NASCAR Subculture - Why All the Hate?
Earnhardt and Eury Not Deserving of Hateful Wrath
Yes, Dale Jr. has been voted the sport's Most Popular Driver for the past six years straight. But that does not, in any way, require him to win a championship. Bill Elliott was the most popular driver for sixteen years straight, and he only won one championship in his career. Conversely, Jimmie Johnson has three championships and no wins in the Most Popular Driver contest. Should we be up in arms about these two legends of our sport? Is there some magical law of physics that states that where there are MPD trophies, there must also be Sprint Cup trophies, and vice versa? No! So, why the hate?
Another case in point...Michael Waltrip always makes it into the top ten in the fan voting for MPD, and he is way short on win totals. Heck, if he finishes in the top fifteen of a race, people are thrilled for him. Is he the focal point of thousands of reporters and TV analysts who are demanding that something be done about it? No! So with respect to Junior, again...Why the hate?
Is the uproar because Dale Jr. has more fans than anyone else? Possibly. But bear in mind... this only benefits NASCAR. The more fans in the grandstands, the more money in the bank accounts of not only the track owners, but of NASCAR itself. (Let's also remember that NASCAR gets a portion of all souvenir sales.) And, the more money NASCAR makes, the more money that goes into the pot that pays the drivers for winning the race...and finishing second, third and on down the line. So Mr. Kyle Busch ought to quit insulting Junior and just let him race, because surely his paycheck would be a little less without Junior's fans in the seats. Besides, Kyle says over and over again that he loves being booed, and the Junior Nation is only too happy to oblige him. So, again I say to the people that depend on NASCAR for a paycheck... Why the hate?
Has it dawned on anyone out there that the 88 Amp-National Guard team is just plain 'having an off season'? That maybe they aren't 'irreparably broken'? Surely this is not the first time that has happened in this sport. Darrell Waltrip had bad seasons. Rusty Wallace had bad seasons. Dale Earnhardt Sr. himself had some bad seasons. And let's not forget Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart, both multi-time champions and interestingly enough, both on the top ten list of Most Popular Drivers who also have had bad seasons. So if we can survive the above mentioned drivers having a rough go of it, surely the sport will survive Dale Jr. having a not-so-great season.
Most of the time, as proved by the history of our sport, teams come out of their rough patches and go on to have the success that everyone expects out of them. And trust me, Junior and the 88 team will rebound out of this. Maybe we, as fans, should be grateful that their 'bad time' is now and not during the chase. Maybe they just haven't peaked yet this season. They're working awfully hard to iron out their problems, and eventually they will. They're professionals. They have the best resources in the sport. They'll make it right. And who knows, maybe next year is the year that Jimmie Johnson and the 48 team will struggle and Junior's team will surge and win a championship.
So, I say not only to Junior Nation but to all the journalists out there, and all the fans of other drivers and even Kyle Busch's fan... Dump the hate and replace it with faith. This is just but one moment in time on the grand scheme of things. And trust me, when all is said and done and Junior announces his retirement twenty years from now, this stretch of time will be all but forgotten and his win totals and championships will be pasted on our TV screens compared to NASCAR's all time best drivers. Of course, that will give him...let me do the math...26 straight Most Popular Driver titles. A record for sure!
Published by Carol Brown
I am an AVID NASCAR fan. I also follow other forms of racing such as Indy Cars and Formula One. I also write as a hobby, and participate in the NaNoWriMo writing contest each year. (Winner, 5 years straight.) View profile
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29 Comments
Post a CommentWow people are passionate about this! Interesting article!
You have some serious issues yourself. Sounds like you might have some deeper feelings for Jr. than most people would. K. Busch has every right to bash this guy, they made a huge deal out of Jr. replacing him and now K. Busch shows that Jr. has less than 1% of the talent of Busch. Jr. brought all this on hisself, he said he was going to Hendrick to win races and the championship, hasn't happened. Martin and Kesolozki is humilitating Jr. by finishing better than him in a shorter time span of driving Hendrick cars. Nascar wasn't falling apart before he entered the picture and I doubt it will if he would leave. I don't hate Jr. he just isn't all that.
to finish my post below... Junior and Kyle Petty could've walked away from racing after their losses and who would've blamed them BUT they chose to stay in racing which is what Adam and Dale Sr. would've wanted them to do. Sorry to get sidetracked on that one but to make a point...Kyle P was not his daddy but he raced for the thrill of it and it was in his blood and he loved it. Junior has mentioned more than once that he loves racing and it's in his blood. Who can honestly say that you go to your job every day and get a thrill out of it like they do? As for Teresa Earnhardt, maybe if she had been more of a team owner than she was, Junior would've stayed. At least at HMS, he has that teamowner in MR. H and thank God for that man.
