INDIANAPOLIS — I told myself I wasn’t going to do this. I made a promise to myself, my wife and my kids that I wouldn’t dabble into online racing in terms of covering it. I mean, nothing against anyone that is into that kind of thing, but writing words about humans pushing pedals and steering a wheel on a video game isn’t appealing to me.

While I get some may beg to differ, and that’s your right, there’s nothing that should be taken too seriously about online video game racing — nothing. Hit the wall in a video game and you can just hit a reset button. Hit the wall in real life? It’s hurts. It can kill you. The ramifications on a wreck in real life compared to fake life are far different.

Also, car control is far different. The sensation of speed going a real 200 mph is far different due to the obvious risks and feel than sitting in a game room going 200 mph on a computer screen. The g-forces and feel are completely different, one non existent in fact. The truth of this is, anyone can control a video game car with enough practice. Only the brave, daring and most skilled can control a real life race car with extreme g-forces while trying to hold your line and stay focused at insane amounts of speed.

That’s why you really can’t take this stuff seriously. But, by competing in it and not taking it seriously enough, it can cause damage to reputations and careers too.

Twice now, a driver did something immature and avoidable which could harm their futures in this sport. They lost major sponsors over this. That’s why I entered this realm because this has now carried over to real world stuff.

Several sponsors have been lost (Blue-Emu, McDonald’s, Credit One Bank, Clover, iRacing, Lucas Oil, Chevrolet) for two drivers. Blue-Emu is the only one Bubba Wallace lost, the rest to Kyle Larson.

Wallace’s fault was that he quit early in a race and quite honestly, I don’t blame him. He was wrecked and frustrated. In a video game that rewards virtually nothing, why keep racing in that race with a wrecked race car? I mean in real life, if you get wrecked like he was, you’re out of the race and done for the day. In this race, he could have kept going, which is totally unrealistic by the way, but he chose not to. If any of us were playing this video game like Bubba was, with friends, and did what Wallace did, no one would bat an eye. But, when this video game is on national TV and his car has sponsors paying to be on that car, that’s not a good look to do what Wallace did.

I mean, he lost a sponsor for something he did in a video game. Think about that. Money that was expected to come his way in real life was gone by actions in a VIDEO GAME.

Then, Larson one ups the situation and drops an unprovoked racial slur in a race on Sunday night that could have even bigger ramifications for him. Larson, is a free agent at seasons end and could have damaged his reputation that no one is going to sign the once top free agent in the sport anymore.

Larson, 27, has competed in 223 NASCAR Cup Series races. He’s won six of them to go along with 56 top five finishes, 101 top 10’s and eight poles. He’s also raced in 108 NXS races and won 12 times. Furthermore, he’s won two of his 13 NASCAR Truck Series starts. That’s a win on all three levels of NASCAR. He’s the defending All-Star race winner and won the prestigious USAC Chili Bowl this past January.

The California native was seen as a rising star still and could have basically gone anywhere he wanted next year. He was an option for the No. 48 Chevrolet with Hendrick Motorsports to replace the retiring Jimmie Johnson. Not now. Team Penske has Joey Logano and newly reupped Ryan Blaney for 2021 and future seasons, but do you think a guy like Penske hires Larson to replace Brad Keselowski? Nope. He has too much to lose by this too.

Do you think he gets any of the other rides available? He wasn’t even able to stay put where he’s at. No way he gets a top ride in the near future.

So, in a video game, Larson’s real life racing career has taken a huge nose dive. Wallace’s could have been a bad moment for him but Larson’s costly mistake has made that only a blemish on the radar.

Moving forward, if I’m an owner, I’m seriously considering shutting my drivers down from this. While I get why they’re allowing it in being that there’s no injury risk and it’s keeping the sponsors happy, the consequences are just too far out there to outweigh the good.

Just look at Wallace and Larson as prime examples. Two young drivers, diverse drivers at that, could have now damaged their careers in a video game, not real life. I get people saying that it was their own faults for being in that situation, but Wallace’s could have happened to anyone and Larson’s was a very major slip of the tongue.

If I was an owner, I may have to reconsider this and start having my drivers lay low now because whenever we get back to racing, I’d like to have my full compliment of sponsors on my car and my driver behind the wheel.

Video game racing is just that, a video game. It’s not to be taken seriously. But, too many are competing in it and aren’t taking it seriously enough and it’s costing them. Maybe it’s time to just walk away from fake racing and wait for the real thing to come back.