what the announcers hype them as, and if it sticks, it builds from there.

When T.J. Buffenbarger was calling the SOD races in years' past, he came up with one after another: "The Hoosier Rocket" Brett Mann, "Captain" Kirk Cheney, "The Big Tuna" Andy Teunnesen, and "The Fastest Cop on Dirt" Joe Bares, to name a few. Mann became the Hoosier Rocket after being Brett "The Rocket" Mann, as in "Rocket Man", the Elton John song. Captain Kirk..... well... goes w/o saying. Everyone remembers William Shatner. "The Big Tuna" just fit the name. Joe Bares is a Michigan State Trooper when he is not racing.

Some have stories behind them, some don't. The best "no story" of all was the late A's pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter. His nickname had nothing to do with anything he ever did. Somewhere along the line when Chalres O. Finley moved the A's from Kansas City out to Oakland and broke the mold for uniforms with green and gold, and white shoes, the A's PR came up with that name for him and mentioned some event in his past where he went missing when he was little and his Mom couldn't find him. He came home after dark with a full stringer of bottom feeders. Hence the name. All fabrication.

It is what someone makes it, but usually, there is a root for all monikers.

Usually..... but not always.

My personal favorite of all time in racing: "The Crowd Pleaser" Craig Dollansky.

Hunter Schurenberg *Hunter Percent* For Hundred Percent
Brady *Macho Man* Bacon
Jon, *The Stash* Stanbrough AKA *Silent Gasser*
Dave *Peoples Champ* Darland AKA *DD*
*The Modern Day Cowboy* Daron Clayton
Chris *THE BEAR* Windom
*The Madman* Robert Ballou AKA *Rocklin Rocket*
Tracy *The Hitman* Hines
Jerry *The Coondog* Coons*
*The Hanford Hornet* Chad Boespflug
*The Bullit* Bryan Clauson
Just some of the Sprintweek competitors

Thanks Charles . I know most of them ... Just don't know enough to know if it was just a "catchy" name or a story to their name . A few have been provided in previous posts and I thank those posters so much for enlightening me .

Kevin Doty aka "The Money Man". Back in the 80's, he used to go up to Angell Park a few times a year but win their biggest races that paid more. I think the PA announcer started it but I could be wrong.
Two of my other favorite drivers were....

"Rapid" Rich Vogler. I think was coined by Larry Nuber on ESPN for winning so many TV races.
Bobby George "the flyin' Hawaiian". Crazy CRA driver from Honolulu.