Well as you can see from the 88 in my name, yes I am a Junior fan and proud of it. No i'm not thrilled with the season that he's having but there are several others who are having a lackluster season also. The bad thing is that the MEDIA is the one who keeps harping on Junior's performance week after week. They're also the ones who love to add the fuel to the fire of the feud between JUNIOR NATION vs. Kyle Busch or whoever else. Will Junior ever be like his dad?? NO but he's never wanted to be! He's not the only driver who is having a lousy year with that blasted COT but he gets more attention because of his last name being Earnhardt the same way that Kyle Petty did of his last name being Petty. They were born to be expected to be just like their fathers and someone forgot to inform the media, fans and the rest of the public that it's just not that way. I do have the smarts to recognize that he's NOT his dad but his own person and as long as he's in the racing scene as a driver or an o
JR fans need to face the facts, this guy is an "average" driver, I would not even put him in the top ten of the current drivers out there. Sure, he has had success in the past, but look at where most of that success came. Plate racers. Yes, he's good at those, but he hasn't exactly dominated them in recent years. In fact, when he was winning all those plate races, guess who else was winning? Michael Waltrip, who loves to remind those that make fun of him that he is a two time Daytona 500 winnner. Big deal. Winning a plate race doesn't make you a great driver, sometime you just get lucky, and it didn't hurt that both he and JR were sitting in DEI equipement that for a few years clearly had a leg up on everyone else on the plate tracks. My grandmother could have gotten a top 5 out of one of those DEI cars back then. Back to JR, he has no excuses not to be winning, he isn't going to find any better equipment than he's currently sitting in. I don't mean to knock the guy, he's a good driver
In fact the media thrives on it as well. So hate in Nascar is a multibillion dollar industry, and hating on Jr and Jr is par for the course of the industry.
Let not your hearts be troubled - Jr. can drive a racecar and Tony Jr. has value. What that value is will be determined by Mr. H. When the time is appropriate and it will be soon, Mr. H will make a change regardless of what Junior says. Remember, Mr. H still signs the checks and I don't think he is afraid of what Junior will say or do. Lack of performance will be dealt with!! The moves he will make will be beneficial for the all the teams and everyone will come out looking good. JMO
My point has been verified! This IS about 'hatin' on Dale Jr'. Golden Pillow? Chows a pit stop? That's what my article is all about. His fans support him win or lose, and there happen to be more of them than fans of other drivers. It's almost as if people are telling Junior fans to stop supporting him because he isn't worth it. Is it right for someone to tell someone else that? Aren't we all allowed to support whomever we choose?
That said, I DO appreciate each and every one of you who reads this and posts your comments, negative or positive. It's a free country and its fantastic that we're all allowed to write whatever we think. (And to vote for whichever driver we want for MPD...so go vote today for whomever you choose!) Thank You.
Oh Please Chris! That is just stupid and a untrue! But no suprise to me that a Jr fan is STILL making up excuse after excuse as to why Jr is not good. Nice try, but it doesn't work. It is not the car. Try again! At least say something that sound real and people will not laugh at, and know it is a made up excuse by a rabid Jr fan.
Hey Phantom_24_F,
What about all the HATE that the nation unleashed on Teresa. T-shirts made up calling her derogatory names, etc. Jr and his sister used the media to FUEL that hate and make him look like poor misunderstood boy whose stepmommy called him names. Not to mention all the HATE the nation dishes out to any driver who has a racing incident with their God. Seems to me Teresa's statement was spot on. Rockstar or Racecar driver. Hope he can carry a tune and play an instrument cause he has no driving talent.