Best of the Marbles: Which drivers could have run in the old days?

We're taking a short post-holiday break this week to sleep off the effects of Christmas goose and mulled wine, so we'll be setting you up with some of the best posts of the year here at the Marbles. First up: one of the great debates.

Ricky Craven recently posted a column speculating on which current drivers will end up in the Hall of Fame. Good stuff, check it out. It got me to thinking in the other direction -- which of today's drivers could have survived running in the days of Lee Petty and Tim Flock, above? Let's run down some of the big names:

Jimmie Johnson: Don't let the blow-dried Cali look fool you; if he needs to, Johnson can get as down and dirty as any bootlegger. And as he and crew chief Chad Knaus have shown, cheating isn't always out of the question, which was a necessary tool in the old fellas' arsenal. Verdict on whether he'd flourish: Absolutely.

Jeff Gordon: Gordon could flat-out drive the wheels off of anything from a rollerskate to an airplane, and he'd have no problem whatsoever running in NASCAR's earliest days. Something tells me that the mid-20th-century fans would have had just as much of a problem with him as the early-21st-century ones, though. Verdict: Yep, though he wouldn't be as popular as he is now.

Tony Stewart: Come on, you even need to ask? Smoke runs his life like the old-school drivers he idolizes. He'd fit in so well we ought to go check and make sure he doesn't show up in some of those old photos, Lost-style. Verdict: Certainly.

Kyle Busch: He's got the talent, certainly, but he's also got the attitude that would get him a wrench to the skull from some guy he cut off on Daytona Beach. Verdict: Yes, but not for long if he kept talking.

Mark Martin: He raced dinosaurs, so yes, he'd be suited to driving in the 1950s. Seriously, Martin is an outstanding driver, but has a tendency to be a conservative one -- how well would that play out in a time of drive-the-doors-off racing? Verdict: Yes, but his points racing would be a thing of the past ... or future.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: For as much as I've praised Junior in recent weeks, I can't see him having much success in an earlier era. His PR presence wouldn't mean much among fans who hadn't yet heard of Dale Earnhardt Senior. Verdict: Nope.

Carl Edwards: A tough one. He's got a fine style behind the wheel, and he's not afraid to cut a corner or two when necessary. But by the same token, how well would he do when nobody's playing by the same rules? I'm going to say he'd do fine, but with conditions. Verdict: Yes, as long as he's out in front. In the pack, he'd have trouble.

All right, your turn. Which drivers of today would survive, or flourish, in NASCAR's earliest days? Have your say!