For all you Dale Earnhardt Jr. doubters out there here is something that you may or may not like. He is not a self-centered it's all about me racecar driver like Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, or Denny Hamlin.
Though Dale Jr. is the most popular driver in NASCAR he was not allowed to act the way the three aboved mentioned drivers acted when they were children or even now on and off the race track. He got into trouble one to many times with his dad and ended up in Miltary School that straightened him out in a hurry. Besides his mom and dad raised him to be a gentleman and not a WHINER or a SPOILED BRAT. Though by listening to Teresa Earnhardt you might thing that is what she thinks of her youngest stepson. All he has wanted to do was race and he had to prove that to his dad the hard way by owning, towing, and working on his race cars from the time he was 17 years old. It was not until the fall of 1997 that Dale Sr. decided to put Junior into a DEI car full time. What did Junior do but go and win two consecutive (Busch) Nationwide Series Championships in some of the best equipment that series had. The problem has been DEI's Cup Series equipment over the past ten years and the fact that Dale Jr. has been in a constant rift with Teresa for almost 30 years.
I have been a Junior fan since 1997 and I am not saying that he is the best driver out there by any means. I greatly disagree with a lot of what other JR NATION fans think, say, and do because I do have respect for most of the drivers that race in NASCAR. The reasons why I like Junior is he a true racecar driver though he has a lot of outside interests. Give him credit as well he could have quit racing after his dad died but he did not and he is not full of himself. He finally got into some good equipment and is the lead Hendrick driver so far this year. He does just like his dad when it comes to charitable things he does it quietly and it does not always come out what he does with Make a Wish, Victory Junction Gang Camps, supporting our troops (sending care packages on a regular basis to Iraq and Afgainstan), and various other charities. Where as with Tony, Kyle B. and Denny they have to let it be known what they are doing a majority of the time. When Junior is not doing TV for one reason or another, an apperance, testing, or a race he tries to keep himself low key and his private life away from the media and fans. That is why he has not talked much about his rift with Teresa and how he has dealt with his father's death or even why he made the decision to leave DEI and go to Hendrick Motorsports.
My problem is that there are drivers out there like Tony, Kyle Busch, and Denny think they OWN the RACE TRACK and expect the other drivers just to get out of their way when they are racing. THAT IS NOT RACING you have to earn your positions. Tony, Kyle B., and Denny feel that if the other drivers race them hard, the drivers should not be on the track including Junior, Jeff Gordon, and Brad Keslowski (Nationwide) just to name a few because those three JGR drivers think that all other drivers are below them. I am saying is that Tony, Kyle B. and Denny need to get off their high horses and GROW UP are realize that they are at this level becasue they are good drivers and have to compete against some of the best drivers in the WORLD on a weekly basis. Dale Jr. has realized this from a young age watching his dad and as he became a driver at this level as well.
Im a fellow Oregonian and I couldn't agree more. Jr. conducts himself like a role model. He was raised right and even when it doesn't go his way you don't hear a lot of whinning from him. No he hasn't won yet this year but 3rd in the points ain't too bad.
I don't have a problem with Jr., never have and if he continues this way you never will hear a disparaging word about him from me. The problem is that a fair share of his fans are not being reasonable when it comes to other drivers or the events that occur on the track that Jr. gets involved in either innocently or otherwise. These so-called fans need to take a good hard look at themselves. Fun is fun, but some of these people that count themselves as Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans have gone way beyond that...
I'm a new NASCAR fan but was raised to be a sportsman by a sports fanatic father. He taught me to treat others with respect and that goes for competitors or just people generally. What I've seen by some of these NASCAR fans is not only childish, but the ones throwing things on the track while the race is in progress is totally unacceptable. If these "fans" can't control themselves, someone is going to get hurt or worse.
I'm not saying all the Jr. fans are this way, but evidently there are a fair share of them that are. This brings me to one final remark. I haven't heard a word from Jr. condemning the beer throwing incidents. That in my opinion is a way of condoning those actions...
Dale put Jr. in Milt. School cause he didn't make time to raise a kid. He made up for it when he was oldenough to drive. Dont make Sr. out to be a saint. The man was his own man. But not the best father for the boys when they were younger.
I'm thinking you titled it Jr Doubters to start a intelligent discussion.
