About life and fairness, and how it is for a racer's racer

It was the darnedest thing, to be standing in a Nationwide Series garage area with a racer -- maybe not as insanely committed a race car driver as Ken Schrader, but at least Kenny Wallace also is from Missouri -- when two yahoo race fans walked up.

"Man, we just love you on Trackside [at...]," one of them said.

Kenny Wallace

2009 Nationwide Results

Track	Finish
Daytona	16
Fontana	31
Las Vegas	14
Bristol	14
Texas	21
Points	11

• Career series stats

To Wallace's credit -- and actually it's really no surprise -- he was patient and downright pleasant as he explained that they must have meant NASCAR Raceday on SPEED, one of two Sprint Cup, race-day programs he participates in, along with the post-race NASCAR Victory Lane.

After a few minutes of aimless conversation, they staggered away -- as in, "clueless meandering" rather than "drunkenly wandering." It was, after all, the Nationwide Garage area. And it left you shaking your head, kinda sadly, at a dilemma facing only a few athletes in this, or any sport.

Is he a "broadcaster," or is he a "racer?"

No disrespect to ol' Herman's demeanor, because he's been known to project a little whacky at times. But anyone who would race a dirt modified two or three (or four) times a week -- 50 or 60 times during the warmer weather, when the Midwest venues are WAO (ask a racer) -- is making a point.

And the point is: they're a racer's racer. And here's the exclamation point to that tale, as the Nationwide Series takes its traveling circus to Nashville Superspeedway this weekend. Despite falling three spots in the owners' standings after Wallace finished 21st at Texas, Jay Robinson's No. 28 team is still sitting 15th in the points, while Wallace is 11th in the drivers' standings, only a point out of 10th.

For Wallace that's business as usual. This is a guy who's finished in the top 10 in the points every year except two that he's competed in a full series season since 1989 -- and one of those two was an 11th.

But for Robinson, a North Carolina businessman who's been running race cars since about 1995, it's rarified air. It's a place you couldn't reach without being racers; and Robinson, Wallace and crew chief Chris Rice certainly fit that bill. (Continued)