Ned Jarrett joined other NASCAR legends to give the starting command to Busch Series drivers last year at Atlanta. Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images

Where is ... Ned Jarrett?

Legendary driver, broadcaster keeping an eye on Toyota at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Ned Jarrett strolls through the garage at Daytona International Speedway. He hasn't changed a bit.

Jarrett still looks and sounds like the same man who graced NASCAR broadcasts for more than 10 years. Jarrett's silver hair is still combed straight back, his smile is wide, and he is feeling better than he has in a long time. He is here at Daytona to watch his son Dale test the new Toyota Camry.

The debut of the Camry was something that Ned Jarrett didn't want to miss. He hadn't been to preseason testing at Daytona in more than 10 years, but a combination of good health, good weather and a Toyota debut was too good to pass up.

"I am doing well," Jarrett said. "It is almost a full-time job taking care of your health when you get to my age. I am 74 now, and things start happening where you abuse your body over the years."

Jarrett suffered two mini-strokes in the summer of 2006 -- officially, they are called Transient Ischemic Attacks -- but he is almost back to 100 percent.

"One of them [caused] some damage to my left eye, but it is coming back," Jarrett said.

Jarrett won 50 races, but retired in 1966 at age 33. A back injury suffered in 1965 continues to bug him to this day, but Jarrett spends an hour-and-a-half each morning making sure he remains in decent shape.

"As soon as I get up in the morning, I work out. Every day," Jarrett said, "I broke my back when I was racing in 1965, and it has come back to haunt me, so I have to exercise it every single day. I have got a lot of different stretches, some light weight lifting.

	Ned Jarrett is a two-time Cup champion. Credit: Brian Bahr/Getty Images
	Inside the Numbers Ned Jarrett (1960-65) Year No. W T5 T10 Rank 1960 40 5 20 26 5 1961 46 1 23 34 1 1962 52 6 19 35 3 1963 53 8 32 39 4 1964 60 15 40 45 2 1965 54 13 42 45 1 Career (1953-66) Starts 353 Wins 50 Top-5s 185 Top-10s 239 Poles 35 Avg. Start 8.1 Avg. Finish 9.2

"It takes me, in the morning -- from the time I get up to the time I sit to eat breakfask -- it is an hour-and-a-half. Then I eat breakfast and if the weather is fit to play golf, I play golf."

Jarrett's greatest joys these days are golf and grandkids. He and his wife, Martha, hop into their Navigator to drive the 13 miles from their home in Newton, N.C., to Hickory to catch one of their grandkids' many sporting events, and Dale often comes to Newton to play golf at his father's course.

It doesn't take long for the elder Jarrett to get out his clubs. He has lived in the same house in Newton for 23 years, and his back porch is right behind the eighth green on his home course.

Jarrett hits his first golf shot of the day at 10:30 a.m., four days a week. When the sun is out -- and often when it is not -- his large group of pals get together to smack the ball, wager a few bucks and discuss things. The activity keeps Jarrett's weight down -- he weighs a slim 165 pounds, 15 pounds lighter than his driving days.

Jarrett didn't go to the track much in 2006 -- he says he was present on race day just twice -- but he maintains a room in his home with three televisions to monitor the Nextel Cup action on Sundays.

It the ultimate man room. He jokes that Martha, with whom he celebrated his 50th anniversary in 2006, won't set foot in it.

"It is sort of my room, and Martha doesn't go down there," Jarrett said. "I have three television sets. I have a big one that I have the race on, and I have one that is dedicated to the in-car camera.

"Dale would carry one [in-car camera] most of the time last year. I could pick up the audio between he and the spotter and crew chief. When he didn't have it in there, I had it rigged through my computer.

"I subscribe to TrackPass, and I ran cables from the office, where my computer is, over to the recreation room, is which all on the same floor of the house."

Jarrett worked as an analyst for MRN Radio and ESPN for many years, and still tapes his Ned Jarrett World of Racing every week for MRN. He says that today's TV announcers have it much tougher than when he was in the booth.

	Ned Jarrett didn't like Dale going to Toyota ... at first. Credit: Bill Hall/Getty Images
	MADE IN AMERICA Have a problem with Toyota joining the Nextel Cup Series? Dale Jarrett will set you straight.  •   Complete story, click here

"The way the networks do it now, they are a little more tuned in to entertainment as opposed to just calling the races like we did in those days," Jarrett said. "It makes [the] job more challenging,"

Equally as challenging was accepting his son's exodus from Robert Yates Racing. Jarrett admits that the move from Ford to Toyota was a difficult one for him to accept, at first.

"The way things have changed over the years, with all the car companies becoming global now, I don't really have a problem with it," Jarrett said. "When Dale first came to me about it, he said that he had an opportunity [at Michael Waltrip Racing] and wondered what my thoughts on it would be.

"I had some apprehension about it, I will be honest with you, but it didn't take me long to get over that and once I learned how many people they employ in America ... There are more Toyotas built in America than Fords. That made it a whole lot easier for me to take."

Accepting Toyota was easy. It has been much more difficult for Jarrett to handle the cancer struggles of his close friend Benny Parsons, and he was saddened this week when he learned that Bobby Hamilton had died of cancer.

"Bobby was a straight shooter, first of all," Jarrett said. "He would speak straight from the heart. He would tell you what was on his mind and whether he thought you would like it or not, and I always respected it."