Sure some fans of NASCAR doubt Jr is as good as some of his most ardent fans think he is. That goes for every driver out there. That doesn't mean they dislike him it just means we have a different favorite. My only problem is when the over zealous fans for ANY driver want to disparage and vilify a driver and/or his fans because they don't agree that theirs is the best and think that they can never be wrong. Do I think Jr is the best driver who ever graced a race track? No. Do I hate him? No. His style doesn't match what I'm looking for, that doesn't make him or me bad. Unfortunately there are SOME Jr Nation fans who choose to put down any driver who has a different philosophy or racing style. They have already made all the cars the same, I am sure if they made all of the drivers the same it would be a very boring sport. In your mind Tony, Denny and Kyle are self centered and all about me and I respect your right to your opinion. I personally like their aggressive out to lead and win attitude. I wish we could all allow others to have their opinion without making it personal and with hate and disrespect. It's like religion and politics, we can all agree to disagree without making it ugly. 8-)
I agree with your blog. Junior is not a self-centered bad person.
What I can see from the responses, bloggers don't dislike Junior, they dislike his fans, at least some of the fans.
In all sports there are crazy fans for everyone. No one is going to tell me that Kyle Busch's fans sit in the stand with their halo's on. It's not possible. I also know that there are a lot of Junior, Gordon and Stewart fans who don't wear halos.
I just get tired of the Junior "haters" who get on these blogs and spew. Some of the stuff is so off the wall that I wonder how old some of these people are.
I can deal with "heated discussions", but when I read about toothless #### and inbreeds in reference to lumping all Junior fans together, that makes me angry. That is childish.
I am a diehard Junior fan and always will be, even if he never wins another race. The man does a lot for the sport, is classy and is a top competitor.
Dwindy1 - I see that you are new to the sport according to your post.
Last year when Jeff Gordon broke Dale Sr.'s win record at Talledaga, the fans went nuts throwing beer cans at Gordon.
I for one thought that was nuts.
Junior did come out and tell his fans not to do that. See how much that helped when some are throwing them at Kyle this year.
Although, I had a friend at the Richmond race and there were Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart fans (they had their t-shirts on) were throwing beer cans at Kyle. So, it's not just Junior fans.
I think that these tracks should have video cameras aimed in the stands at the end of these races and whoever are throwing these cans should be banned from the track.
I also heard Kasey Kahne's comments the other night about someone throwing a beer bottle or beer can during the race.
If that was REALLY TRUE, then NASCAR should have stopped the race and cleaned the track. If this was a bottle, then there was glass on the track. I've seen cautions come out for "debris" that I wonder how they even saw this on the track. If there was a bottle or can, then the yellow should have come out.
Nice blog, I think you will find on here the hard core nascar bloggers know who is who with drivers and commenting about a driver not to spark too much of a fire, If any it can be smolder over with some friendly comments back and forth.
Every driver has good fans and bad fans and if you have more then most you will have more bad fans then the others to make it bad for all of the fans for that driver. I am a Dale Jr fan, but I don't turn a blind eye when he has done something wrong. cheers
This is a great blog, very well said. I'm a junior fan and it pains me that Jr. Nation gets ripped. Yes, there are some fans that take their emotion the wrong way but what everyone should realize that when beer bottles or things are being thrown on the racetrack, it's not all us Jr. fans. Another problem is that because of Dale Jr.'s popularity and his name he will always be ripped apart by people either for things he has done on the racetrack or off it.
There are certain fans that want Jr. to be more like his father however, they will also be the ones to yell when he becomes more agressive. For Jr. you're damned if you do and damned if you dont.
Jr. stay exactly like you are, you are a great role model and respectful race car driver. Just go out and wins us some races bud!!!!
A great role model? Is that what he was when he tapped Denny, last week? Or, his use of grammar? He comes across as a southern uneducated hick. How does that benefit the already down trodden people of the South? Is it not bad enough that the children of the southern states turn in the worse test scores in the Country? We are the most privileged people in the world and Nascars most popular driver does not have the stats of a champion and lacks the ability to express himself in an intelligent manor.( Unless you buy a Jeff Foxworthy dictionary.) This is what you chose as a role model? For once I would love to see southerners portrayed as a people who understand how not to use the word, "AIN'T" and not to end a sentence in a preposition.
This is not hate, and I have yet to read a blog where Jr. is disliked any more than Kyle. You just put down drivers to make your point. Don't expect others to not do the same to you.
Again, Jr. is a nice guy who cannot live up to his fans opinions or expectation.
I am Shaun Strasser a single Female age 39 years old living in Grant County Oregon (Central/East ern part of the State) which is a lot dryer then the western part of Oregon. I actually live closer to Boise Idaho then I do Portland Oregon. The town I live in is Mount Vernon and I love MY Racing especially Dale Jr., Donnie Schatz, and John Force
