That’s one woman which I would never want to get on her bad side.
Ryan Blaney is the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion, a highly-accomplished driver who is one of the sports fan-favorite drivers, but back when he first started racing in the Cup series, Blaney actually lived on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s property for three years.
He previously recalled driving through the woods on a four-wheeler to Dale’s western town “Whisky River,” and getting “wrecked” there on Sunday evenings after the got home from whichever track they were at that weekend:
“I love Dale. I lived on Dale’s property for like three years. I lived right across the woods from there, the Whisky River town… funnest times of my life. I was a rookie in the Cup series, I’m 21-years old living by myself in the house I’m renting for the first time, and Dales’ 1,000 yards through the woods. Dale was still racing at the time.”
And if it sounds like a recipe for some really fun times, that’s because it was…
“So we would get done with these races on Sunday night, get home at 10 or 10:30.I would go drive a four-wheeler through the woods to Dale’s house and get absolutely wrecked for like six hours, and then one-eye a four wheeler through the woods back to my place. That was like the funnest years of my life, Dale is so much fun.”
I can only imagine what they got into, though it sounds like they might not exactly remember every detail of those wild nights.
But one night he does remember occurred while he was living on that property, and Dale Jr.’s mom, Brenda, must’ve had a house somewhere nearby too, because she was ready to call the cops on Blaney… and probably for good reason, honestly.
Brenda is Dale Earnhardt’s ex-wife, the mother of Dale Jr. and his older sister Kelley, and she sadly passed away in 2019. Blaney recalled shooting off fireworks one night (I’m not sure if this was on the Fourth of July, but it doesn’t seem like it was considering her reaction), and Brenda could hear them through the woods.
I’m sure they went on for a while, and it was probably late at night, and Brenda had enough… Blaney laughed as he remembered her yelling at him through the woods that she was “going to call the cops”:
“I was shooting fireworks off one time, I lived at this other house on Dale Junior‘s property, and his mom got pretty mad at me one time. And I could hear her yelling through the woods, and so we stopped it immediately.
And I saw her later that week and apologized, and then was texting Dale, I said, ‘Tell your mother I’m sorry,’ that evening. I could hear her through the woods, she said, ‘Shoot off another firework and I’m calling the cops!’ and I knew who it was, so we stopped.”
Brenda also put a smackdown on Dale Jr.’s stepmom, Teresa, one time, and allegedly “won,” so I think Blaney was smart to put a stop to it… Brenda didn’t mess around.
Clearly, Blaney still gets a good laugh out of it to this day, and it’s a great story:
“Shoot off another firework, and I’m calling the cops.” 👮😳
It’s safe to say you didn’t want to make @DaleJr‘s mom mad… like @Blaney did one particular 4th of July 🎇
“I texted Dale and said, ‘Tell your mother I’m sorry.” 😂 pic.twitter.com/68enL3zVL6
— PRN (@PRNlive) July 4, 2026
Here’s a beautiful tribute for Brenda from 2019, which shows some really sweet moments between her with her grandchildren, and of course Dale Jr. and Kelley:
Miss Brenda, we thank you for the all memories and the laughter. The office won’t be the same without you. Rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/CtPxq6VNWH
— JR Motorsports (@JRMotorsports) April 22, 2019
