1on1: Jimmy Spencer (cont'd)

Q: You look good for 51 ...

Spencer: I know. And I've listened to Jack Roush and Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards -- and they all told me I could drive this [new Cup] car. Deep down inside, I say to myself that I should probably try it. But then as I get closer, I go, well, I'd have to lose about 20 pounds. I'd have to start working out every day again for an hour, an hour and a half.

And you know, I like playing in my garden. That's terrible, but that's where I'm at on it. The desire to do it is not there like it was a couple years ago. I've seen more people fail in racing because they didn't have the desire. ... I guess I just don't want to put all the effort in that it would take.

Q: How does a guy like you get into gardening, anyway?

Spencer: You're going down the airport concourse, and you're looking at these books with these beautiful flowers. They say it increases the value of your property.

I was fortunate a few years ago at my old house, this awning company wanted to use my house in this ad. ... The day they came, they brought this truck and all these plants and flowers. I stood back and looked at my back deck and said, 'Gosh, look at that! That's cool. I can't believe that.' I asked 'em where they got the stuff, and they said at a nursery. So I went to the nursery and started asking questions.

Some of the best information you can get is by going to places like that and talking to the elderly. And I shouldn't say elderly, but you know, people that have worked at places like that and have raised the plants and know what to do. ... But I went to a garden center and there was an elderly woman there, hobbling along. And I asked her, 'Sweetheart, I'm new to this and want to do some planting. What should I do?' I picked out two or three color arrangements, and in about a month I looked at it and said, 'I can't believe this.' And it bit me.

Q: How long ago was this?

Spencer: It's been going on for years now. My God, that had to be eight, nine, 10 years ago. I actually was doing it when I was still racing. It's still a work in progress. It's never perfect.

I've got weeds growing, so you go out and pull weeds. But it's relaxing. For me, I really enjoy it because I love to stay home. So instead of watching TV at night, I go out and work in the yard for an hour or two, with the dogs. I've got five of 'em. And I smoke a cigar.

Two acres I've got, and I've been working on that thing every year. I just put another 20 or 30 perennials in. I buy the small stuff, because it makes the most sense -- and then you can move 'em if you want to. The biggest thing I've learned is to make your own potting mix.

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Q: Really? What do you make that out of?

Spencer: I use dirt and compost and peat moss, and all kinds of different things. I make a good soil mix for when I plant my plants, and then I water 'em real good. If they get a good start, it's easy to dig 'em back up. You don't want to dig 'em up three years from now. But if you dig 'em up a year later, you can move the stuff in the late fall or the spring. That's best time to move 'em. It's fun.

Q: So the bottom line is that these days you'd rather be gardening than racing?

Spencer: The older you get, the thing about racin' is that there is so much demand on your time. The other thing that upsets me a little bit about racin' right now is the complaining. The drivers -- a lot of 'em, and I'm not mentioning names -- but they complain a lot.

I remember when Kenny Schrader and Jimmy Spencer and Rusty Wallace, all these guys, were starting out. We had to bust our asses to get a good ride. And these kids who are getting these great rides handed to them, and then they don't appreciate what they've got; they complain, they whine, they [gripe] about the cars, they [gripe] about this and that. They have no clue. They don't have a clue what we had to do -- Dale Jarrett, myself ... I could go through a whole list of drivers who had to work so hard to get to where we are.

I know the sport has changed for the better. I think it has. But overall, that detracts me from some of the new drivers coming in. They're whiners. They whine. I don't like a whiner. (Continued)