Ms. Fryer was talking about the now written in history melee between Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. on Saturday night at Richmond.

In case you were in a foreign country that didn’t have cable and might have missed the episode, it was a racing incident that happened on the brink of a possible win for the most popular driver in NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Both he and Busch were involved and the end result sent Jr. into the fence…not the most popular moment of the race, but definitely the loudest.

The fans at the track, having had a few too many fluffy topped beverages began to act like heathens, throwing things, flipping Kyle Busch off, screaming about his heritage and so on…not their best behavior that’s for sure, but given the moment of emotion, one that should have been expected. Ms. Fryer, after pointing out the fans uncouthness by telling them to “Grow up”, asked…

“Where was the outcry, though, when Earnhardt dumped Busch last October in Kansas?

I’m thinking it was pretty obvious…uh, could it be that Mr. Busch doesn’t have the volume of a fan base that Dale Jr. does? Ya think maybe that might make a bit of a difference?

Sure, Kyle Busch has a fan base, but maybe not one that was loud enough to make the ruckus that the Jr. Nation did on Saturday night. Does that mean the Jr. Nation is a menagerie of hot headed, rude, obnoxious folks? Nope. Does it mean Kyle’s fans aren’t some of the best folks out there? Nope, it just means there are more Dale, Jr. fans than there are any other and so they are typically going to be heard above and beyond the average fan club. Sometimes it bites them in the butt, getting them tagged as the worst bunch of hooligans at the track, but that’s just because there are so many of them spouting off at the same time. And yes, I know there are a few of those rowdy fans that are indeed hot headed, rude and obnoxious…but they are not definitive of the whole fan base.

Ms. Fryer also depicts the Jr. Nation as a group that believes their driver “never does anything wrong”. Uh…gee…I’d like to know which fans she talked to…it must be that minority heathen group that follows her around identifying themselves as the Jr. Nation, the ones that don’t think their man does anything wrong, the ones that she’s telling to “Grow up.”

Granted, I will lay out a driver with the best of them when he acts like a complete moron, but would I try to tackle the largest group in NASCAR…the fans?

I think I found myself fussing about them one time and figured out that was the last group I should lambast, especially since I am nothing more than a fan myself.

When I last checked, those heathen fans are the ones that buy the tickets, buy the brew, and buy the hot dogs and the endless souvenirs. They also happen to be the ones that read all these words we writers so laboriously spit out day after day.

Racing fans have long been known to be the most loyal group of folks on the planet…but that only pertains to the dedication they have to their drivers…not the writers.

We writers need to be careful whose toes we step on. You never know, Ms. Fryer, I, or anyone else that writes for a living could find themselves sitting out in the stands next week watching the race just like any other fan instead of sitting in the air conditioned media center tapping out insults.

Our jobs are guaranteed only as long as the “fans” keep reading our words. I may not make the big bucks that Ms. Fryer does, but if that’s what you have to do to get them, I think I’ll pass.

True, we are always looking for that controversial subject that will grab those readers, and there have been many times I have written and then gone back and erased because I thought my words were too offensive….but apparently that seems to be the way to go.

But nah…I’ll just hang out here with the low life heathens that need to grow up, those several million that call themselves fans, it’s a much nicer place to be.

NOTE: I'm a one man show, not supported by anyone. If you wish to donate to help offset expense, it would be appreciated:

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