If you’re my age, you grew up on a different Series than what it is today… I remember regulars being Hearn, Horton, Hoffman; Danny, Alan, and Jack Johnson; Tremont, Paine, McCreadie, Billy Decker…. I’m even old enough to have seen Cagle, Lape, and Lazzaro when they were 5 night a week travelers.
Problem is….time waits for nobody. All of those listed above are long since retired, past their prime, or gone completely 😞. What we have now is a different breed of racers, a different type of racing, and with very few exceptions, only sporadic flashes of greatness. The cars being so equal now has given the impression of a diluted talent pool IMO. With less than a handful of exceptions. Races are very, very seldom won from 24th anymore but rather from a fortuitous outing at the redraw ceremony.
I wouldn’t say that the SDS regulars today are short on talent, but most of them likely will not have the consistent dominance that put them in the same category as the stars of the 80s and 90s. JMO….